A guy on a different forum told me about his process for improving cork grips. He wet sands them with spar varnish, starting with 200 grit and working down to 600. He claims that it fills in the imperfections and gives cheap cork the appearance of flor. He suggested bleaching the grip first, since the varnish darkens it a bit.

Has anybody tried this? I tried it with tru-oil and no bleaching. It ended up looking worse to me.

Only one way to improve bad cork I know of. Flock it.

I've tried a couple things and nothing really works real well IMO

what gave me the best results was finding a wood filler that was close to the same color. Even then, with use, the filler is going to wear away so add several coats of tru oil over that to get the look you are going for. the tru oil also helps to match the color of the cork and wood filler.

I do understand the process he's referring to. As you sand, the varnish combines with the cork sanding dust to create a type of slurry which then fills in the pits and holes. Heat from the sanding operation quick dries the varnish and there you go. Sort of. The folks I know who do this recommend waiting between sanding grits for the previous coat of varnish slurry to dry. If you don't, the finer grip papers just load up with a rubbery varnish residue.

It's something you can try. It does have some merit to it. Keep in mind that Tru-Oil is not the same thing as spar varnish. It's going to set much faster.

I have an article here on the technique that I haven't published only because I haven't tried it out yet. If it works, then I'll go with it. It does mention waiting a bit between sanding grits in order to allow the varnish to set.

On a different note - I'm not sure anyone knows what the appearance of "flor" actually is - can you direct me to a photo or standard behind that "grade?" Of course not. Flor can be anything from near flawless to horribly pitted - it's a purely subjective "grade" without any written nor photographic standard behind it.


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

I dunno. Maybe I'm weird - but I don't like "flawless" or "perfect" cork. Not that you can really find it - but I have found that I like my cork to have a bit of character, a few pits/knots, etc. are fine with me. Obviously too many is not good, but a few are ok with me.

The wet sanding process you describe is used by woodturners - especially penturners, to fill in gaps in burl woods, opengrained woods, etc. I see no reason it wouldn't work on cork. But like Tom said, Tru-Oil will cure much too fast - the heat generated requires the use of a slower setting compound, such as spar varnish. I might have to try this...

I have had very good luck in the past refinishing existing cork grips by first wiping down with lacquer thinner...letting dry for a couple hours...fill the cracks and voids with FI wood filler [lots of colors and fast drying time]...sanding with 200 between coats of filler, working down to 600...several coats of Minwax spar varnish using 600 between coats. LOOKS GREAT.

TOM...If in the future you will be doing a article on cork in the RodBuilder you may find it to your benefit to get in touch with Jon Britt at Anglers Workshop to see if his dad Jim Britt [retired] could lend a little info on the makeup, etc. of cork as he has hand picked their cork for years by traveling overseas . I have found that they have the best cork ANYWHERE.

Tight Lines
Tight Wraps
Fishin'Stix by Fred



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/01/2007 06:24PM by Tom Kirkman.

One word - BURL 100% i consistant quality, no pits/voids!!!!!!!!!!!

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!!

We've used spar varnish, U-40 Permagloss, and U-40's Cork Seal. Depending on the quality of the cork, it can take 2 to 4 coats to get the "gloss" finish some of our customers like.

We sand between each coat, but we let the coat dry before we sand. We've tried it the other way and it didn't seem to work as well. In any case, we use wet/dry papers with a light touch, in progressive grits from 320 to 800, sometimes up to 1500 grit. Depends on the cork itself. We've also used 0000-fine steel wool, and we always follow up with a tack cloth to get rid of the excess dusty or gritty bits.

We don't like to create a "filler" because that's exactly what the commercial manufacturers do in order to use cheaper cork but still have it look good on the rack. We've been asked to shape some grips, shorten them, or, for example, replace a butt cap with a gimbal, and when we mess with the grips, even on some very big-name, very high-dollar rods, most of the time we find that they've used filler and immediately upon the first sanding it chips and peels, leaving the "true" surface of the cork exposed - and it ain't pretty.

A very long time ago, and far, far away, when I was doing fly rods, I actually had some "flor"-quality rings. It is subjective, but it surely was considerably better than anything I've seen in the past few years. I kept some for comparison when I looked for more cork. I finally had to use it. I never saw any pre-built grips of that quality. It was, indeed, not only almost flawless and a beautiful almost-white color, but it had a really smooth feel all round. The quality went all the way through each ring. It rarely chipped or peeled when you were working with it. It's sort of like the current situation at the lumber yards - what they consider "top quality" today wouldn't even have been wall studs just a few years ago (and at double the price, by the way).

Uncle Russ
Calico Creek Rods

Corkwork is very personal. As Tom's said ( and many other folks as well) many times, extra, grade A, flor, etc, mean diddley with no photographic reference. it depends on your country, and major suppliers. A minor side bar, going to improving cork's appearance:
I have never seen a ring sold in its real colour.
Every supplier I have purchased from, sells cork that's been faked to look white, and pretty. This to sell all the rings. Who'd intentionally buy a near black ring?
Faked is the catchall term to avoid folks saying I'm wrong using blonding, bleaching, painting, etc. Faked fits.
Because they are. If cosmetically altered sounds better, OK. But:
Take these fake rings, laminate them, and sand them to the contour of your desires.
What? not white? woah.... there's a brown one, a grey one, a yellowish one...oh look, a pink one !!! Your grip then looks like some kind of pinto pony. Back to the opening line. Personal. Some folks like this style of grip. Others do not.
Some folks treasure the "patina" a grip gets after a few seasons of body oils, dirt, fish parts, etc. The "patina" re-coats the corks with a uniform shade of an interesting colour, which may be the intent, to hide the weird colours of cork rings popping out after sanding.
Based on retail pricing of compontry, good corks represent a decent percentage of the cost of a custom rod. (ergo: 15 rings at 2.50 a ring)
I enjoy doing corkwork, and wish to show it off, not hide it. I buy by the 2000 lots.
I wash the rings by the hundred, in the clothes machine, to pull off most of the fake whiting. Then, I can spot the dramatically off-colour rings, and put them to one side, for later use. The ones chosen are placed on a 1/4" mandrel, and given a light sanding with 400 wet dry, to pull off more remaining fakery, to fine-tune the colour check.
Removal is about 1/128th on the radius, 1/64th on the diameter. Not much. A grip can then be laid up with rings that blend together a lot better.

The best way to make Bad Cork look good other than buying better cork is to fill the voids/sand and cover with Rod Armour or one of it's equivilents.

Regards
Dave

Fishing is Life the rest is just Details

Well, I've continued experimenting with wetsanding cork with varnish. I contacted the guy who recommended it to me originally to make sure that I was doing it right. He recommended using Helmsman Spar varnish. He also recommended sanding the grip first and leaving the dust on it. This helped to create a paste that filled in the holes.

I tried his recommendations. Unfortunately, it did not make mediocre cork look like "flor" quality. It did fill in the voids, but it also darkened them. On the positive side, I think it looked better than tru-oil on regular cork. It didn't bring out the grey swirls and grain as much. The end result had a pleasant antiqued look.

Coincidentally, he posted some pictures of a rod that he recently finished. You can see the dark spots where the voids were on his grip: [farm3.static.flickr.com] He may have used some sort of poly stain on it first. It still gives you the basic idea.