Does anyone make burl cork rings in a really light shade of brown or tan?

I was checking out Josh Markvan's PHENOMINAL website (Markvan Heirloom Fly Rods) today,and couldn't help but notice all the wonderful variations of burl cork in his grips.Some of these have burl cork that look much lighter in coloration to any burl I have seen until now,so it got me thinking how many different burl cork sources are out there?

I have lots of the typical natural brown burl cork,like most sponsors seem to carry(it is also available in blue,green,and red I believe,but I prefer natural),and like most people seem to use in their grips,which I like alot.I also have plenty of "rubberized" cork rings(the dark dense stuff that looks great on the end of fighting butts),and even some gasket material(one sheet was 1/8" and the other was roughly 3 times thicker I think) I mananaged to hunt down locally.

I love the look of the gasket material,but it is tough to find in my area and unfortunately,only available in thin sheets.Does anyone know where I might find something with a similar texture,but in a thicker sheet(1/4" or more)?

I have also seen the 3 types of burl cork that Andy Dear has,and plan on ordering some very soon.I really like all of them and they should make for some fantastic grip inlays.

The trend with all the "cork"(burl,rubber,gasket,etc) I have found so far seems to be that it is pretty dark,or at least has some really dark sections to it(like Andy's Copano Burl).Adding coats of Tru Oil,darkens them all even more so(which is great as one can vary the coloration of different rings by simply adding layers of oil).What I would really like to find though is some thicker gasket material(or similar looking product),and some light burl cork,similar to some of the rings in Mr. Markvan's handles(see the bottom of the page in "Anatomy Of A Fly Rod").

Does anyone know where one might find some light colored burl cork that has little dark patches to it?I would like to find something that is uniformly light,and natural tan/light brown in color,similar to the color of natural cork when wet,or maybe a tad darker,but still has a nice "burled"(light colored cork with really thin dark swirls in it or something) look.I want the ring to look very light colored overall,with very slight,subtle dark highlights,like thin swirls or something instead of patches(if that makes any sense).

Is there anything out there similar to this?If not,is it possible to lighten the color of say a common natural brown burl cork ring(the ones that most sponsors seem to carry) with something to create the look I am after?

I also have some of the Pac Bay "bamboo burl" pre made grips,and think that chopping one of these up to use as trim would look really good,but I am concerned that the outside grain pattern might not be uniform thoughout the cork.

If you were to sand one of these handles down thinner,would the cork still have the same burled pattern that it does on the outside,or is it a different material underneath,with simply a bamboo burl outside?

I found a couple of patches on one grip that were too light for my tastes(one looked like a huge blob of white filler was quickly stuffed into a hole,and when I coated it with Cork Seal it stood out a mile),so I figured I would just sand it down a bit by hand to make the areas less noticable.Unfortunately,the sanded area I did looked more like particle board underneath(it was as if I sanded the burled pattern right off it),so I am worried that if I put some of these pieces in another handle and sand them down to size on my lathe,that the look of them will be ruined.

Has anyone else used them as inlays,and if so,how well does it retain it's look when sanded down?

The more variations of natural burl cork I can find,the better.I have plenty of dark stuff,now I need to find something lighter if possible!

Any suggestions and/or sources would be most welcomed!




Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/16/2005 08:46AM by Tony Dowson.

Checked the site.
Very nice.

But here again I can not under stand when a guy says he builds performance fly rods ---yet uses double foot snake guides ?????

Maybe I just should not care as much as I do about my rods ????

Have you looked at sites like corkstore.com? Have seen a rod built in Canada that used cut up and shaped vibration/sound isolation pads as accent rings. They were made from a pad that had two green firm neoprene foam sides with cork in the center. Really set off the Rainshadow green blank.

Check out Lamar Reel Seats--sponsor link on the left for light colored burl.

Bill,

Your comment about "performance fly rods" caught my eye! I too consider that my fly rods (or rods period) are performance rods and I quite often use snake guides! I find the Pac Bay light wire snakes to actually be lighter than most wire single foot models and have much shorter feet. Snake Brand guides are so well tuned that the wire size and weight reduce with the size of the guide. H&H and REC put out a variety of performance wire guides such as DLC and Tin. True, shooting might be slightly better (emphasis on slightly) on rods with ceramic guides but all or even most of the actual casting done in many fishing situations calls for very little shooting and snake guides do a spectacular job for most every day grunt work fly casting.
Also many fishermen just like the look of a snake guide on a fly rod. I prefer the action of light fly rods with wire guides over ceramic and the flex of the snake guide solves any problem with static bend performance.
I will be glad to point out many "Performance" fly rods with wire snake guides in my collection as well as Marks and many others. I hope this answers your question.

