I've been building rods just for me...... for 25 years now. I've had help from local rodbuilders, specialized retailers, and mail order houses all along the way. Anything extending beyond the "winding check" is the strongest, lighest, smoothest, most understated and functional materials I can find or afford at the time. Guides are tested "Static" and "Active" and wrapped with NCP after I'm satisfied with placement.Just enough finish to cover the threads and the blank finishes are taken down to the fiber. A part of the beauty in a custom made fishing rod to me, is a minimalist approach towards performance plus a lot of "fussin" to get the thing right.

Now bear with me..........

I still have a few of the rods I made in the early days and the most aesthetically pleasing facet of them is the well worn cork grip. Windings and finishes come and go...But... Cork grips wear in a very nice way through the years, it's a look that can't be reproduced on a lathe. If a cork ring has fissures in it, well then they just get worse over time and it detracts substancially from the appearance.

My point.......

From now on, only the very finest "Flawless" cork rings will be used on my rods. Period....The rods I make are for my personal use and my clients (selective guide trips). I'm going to go to the source on cork even if I have to piggyback an importer, $2.50 a ring is just not an option anymore considering that I want to inspect every ring for quality myself.

Epilogue....

I will continue to purchase other components from the sponsors as I have for years and years. I tie flies, (saltwater and freshwater) and make my own jigs and my own rods,so if ya look at it on a pie chart, my annual spending for tackle acessories borders on embarrassing for someone who does'nt sell anything.Just looking for a lead here, a name, an importer, ......................does anybody get this?.... if so reply to Blusk10989@aol.com

Thanks for your patience

I looked into this once. You'd have to buy it direct from a broker in Portugal and probably about 5000 rings minimum. There is no return privilege by the way.

Then, there is a per-piece tax on imported cork. Yes, that's per-piece. At one time it was by weight, but now it is per-piece.

If you have about $8,000 laying around you can get underway on this. I gave up. Decided to go in with some guys and buy Special grade in lots of 1000 where ever I could find it. I think those 1000 rings cost us around $1500 and we had to wait 4 months to get it. But it was pretty decent stuff. Much better than what I see sold as flor but it's still a natural product and so not all will be as good as you like.

Good luck on your venture and quest for the perfect cork.

Thanks William,

A well turned handle made from the finest cork is what actually began my rodmaking. When I laid eyes on a custom rod for the very first time, it was the fine handle that impressed me, I was to shy to pick it up.But I could see a great deal of honor in owning such a piece of equipment. I appreciate your insight very much. In my business I use fine cork daily...but the O.D. of a good wine cork will suffice for all practical purposes. I'm glad to see that I'm not the first to embark on such a pursuit, but I feel it is appropriate for me to run down this White elephant for all it's worth....besides, I hear Portugal is lovely this time of year......Thanks again

just and idea but cork specialties out of miami look at them
www.corkgrips.com very helpful people JOhnT Burford aka Tightline Rod's

Pace industries has the best cork around. But you must be a dealer and must buy in lots of 1000 pieces minimum. Look in one of your past issues of Rodmaker as they had an ad in there as I recall.

John and William many thanks,


My postings are usually off-beat so, I'm surprised and delighted that I recieve "ANY" responce.

My rodbuilding can be compared to a dog walking on his hind legs:
"He does'nt do it extremly well, but your amazed he can do it at all"

My mixing cup runneth over,

I will follow -up on these leads

Thanks again

Blaine,

William has provided some solid insight into the current cork situation. I'll bet there is not one sponsor on this board that is 100% satisfied with the quality of the cork they are able to purchase today.

There are several pitfalls associated with trying to purchase direct from across the Atlantic for the average rod builder let alone the wholesaler. Aside from the volume required and the customs hassles that William mentioned, many producers require payment in full prior to shipment. This is a shakey proposition when you are dealing in a forigien language/ culture and putting up a rather large sum of money. Will the shippment you have paid for ever arrive? Maybe, maybe not. Will it be the quality that was described and promised? Likely not the first time at least. It is common practice for brokers and producers alike to send inferior cork on a first order and wait and see if the buyer complains loud and long enough that the shipment is accepted for return (and you lose the non-trivial shipping and associated duty/taxes). We import directly from Portugal and have some excellent cork but this is only after dealing with a few nightmares. Is our cork absolutely "flawless"? Some is, but I wish I could say it all is. I have to sort through even our best cork and pull out what is not going to make the top grade (which is what I paid for).

Let's hope that the increasing use of 'plastic cork' in the wine industry reduces the pressure on a very limited resourse and allows more quality product to find its way to the folks who really need it.

Andy Snedden

So, is there any savings to be gained by going direct? Or is it just a way to aquire better quality cork?

Thanks Andy,

Through the responces and e-mails ,I've learned a lot about this subject in just the last 13 hours. It's sounding pretty overwhelming.My alternative will be to try to purchase through my business. I use cork to plug the ends of Neon tubes for bending.The corks available at the hardware stores are usually to porous to hold pressure and the rubber stoppers acumulate phosphorus. Wine corks have to be "turned" to the proper shape, but they are the best quality I've seen so far.

It may be easier to lobby the wine industry into increasing the opening to 1 1/4

Due to the very large quantities you would have to deal in, I doubt it is something the average rod builder would find advantageous.

.....................

I think what you will find is that you will have to order a minimum of 10000 pieces to get a reasonable price, will pay in full prior to shipping, will have to wait a quite a while and then deal with customs yourself at the port of entry (or pay a hefty brokerage fee) and, if all goes well you will cull 15-25% as being of lower quality than what you paid for. Will you get superior cork for far less money? In the long run I really doubt it.

Andy Snedden

Does anyone have an idea what cork weighs per cubic ft? A good ball park would be just fine.

50% of cork cell volume is air. Specific gravity is .25.

That's about all the help I can give you on that. Someone mentioned the import tax and they are correct, it is now based on each piece (ring) rather than weight.

...................

My curiosity lead me to this site on cork, interesting.