A Wisconsin based conservation club would like me to do some matching fishing rods for their fund raising banquet this spring. They would like the wraps to be a red/white/blue affair. In the past I have put in Customgrip II disks in the cork handles. Nothing fancy, but when matched with the thread wraps gives it a neat custom look. I have never used white Customgrip II in handles before as I am afraid they will soil when used with the cork handle. These rods are livebait rods and are hand held when fishing to detect bites.

Has anyone used white in the grips before? What are your experiences with the white getting dirty? Can it be cleaned without putting it back on the lathe? Can it be sealed? Any and all help appreciated.
Buzz Butters
Ripon, WI

Buzz soap and water will keep it quite cean, I was surprised at how easy it was to clean, maybe Dick French,might know a better way.

According to Bernie Cohen - soap and water after fishing will do just fine. We all saw the rod that was dropped overboard, only to be fished out another day. The reel had corroded off the rod, the guides were corroded, but the epoxy and the grips were fine. Not quite sure how long it sat in the water, maybe a month or so - long enought for the reel feet to complete rot off the rod. Somehow someone on the same boat where it was dropped fished it out of the water. Talk about a coincidence!!

Billy

Thanks for the info guys, I will go ahead with the white. Great story
Billy 40!

Buzz

Dick - that is a good point about blood. I'm curious - will blood stain any of the other colors of Customgrip? I have a coupleof rods with the Light Brown, Blue, and Grey customgrip, and they are clean as can be. Will the Yellow stain with blood?

One other tip that i've mentioned via Bernie C - do your final sanding with a piece of denim cloth (a spare pair of jeans) this will make the grip so incredibly smooth and even easier to clean.

Billy