I turned a burl cork handle a month ago, rubbed it with regulard vegetable oil (canola I think), and it looked great. I buffed it dry, and it doesen't feel slick. It still looks great a month later. When I run it uder water it doesen't get slippery. This seems to work great, as long a you buff it pretty dry after application

Anyone else done this, and could the oil hurt the cork or glue long term?

Thanks,
Marc

Just curious...what would possess you to try that?

Just trying something other than Tru oil to bring out the color of the cork.

I love the experimenting people do when building rods. Using vegetable oil on cork makes sense to me, as cork is really a wood, and there are many applications where oiling wood creates a beautiful finish. I just refinished an old table by sanding and applying about 100 coats of tung oil, and the old thing looks great. I don't see why you couldn't do something similar with a cork grip.

I personally would never put vegetable oil on my cork handles, because if I did my brother would probably eat them. But I like the idea.

Exactly what I am thinking Chris. This might help for me too, as my brother usually eats my lunch before I get to it when we go fishin', so maybe he'll chew his grip instead!

Marc

Marc,
If you used canola oil or any unsaturated oil (olive oil, corn oil, safflower oil, etc.), these oils contain chemical bonds that are very susceptible to oxidation. This means that the oil will turn rancid over time. It is possible that drying may retard this process, but I'm not sure of the longevity of these types of oils as a finish. I also suspect that there are many microbes in nature that can "feed" on these types of oils.

Mike Blomme

I agree that cork is like wood and this application make sense to me. I used to build fancy multi wood cutting boards and the only finish was cooking oil or mineral oil. Other finishing oils containt toxins that you do not want on food. I am going to give this a try on some cork too. Thanks for the experiment.

"If you don't know where you are going then any road will get you there"

There was a post on another board recently, where a can of peanut oil had leaked onto some rods and ruined the cork. I imagine this was a slow leak over a long time, but something to consider.

So now you can turn your cork , and eat it too.

I had some cork laying around one day and threw some motor oil on a ring to see what would happen - I'll see what it does to as far as shedding water etc. I never thouht about that, I was looking at darkening the color. Also tried some standard stains and hae some ideas I'm going ot play around with. I'll be sure to let you guys now what turns out.

What about flies?

I would think that it would draw insects?

When I was a kid, a buddy oiled his bycycle chain with cooking oil and in a few hours it was covered with bees, ants, and other insects.

I would also be concerned as to what other things are also in vegitable oil, there is most likely sugars and other undesirable items in there such as proteins, carbohydrates and lipids. i would also worry that their could also be a degree of salt or other more corrosive elements in food grade oil.
While many oils used for industrial purpose such as Linseed oil and Tung oil, but I believe that all natural or bio degradable oils will eventually turn rancid. I would do some research on these oils before using them for anything other than their common uses.

I think raw linseed oil... the stuff you put on cricket bats.... would also make the cork look good.... mite try it on my next rod.....
Mark

Goodoo Dreaming

I rebuilt a bamboo rod last month and used Forby's Tung finnish on the blank. Later when I made a sliding band seat out of cork, I decided to see what the tung oil would do to the cork. It turned the cork quite dark. The grip was assembled with 1/4" thick cork rings. The ring lines where brought out by the tung, but so was the filler. I like how it "aged" the rod handle and matched the darker tone of the bamboo. Maybe with flor quality cork, the grip would look better (obviously).

Mike

I use permagloss, wipe it on with a coffee filter and rub it in until I get a nice even look. Works GREAT.

DR

I just finished a grip & used TRU oil on it looks great!!

Regards
Dave

Fishing is Life the rest is just Details