Hey Guys,

What are the pors and cons of using burl vs top grade cork. Im thinking of using it on a 11 ft. Sthd drift rod in cobonation with a triger real seat, for a bait caster?

The most obvious one is price, $.80 compared with $2.00+ for cork rings.

Im having a difficult time locatting 1.5" dia. x .5"w. burl rings can anyone recomend a source?

Thank you, I look forward to your insite.
Cheers,

Greg

The standard is 1.25" OD for these rings. Maybe you'll have luck in finding some 1.5"...what do you need the extra 1/16" on each side for? Just curious.

While the burl looks amazing you have to be a bit careful when reaming to fit. It can crumble...especially if you have it on the ends of the grip or you have an OD that is only slightly larger than your intended ID. Some of the rings can be a bit fragile and crack open if care isn't taken.

Jay

Greg,
If it is a Steelhead drift rod that you are building I would not use the burl cork because of the increased weight and how that added weight will reduce the sensitivity of the rod. You will get the best sensitivity if you use regular cork and fit it directly to the blank with no shims between the blank and the cork.

Weight is a factor with burl rings. There are many that are about triple the weight of cork.

Stan Grace
Helena, MT
"Our best is none too good"

Andy at Lamar Fishing I think has some 1.5 inch rings, his rings are denser than some burls are, so they weigh in on the heavy side. They are however able to take more abuse from rodholders due to the density. I add a few rings for accent only or use a split grip on drift rods if I'm using burl. Using that big of ring, are you using a glass blank? The rear OD of most trigger reelseats used on drift rods is 1.1 inches or thereabouts till you get into something larger than 18 mm. Angler's Workshop also has a premade larger OD cork grip I've used on glass blanks or other large butted blanks. It's somewhere around 1.3 inches if I remember right.

I use almost exclusively burl rings, both standard and Andy's exotic, True, they are heavier but it's a trade off I gladly take. I use mostly split grips so that offsets it. I don't use foregrips often either. They can also be bored and have Flexcoat arbors inserted in them. As for durability, I have never found any of the problems some have. Never had one chip or crumble and I even use them with coins, etc inlaid in the end for butt caps. The best think that I like is if I buy 100, I get 100 identical quality, useable rings.

Try a grip with burl and make your deciaion based on that.

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!

Thanks, Everyone for your imput.

Some good options to cosider. Im most intrested in this split grip idea, but have never seen them.
Mike ,your inlaid coin idea sounds intresting, have you ever tried it at the front end of a foregrip as a winding check? Where can one view photos of that and the split grips.?

I'm with Mike. I just finished a rod with some burl rings I got from Andy in HP. Both have split grips with two rings on the fore grip. I used walnut rings with them and Birchwood-Casey on the wood and the burl rings. Walnut is almost the same color as Andy's dark rings. Great looking rods. One note for Bill Stevens, one of this rods has threadless guides using a modified using Swifty Diamondite for the adhesive. (as per our discussion in HP) I want to wait a few days before I "smoke test" it. The real test is going to be on 4-6lb bronze backs at Santeetlah in two to three weeks.

Ed Smith

Hey Ed,

Put a pic of that rod up so we can see it!!!!!

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!

i too am with mike on the burl. imo it is more durable, and looks so much nicer when finished out especially with a light coat of tru oil .

Mike,
I'll try to get a picture up tomorrow of the threadless guides. It is finished. This rod is one I want to try for myself to see it this technique works. It is a modification of the procedure Bill Stevens wrote about in the last issue of Rodmaker. (Only one coat of Permagloss.) The second one is not quite finished but will be this week. It will not have the threadless wraps. I have never posted a photo on this board, I do know how to email them and I'll send it to you if I have problems posted.

Ed Smith