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How to Make Cork Adhere

Cork can be a particularly difficult material to work with, especially if you haven't tried to bond it to another material before. Standard glues don't hold to cork, while epoxy and hot glue tend to eat through it. Three products, however, do adhere cork to other surfaces quite well, and any will work as long as both surfaces are dry. Any moisture will be absorbed by the cork, causing it to expand. When the moisture evaporates the cork shrinks and breaks the bonded seal or rips into pieces.

Things You'll Need

Rubbing alcohol
Contact cement with brush
Gorilla Glue
E-6000

Instructions

- 1
  Prepare the surface to which you'll be adhering the cork. Clean it thoroughly with a wet sponge, let it dry and then clean it with rubbing alcohol.
- 2
  Cover the back of the cork with contact cement, Gorilla Glue or E6000. The application method depends on the adhesive. Contact cement is applied with a brush, while Gorilla Glue and E6000 are squeezed from a tube. The E6000 must be applied to both surfaces.
- 3
  Place the cork against the surface and hold it in place for at least one minute if using contact cement or Gorilla Glue. If the surface is vertical, hold the cork an additional two minutes to assure that it stays in place. E6000 bonds instantly.

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