CORK ROAD BED QUESTIONS

We glued it with wood glue. You can glue, screw, tack, staple, caulk.....

No need to moisten it....

I'm sure a search on YouTube will provide some videos, although I've never looked. It's pretty easy and self explanatory.

Laidoffsick pretty much covered it.  You really don't need a video to do it because the procedure is fairly straightforward.

One thing I might add:  I always lay the outside strips of roadbed first, and after they are firmly glued in place I then follow with the inside strips of roadbed.  Makes it easier for those inside strips to snuggle up to the outside strips.  I use upholstery tacks to hold the strips in place until the glue dries.

I have never moistened the cork roadbed, but I understand that some prefer to do that.  I also have always used ordinary white glue, which has always worked well enough for me.

One thing I would add is that when I installed mine, I staggered the seams. Since the curves will stagger anyway, I figured I would start out about a foot off being even and run with it. I think staggering the seams would help keep everything snug on the curves while your glue sets if you do both halves at the same time.

I used an electric stapler loaded with brads and just shot the stuff down. No glue, and no wetting before hand. It has been in place for about seven years and pretty much the same as it was when it was put down.

J White

Here is a little tool that I came up with to mark where my roadbed should be. This method does require that the track be laid where you want it to be but not fastened down. After tracing, remove the track and start to lay the roadbed. I adjusted the compass so that it would mark the edge of the roadbed (adjusted for the width of the cork). I also chose to lay the outside first as has been stated. I used Elmer's carpenters glue spread thinly with my finger on the underside of the cork. I also used tacks to hold the cork down while the glue sets. This allows you to form your curves and have them stay while the glue dries. After it does, I remove the tacks. You can then go back and simply but the inside section to the outer. I also used the soundboard. Recently I decided to remove all of my cork roadbed and it was a fairly easy job with a thin flat blade scraper between the cork and the soundboard.

Yes, you definitely want to stagger the joints between strips so no two adjacent joints are aligned with each other.  There's no reason not to and it makes for a smoother appearing roadbed surface overall.

Hi

Just wanted to stick my 2 cents in. I used an upholstery staple gun and colored the staple strips with a black felt marker. The upholstery stapes are very thin and when colored black you can't see them. It's also makes it easy to pull the cork up. The guns are very reasonable from Grizzly.

I really like your idea of using the compass to mark the edge of the cork

If staples make sure you don't oversize your gun. A friend of mine got one that was too big and shot the staples too deep into the cork.