After reading the post about staining cork I gave it a try. I stained four half wells grips with different Minwax oil based stains, let it dry overnight and then put on a coat of Minwax Helmsman Spar Urethane. After that dried I buffed it with fine steel wool.

If you want to see the finished product I posted a picture on the photo page.

I think they turned out pretty nice, the darker ones look almost like wood. They are not as slippery as I thought they would be, in fact there is not much difference in the feel than cork without any finish.

Another thing to think about is tinting clear or the spar urethane and then coat the cork. Or thinning out tints with thinner, acitone whatever and coat, then clear

Resist the temptation to put on a second coat of varnish. What color do you like best? I favor the cherry.

I think cherry is my choice also.

I used semi gloss on the ones in the picture but am thinking about giving the satin finish a try. I put the urethane on with a 1/2" flat sable artists brush and it turned out very smooth and no brush marks.

Bob

The varathane black can seems to give a satin sheen, which I like. I use stain over unfilled cork. Have you tried this or were your handles filled?

Don,

The handles were filled. They the worst looking 4 out of 16 that I got on @#$%& last year for $10, so are no great loss. They do make good samples. Will have to give satin a try on unfilled cork.

Thanks
Bob

You can always sand them down and redo. As I said, you might like unfilled cork better anyway.