Cork Bulletin Board

[Greg Caputo]

I've been asked to make a cork bulletin board. It's to be of a size (22" x 55") not normally available. And wrapped in a specific style of moulding to complement material already in the room. I'm at a loss on this one. I can mill the moulding ok, but I'm at a loss to find a vendor for the cork. And while I'm thinking of it, what kind of backing to use for the cork. I thought about buying a commercially available bulletin board that's larger than I need and then cutting it down. But that seems like a waste of material. Lookin' for help here.

Thanks.
Greg

[Thomas Bank]

We use Dodge Cork for flooring - I notice that they offer rolls and other forms of the material: http://www.dodgecork.com/

[Lee Schierer]

Most cork you buy is going to be too thin for a bulletin board. You will need to stick push pins in more than the 1/16" thickness of the cork so mount it over either some foam core board or thick fiber board. They used to sell cork floor tile that were 1/4" thick, but I haven't seen them in years.

[Thomas Bank]

The link I posted above has both 3mm and 6mm sheets - which is a bit shy of 1/8" and 1/4"

[Richard McComas]

I make cork/bulletin boards for our local school district almost on a weekly basis. I can’t help you with a supplier but as for construction methods we do it two ways depending on the edge treatment.

We contact cement ¼ inch thick cork onto ¼ plywood and trim with and aluminum channel that slips over the edge of the corkboard.

The other is to contact cement ¼ inch cork over ½ inch plywood and trim with a ¾ x ¾ corner guard molding.

[Alan Schaffter]

Push pins don't stick into ply very well. Some bulletin boards are made with a thin layer of cork over a loose particle substrate like Homasote (http://www.homasote.com/about.aspx) sheathing. That is how I made my last one, and it looked and worked well.Homasote i is available at some home centers and lumber yards.

Homasote even sells it as Novacork (http://www.homasote.com/products/NovaCork.aspx).

[Bob Rufener]

I also second Alan's suggestion about homasote. I built a model train table from it many years ago and I think it would work well for your application. Think cork could be glued to it to make your cork board. Often times, hobby shops will carry rolls of thin cork. I don't know if they make it large enough for your application.

[Greg Caputo]

Great ideas! Thank you all very much. I really appreciate the help and now I have some direction for this project.

Greg