Hello,

I have seen a few pictures in magazines, of fly rods that have a very thin darker ring between each indivdual cork ring. It gives the appearance of a older fly rod, although the rod is new. how is this done? I will be building a new rod, and am thinking of trying this type of grip.

Thanks

Paul Kalbrener
Bremen, Germany

It's just a matter of sandwiching narrow rings, dark burnt cork or something, in-between the regular rings. There was a photo in RodMaker not too long ago where we had installed very narrow 1mm rings of black EVA between each regular cork ring. These effects aren't hard at all to get but you do have to make up your own grips from individual rings to do it.

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You can also use black/grey auto gasket material sandwiched between the cork rings

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!!

Like Mike said rubberized cork for a darker ring, regular cork for a ring just a few shades darker and a texture change from the cork rings. Used to be able to get it in a few colors that were added to the bonding agent from certain companies, not sure if they still do that in today's international market.

It will not be a think ring but to get a older, 'antique" look you can stain the face of the ring with dark wood stain before you apply the epoxy or glue. Golden Witch also sells a stain designed for getting this effect.

Juar take a toothpick and scrape a bit of pigment from the bottom of the Testers enamel paint and mix it with Flexcoat or Rodbuilders glue. Mix pigment in well and add more pigment until you get the desired color than use it as usual to cement the corkrings. This makes a very fine line between each cork ring.

Moushka