I am refurbishing some old bamboo rods and would like to keep the original grips, which are in pretty bad shape and was wondering if anyone has ever applied cork sheet material, say 1/2" thick to a grip. The cork on the old grips seems to be very thin with shaped hardwood underneath. Thought was to sand it smooth and then glue natural cork sheet over the top.

Any pearls of wisdom would be appreciated.




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/03/2005 01:33PM by Bob Crook.

If there is any contour to the original grip, then your cork sheeting will have to be super thin in order to get it to conform to that same shape.

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

Thanks Tom, I didn't think about the thick stuff not conforming to the contour of the grip. The thinnest I can get is 1/32" so will give that a try.

Bob,
You didn't mention whether you would be removing the guides on the butt section, or the diameter of the wood under the old cork. If the guides are off and the wood under the original cork is of a small diameter, and is parallel, would it be possible to ream out a cork grip and install over the wood? Then again, if the wood is bulbous in shape that may not be possible.


Jeff

Jeff...

I have 5 bamboo rods to refurbish, remove all guides and strip old finish, and them re-finish with new guides. I am going to try to turn a new grip using 1-1/2" cork rings glued to the wooden handle under the existing cork. I removed the existing cork, which was 1/8" thick, from 2 of the rods down to the wood and the shaped wood is birdsevye maple so plan to sand, polish and finish the wood and see how it comes out.

Now that the snow & winter have arrived here in Central Oregon I have a lot of time for rod building.

Bob




Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/05/2005 02:26PM by Bob Crook.