Dan Craft
Dan Craft Enterprises

bill, i checked out josh markvan's site (couldn't find a link like tony suggested so google found this: [www.markvanheirloom.com] ). regarding "performance" and the implied regular use of snakes, i've found only a couple uses of the term "performance" in browsing three of his site's pages yet throughout i found stressed is the term "heirloom." i think many customers are under the impression that snakes are "classic" and thereby, quite right for anything that might be considered "heirloom," a term markvan seems to prioritize. i would imagine a builder knows his target market and found this to be the way to go.

at the same time, markvan appears to be well informed with recent developments in rod building. he refers to dr. hanneman's CCS idea at least twice. in subsequent photos of his products, i found at least 1 detail photo of a single foot ceramic guide used on a rod. and he also offers RECoil guides, not what you would consider traditional material.

i don't know josh markvan and i apologize for appearing to come to his defense inapproapriately and prematurely, and perhaps somewhat passionately, and i certainly don't mean to appear argumentative. i just woke up, so this is the first flexing of my brain cells for the day (what's left of them by my age ;-).

one thing i would like to add is his web site is very informative and nicely designed, which smacks nicely of professionalism, something i've noticed lacking at some sites. it also aims to educate his potential clientele about the value of custom made fly rods and that's something to be acknowledged, particularly amongst fellow custom rod builders. I've seen many sites which do this and all are to be congratulated for that. educating the public has benefits for everyone who offers such a unique service. it would be interesting to hear from mr markvan himself as to the popularity or sucess in promoting single foot guides to clientele. i'm curious.

i think i need to go back to bed... :-)

eric
fresno, ca.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/16/2005 02:52PM by eric zamora.

I want to thank Eric Zamora for dropping me a line and inviting me to weigh in on this discussion. I hope it continues. Tony, thanks for your kind words for my site. Thanks also to Bill and DC. You or anyone can email or even call me anytime with any questions, ideas, perspectives...
I myself have several sources for regular old brown burled cork. Everyone's stuff is a little different in terms of color and consistency. If you sample enough of it, you'll start to realize a color gradient. If you can find three or more shades of burled cork you can slice it up and produce a light-to-dark effect. This is what Tony's talking about.
My favorite light brown burled cork is REC's natural burl. It's about the lightest (almost tan) that I've found. It's very hard, dry, and dense, and it doesn't spring much, so it's great for the most vulnerable or abuse-prone areas of a grip. I use it all the time. Tru-Oil really sets off this fine stuff. A few wipe-off coats puts a tough skin on it.

For me and my fly rods, performance doesn't always suggest a fly rod of the slickest-super-fast-tight-looped-ultra-tip-flex-high-line-speed variety. Different components are best suited for different situations and you can only work with what's available. However, I DO believe that the properties of the blank should be keep as pure as possible, especially towards the tip, so this means the lightest possible guides (that will still hold up and "perform") and the least amount of thread/finish. But if double foot snakes are your best bet then that's what I'll recommend. I think you can live with the extra thread and finish.
For instance, I love building 1- and 2-weight fly rods. I also love single foot snakes but I do not like plated wire snakes (even the high-end ones wear out). REC makes single foot RECoils which are perfect, but they only go down to size 1. And a 1-weight needs lightwire 4/0's at the tip, right? So that leaves me with the double foot 4/0 lightwire RECoils.
Even after they make them cheaper and smaller and lighter, ceramics on a 6' 10" 1-weight? Is it really necessary? Sometimes it's nice to know that I couldn't cast 50 feet, even if I wanted to.

Performance simply means that my fly rods do what I intend them to do or what me customers want them to do.

Please don't misunderstand the "heirloom" thing, folks. I could'nt care less about the "traditional look" of old fashioned snakes. Heirloom to me means a fly rod that is gorgeous but built for fish-catching, as well-built and flawless as I can make it, and devised to hold up and be passed down.

Josh Markvan
www.markvanheirloom.com

Thanks for the response Mark!

I have to say,your website has hands down the nicest layout I have ever seen.Everything is presented so nicely,it's like you are being taken on a tour of the custom rodbuilding process,with excellent descriptions of everything from the properties of a rod blank,to components and options(and why you choose them),to pricing,to stunning photos.Simply an AWSOME job!

I haven't had a chance to check out the REC burl rings yet,but will definitely do so now.

Thanks again!