OK so my thinking is that I want to toughen and harden the surface of my cork grips. I know I could carbon skin them but don't want to do that. Instead I am looking for a liquid or paint that would coat and form a hard clear surface. CorkSeal from U40 is not really what I want. I want a clear, hard topcoat that will make the cork hard to nick or dent. Make sense?

My first thought was permagloss but I have neard stories of it being hard to brush on large surfaces and I have no way to spray it. Is this true and are there any other better options? Thought about regular thread epoxy too but ruled it out because of the weight and tendency to get scratched and yellow easily. Thx.

Whatever you decide upon please note its going to be a very much surface coat only.
No penetration with cork.
Anything that makes it harder, well why you using cork and not say carbon over foam or cored wood or?
Lots of harnesses of wood. Must be one that would suit, bore and core and weight will be similar enough that its not a biggie for many applications.

Chuck i had a customer that wanted, I mean ordered me, to paint on 3-4 coats Polyurethane on his grips. I gave him the whole "I'm not responsible for the repairs etc.." conversation and started painting. LOL they turned out great!!! they retained the cork color and he claimed they were not slick at all. That was back in the late 90's and I have never heard any negative feedback. I simply put the rod in the dryer and applied the poly to the grip while the rod was turning. I applies the next coat after about 2-3 hours.

I have used the epoxy for coating carbon fiber handles over the cork ends and inlays that I put in those carbon grips. They fill gaps and gives a perfectly smooth finish. I know of another builder who sometimes uses polyurethane (5-6 coats) over his cork grips for a similar look.

Super glue. I do it for wood reel seats all the time. get the thinnest stuff you can find and do multiple coats. it will soak in to a point and then just build layers from there. my local True Value hardware carries a 10 pack of original super glue. for an average fly grip it takes about 3 of the little tubes. with enough coats you can even buff it to a gloss. the middle one in the picture is cottonwood soaked with super glue.
[www.rodbuilding.org]

Chuck,

I use PG to coat all of my grips, regular cork or burl. I apply it with a coffee filter, or other lint free paper. I put gloves on, saturate the filter, and apply. I put it on before I epoxy the grip to the rod. I really like the way the grips turn out.

Chris

I have thinned thread finish and put on at a faster speed a heavy coat
sanded then put more Three usually works well

Any holes you will have to put the heavy coat on Then go back after that has set up and fill
Unless you fill them before and then coat Depending on grade of cork used
It will give the cork a golden color I like the color ??

This works well
[www.klasskote.com]

Bill - willierods.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/08/2014 05:13PM by bill boettcher.

4-5 coats of Brichwood-Casey Tru-oil, it is a gunstock and furniture top coat finish. I use it on all my personal rods and for many customers, touch up once every 4-5 years.

Ray is right on I foegot about that

Bill - willierods.com

I have had luck with Polly or marine varnish. I have used both. It is going to give the handle an antiqued look though.

Perma Gloss is just the ticket for what you want to do.

TruOil gets harder with more coats and sanding. I also use General Finishes' Outdoor Oil which was formulated for outdoor furniture.

The Outdoor Oil hardens but feels less plasticy.

Do any of these finishes add significantly to the grip diameter? Say, to the point that you compensate by sanding down a little extra prior?

Mike,

PG adds nothing to the diameter of the grip. But I only wipe on 1-2 layers.

Chris

I'm guessing that a regular sheet of typing/computer printer paper is about 1 mil thick (or thereabouts) It would take many, many, many coats of PG to equal 1 mil thickness.

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

I don't sand between coats of Tru-Oil but just hit it with 0000 steel wool. Maybe my tactile senses have declined with age, but I don't really notice the increase in hardness due to the coats of Tru-Oil, as in normal fishing circumstances , very little of my hand comes in contact with the cork and even then, it's usually the soft pad area of the palm of my hand..