Saw Tom's Excellant flocked grip photos and it got me wondering.....
If I was building a fat meat slinging surf stick, could i flock the blank itself
instead of using grip tape? To further show my ignorance of the subject,
can you flock over a pre exisiting cork tape grip?
Thanks!

Probably, but don't expect the flock to cover any flaws - it will stil conform to whatever is underneath there. You could certainly flock a rod blank and you could expect it to be reasonably durable. At least as much or more than the cork tape. The only downside might be that while you can remove cork tape and redo it, you would have a devil of a time removing flock and remove it you must if you ever decide to redo it. Flocking isn't something where you can "touch in" any bad spots or worn areas.

I put the photos up mainly to show how even and uniform a properly flocked grip or other item should be. You shouldn't have wavy or thin areas, or funky areas where the shade of the flock goes from dark to light. It's a matter of following the easy yet correct instructions as printed in RodMaker.

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

My first ones didn't come out nearly that good. Watched the demo in Charlotte that Tom did, went back and reread the article, corrected my mistakes and now most all of them come out at least that smooth and even. Lots to be said for following instructions!

I have flocked the area between some split grip handles and they came out just fine. No problems. Look great and seem to be holding up well.

From what I've seen, the flocking colors are pretty limited. Is there a way to mix the existing colors?

Gerry,

Go to www.donjer.com They have a fairly wide selection of colors in the NYLON outdoor ones

Mike

Yes you mix and match colors, blending for different shades or to get a salt and pepper look. This was covered in the article.

.........

Flocked Grip - I had two completed rods and two sets of cork flocked with salt and pepper in my shop this afternoon when two customers happened to drop by. They both glanced at them and said they did not like those soft black rubber grips like are on the cheap rods at Walmart. They did not bother to pick one up and I was so _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ that I calmy just picked them up and placed them in a drawer. I am going to use Andy's water damaged cork as is on their next two rods and save myself some additional work!

Gon Fishn