Hello.I have been building rods for a couple years now and turn my own cork grips and never had a problem before with ordering cork, but just the other day I recieved a hundred cork rings from a sponser that I have ordered from before.When I opened the package I was a bit surprised to see these rings were a gray white color as aposed to the tan colored rings I've recieved before.Is there a way I can darken them? As they are they are very white like they've been bleached and kinda ugly but I hate to send them back but will if I have to.

Maybe I can slice them on my lathe for thin trim rings instead of the burl cork I use now?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Daryl

Once you sand them down to shape they will show their normal color. The whiteness is only on or very near the surface.

Kevin

Most people prefer the bleached white rings. But as Kevin said, a little use and you won't know the difference.

Sounds like they gave them a bath in flour to hide the pits. I have seen this done on a lot of cork. I dont know how much you paid for the cork but from some places only about 40 out of 100 are top quality rings, then another place I get rings they are hand picked and about 80 out of 100 are top quality rings. These rings need no filler for the pits.. But they are expensive and I buy them direct.. Thanks Dave

Sand the faces of those cork rings before you glue them up. If not every glue line will show as a white line.

I personally hate those rings. It's impossible to color match cork at that point. And to have to sand every face before you glue up is a real pain also.

I know exactly what rings you are talking about and I bet you got them from the same left hand source. We initially hated them but soon found out that the cork underneath was very good compared to what we normally got. I think they screwed up and sent us these rings instead of our normal order.
What has been done is the rings have been bleached. As noted, some people like this look. We do not. But we had no problem using them since we turn every handle on the lathe and the white bleached area disappeared into the dust. We did not have white line problems as Matt noted but I can see how that could work. I would do a quick face sand on each one before gluing.
Good luck,
Dave

Thanks to all for you're replies. I got these at a pretty reasonable price and seem to be pretty decent cork, just white and it is on the surface.

Thanks,
Daryl

Also, you can darken them later with tru-oil, its a gun stock oil. Looks great.

Toss them in a bucket full of hot water and some liquid dish soap and scrub them, the bleaching will disapear and you will be able to tell what they really look like. As was said, either sand them or wash them before glue up or you will likely wind up with white lines between the rings.
john