I would like to dye cork rings to dress up a rod handle for a distaff client. I am considering blues / purples on a pink spinning rod blank. (My wife chose these colors). I cannot find anything in the files cocerning this subject.
1). Please share anything that workedfor you.
2). Please share things that DID NOT work for you

I tried dying cork with RIT dye. Used hot water and soaked for a long time. It didn't work. Basically, it just rinsed off. Maybe someone else has another method. Good luck. I will follow this thread.

This has been talked about a lot on here. Dyes and stains as will mini soak into the cork. You can put stain on and seal it or it will wear off.

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Super Tight Lines......Don

Yes, this does come up.

Cork is very dense and does not absorb water, dye, stain or anything else very well. You can change the color slightly with stain, but you have to seal it or it rubs off eventually. Your best bet is to gain color by using burl or burnt cork products.

Terry

Hi Rex,
I did it once to see how it would turn out. I dyed the cork with wood stain, let it dry overnight then sealed it with one coat of permagloss. Turned out better than I expected and it feels ok, sort of like cork with cork sealer. Still feels like cork but the permagloss should keep the stain intact. You should do a test piece with those colours to see how it turns out. Without the permagloss the stain will wear off very quickly, I did a test on a stained ring and after less than two minutes of rubbing with a nail brush most of the stain was gone.
A link to a picture of the one I did.[www.rodbuilding.org]

ESFNEM Col
Port Kembla, NSW
Australia



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/18/2012 05:40PM by Col Chaseling.

Rex,
Probably a better bet to dress up the handle is to use rings of contrasting products to dress up your handle, rather than trying to dye the cork which simply doesn't work.

i.e. Eva, acrylic, birch bark, etc. etc. etc.

Roger

Thanks for rapid feedback from all you guys.
I will continue to look for something other than RIT. For anything to work on cork, it seems as if the rings must be turned as a handle unit and then dye the rings & glue them together. This will be a time consuming process, but it might help sell more of the custom rods to the ladies anyway.

Side note - I discovered years ago that if want to get your wife into fishing (or hunting) you need to start her out with the best and lightest equipment you can afford. I have many hunting & fishing photos to prove this point.

Flocking, carbon sleeving, alternative material inlays, etc. are ways to add desired colors. As noted, cork will NOT hold dye, paint, stain, etc. for any length of time using any method.

Cork does not absorb liquid, therefore, it will not hold dye. That's why they use it for wine bottles.

jeremy

Cork is a closed cell structure, so it will NOT absorb liquids. Many have tried water based, solvent based, vacuum and pressure methods, they don't work!

Staining and over coating with a finish like Perma Gloss like Col mentions should work if you like the finished feel.