Best Care For Cork Grips

[VA911]

After swearing to myself that i would never buy another rod with cork grips i have done it again. I have a rack raider that is about 8 months old and the grips are falling apart on it. This was my first rod with cork grips.

I have just purchased a daiwa IMZ flick stick and have fallen in love with the feel and the weight of the rod. How do i look after the cork without it screwing up on me.

Cheersll!!!

Edited February 22, 2008 by VA911

[Davemmm]

I've got a couple with cork and all I ever do is rinse them off every time and they seem fine. Had one for a bloody long time too maybe I'm just lucky.

Dave

[slinkymalinky]

I'm like Dave... just give them a good rinse in fresh water every time I go out. If they have blood, slime or scales on them I'll wipe them over while I'm rinsing them with a Chux.

I prefer cork grips on all my spin rods and I've had a lot of them for upwards of 10 years with no problems.

Cheers, Slinky

[Guest]

I have heard you can give them a wash with methylated spirits and this restores them to their former glory.

I will ask Tony at Fishfinder Bait and tackle to confirm this.

Cheers Stewy.

Edit ,I have spoken with Tony and he tells me "manual labour is not a spanish soccer player"

The best thing to clean your cork is good old elbow grease with a toothbrush and either sunlight soap or a solution of washing powder.

Once cleaned let dry and your body oils from your hands will do the rest to seal the cork again.

Tony stresses that cork does not like any sort of chemicals.

So there you have it and the metho thing can clean the cork but will dry it out and may cause cracking with repeated use

Cheers Stewy

[gretsch]

There are also some products you can use such as U40 cork sealer. I use bees wax thinned with a little gum turps when I first finish a rod and then every year or so after.. If your cork is breaking out in little chucks, then it was crap cork to start with. I don't think there is much you can do.

[slinkymalinky]

One final suggestion from me... you can clean cork grips really well if you take them with you to the central highlands in Tassie. A couple of times when I lived there I made the mistake of leaving fly rods outside at night with their grips covered in fish slime. They were eaten by Tassie Devils... no more cork to worry about!

[bretty]

try not to use harsh chemicals it dissolves the glue and your grips will start to turn you can use some furnature cleaner mister sheen is not to bad but water and a chucks cloth is the best if u want them to look like new give them a light sand with 400-600 grit sand paper

[luderick -angler]

cork is dependant on the quality to start with thebest thing is a little warm water and washing up liquid with a soft cloth, allow the cork to dry and if you want to oil the cork then use a very fine gun oil made for oiling the stocks of guns another one isa little highly refined linseed oil thinned with natraul gum turps and allowed to dry will preserve it for ages, kept Dads nichols keith Miller special edition in good nick enoughfor me to use it on the park and the grips on his butterworth!

As wit hanything the its the quality of the matrials used and crap cok is dry very coarse and chips good spanish cork is nice and hard with a little give and very closely grained and almost white when brought up on a high speed with very fine wet or dry, as was evidenced on the cork grips created at Weavers in London when i was there.

Cheers

Royce.

[Mr Dalucius]

I like to put a couple of coats of varnish on my new fishing rods if they have a cork grip. I find this helps to keep them looking like new and stops them getting dirty. I find it does't effect my grip of the rod while fishing. Just rinse off with water.

cheers. Geoff.

[RAYp]

I like to put a couple of coats of varnish on my new fishing rods if they have a cork grip. I find this helps to keep them looking like new and stops them getting dirty. I find it does't effect my grip of the rod while fishing. Just rinse off with water.

cheers. Geoff.

Hi Geoff, You are right I do the same as you but I use Wattle Two in One stain and varnish.

My oldest Heartland Rod is 17 years and still looks like new,By the way all my rods with cork are done in the Maple stain and look great. Metho does not damage cork it's just a good cleanging agent. Cheers RAY

Edited February 27, 2008 by RAYp

[slinkymalinky]

I must be a bit weird... whenever I get a new rod I can't wait for the cork to get a bit dirty so I don't look like a poncy Toorak fisho who owns all the gear but never uses it.

I used to do the same thing in Tassie when I was a trout fisho... whenever any of us got a new Akubra, Drizabone or Japara, the first thing we did was take it of and stand on it in the mud a couple of times. We always used to hang %&*$ on anyone with sparkly clean gear.

Cheers, Slinky

[Josh88]

I have no idea if this would work or how it would be done, but to stop my referee whistle pea drying out and cracking i leave it in boiled water for a few min then freeze. Don't think this would work somehow....anyone willing to try on a rod??

Josh

Edited February 29, 2008 by Josh88

[slinkymalinky]

I can just see the look on Mrs Slinky's face.

"Honey, why are all the meat and all the shelves from the freezer sitting on the sink and why is the freezer full of rods?"

[Josh88]

[kiwi waynie]

I have no idea if this would work or how it would be done, but to stop my referee whistle cork pea drying out and cracking i leave it in boiled water for a few min then freeze. Don't think this would work somehow....anyone willing to try??

Josh

WTF??? You refs take things a bit too far even when you get home!!!

Edited February 29, 2008 by kiwi waynie