Which of these three common materials do you prefer for your grips? (Or do you prefer another material altogether?)

Do you prefer one over the other for a specific reason or purpose? Mix them up? What's your rationale?

I'm using CF more often these days. However, my love-affair with cork has not gone away by any means. To be honest, I've never used EVA because I don't like the feel nor look of it - and it is associated in my mind with Saltwater or
off-the-rack 'Big Cat' rods that feel like a Tank Antenna, not a fishing rod. Am I being unfair to EVA?

For me, the carbon fiber use is totally dependent on the core underneath it. The core, after all, is the "magic" not the carbon fiber.

EVA is a terrible choice if it is the material that will actually be in your casting or fish fighting hand.

Cork remains an excellent choice for a wide variety of uses because it is reasonably rigid and very light. Then you have the composite cork types that can be even better, other than the weight. Of course, the weight can be greatly reduced by coring the grips with rigid polyurethane foam.

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

I use cork exclusively because it is very durable and very light. I also prefer a full length grip on my personal rods, but most customers prefer split.

The only time I use EVA is when the customer requests it. In my experience EVA is hard to keep clean and over time it tends to get stiff and crusty.

Fore grips suffer the most wear so I like to use the carbon fiber fore grips because they are durable and require minimum care.

My choice for the rear grip is cork. Cork is functional, comfortable and not to mention traditional.

The bottom line for which grip to use is mainly determined by user preference.

Have fun

Beside personal preference and aesthetics, application is a huge factor in choosing which material is best suited for a particular build. And there are a plethora of other materials not mentioned, wood, birch bark, acrylic / plastic, leather, bull kelp and many others. Is lightness top priority? Comfort? Toughness? Grippy? Cleanability? Ease of fabrication? Is it in and out of rod holders? Or are those considerations thrown aside in favor of what is the most visually appealing? Just about anything (even nothing at all) can be used for a rod handle / grip but attention to the intended task at hand will provide the best, overall result.
I am a huge fan of and partial to cork for my FW builds but it certainly would not serve me well on a tuna stick! Coming from the composite industry, I should be a proponent of foam core CF grips but I just do not care for them. But many do and so be it. Those would also be inappropriate on a tuna stick, especially a rail rod. Most foam such as EVA or Hypalon is not appealing to me due to being spongy, difficult to clean and easy to nick or cut, but I will use it now and then under shrink tubing for an offshore fore grip if I don’t employ my typical cork tape base.
Handle / grip material is best chosen after, 1. knowing the intended use and the priorities of the build and 2. personal preference. It may be wise for one to use as many materials as possible to learn the pros and cons of each rather than guessing or wondering.

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

Hi Les,
IMO -depends on type of rod being built and water it will be used.

Spinning and conventional either cork or a BFG is OK. The CFG will be cold and hard in winter.
Big Game - EVA for fore grip ok for comfort.
Fly rod in fresh water - cork or CFG is OK - but CF will be hard on hands.
Fly in salt water - CF is terrible - hard on hands and very slippery. Been there - done that - removed 4 CFG's from my personal rods in favor of cork. Cork all the time.

Herb
CTS Rep

For serious SW fly fishing--- carbon fiber skin over rigid foam all day!!! It allows you to relax your grip because there is no softness to overcome. For the same energy your casts will be longer and control will be superior. Nothing against cork but on a fly rod CF over rigid foam is the bomb. For use in rod holders I would stay away from anything other than urethane coated cord or nylon grips. EVA, Hypalon and cork just won't stand up in these uses.

Hello All.

I use anything and everything from nothing to aluminum depending on what type of fishing I'm going to use it for.

Tight Wraps & Tighter Lines.

Bob,

New Bern, NC.

There is always Syncork, easy to shape, easy to clean, and firm.

My choice of grip material is strictly based on aesthetics. As a bass fisherman and the way I hold the rod when casting and fishing a bait, there isn't much of my hand the comes in contact with the grips. Even when I'm two handed casting my second hand is only in contact with the rear of the grip for a few seconds, so as long as the grip has a comfortable to grip OD, I don't have a problem with the comfort of any of the grip materials mentioned in the opening post.

EVA and cork don't feel that much different to me, and while carbon fiber skinned grips have a different feel, I don't find it to be irritating to the hand. As far as the having to grip certain grip materials more firmly when casting goes ...... the heaviest weight I throw is 2 oz. I've thrown that weight on rods with EVA, cork, and carbon fiber skinned grips and haven't noticed having to grip any of the rods more firmly than the other. So for me and the weights that i throw, it's a non factor. When fighting a fish I'm holding the reel seat, so again, it's a non factor

As to which material I prefer aesthetically. I'm currently really liking cork grips. But that's only because I started building my own cork grips a couple of years ago. They're a lot of fun to make, and have made grips that to my eye, are about as sweet looking as a grip can be. Using more cork grips has also opened up the wrap thread color closet for me. But I still like the plain black as black can be look of EVA. And carbon fiber grips have that modern look to them so they look sweet as well.

Anyhow ........ for me grip material choice is all about looks. The type and size of the grip (s) is about function



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/14/2023 10:44AM by David Baylor.

Spencer Phipps Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There is always Syncork, easy to shape, easy to
> clean, and firm.


BUT heavy
Herb
CTS

Tom

I would love to hear your story about CF grips as you were the inventor of them. Specifically - What was the spark that started it all for you? The CF grip was and is a game-changing innovation in the rod-building universe.

What is the best range of foam core in your view? I know there are different ratings/pounds of foam. Is it the stiffness-to-weight ratio of the foam that gives it the 'magic'?

I haven't tried a full-foam grip yet, but am very intrigued by the idea and want to try one on my next build. I bought some 2-inch square x 12" +/- foam pieces at an EXPO years ago...wish I had bought fifty of them. Do any of the sponsors sell these today?

Les,

It was a happy accident that occurred between myself and Andy Dear. Andy had been involved in some medical apparatus that utilized carbon skins. He had bought a large quantity of cork from a rod manufacturer that had closed and the quality wasn't what he had hoped for. Thus, he began experimenting with skinning the cork with carbon just to hide the cork flaws and get a futuristic look with the carbon. At the same time, I had completed the article on DIY grip flocking. Cork was the core of choice for flocked grips but that made such grips fairly expensive (they were always referred to as "The Cadillac of Grips on Big Game rods). So I had begun searching for a less expensive core material that still offered a good density at a very light weight. After some experimentation, two-part polyurethane foam turned out to be the answer.

Fast forward a few months and Andy and I were catching up on some matters and we started talking about projects we were involved with. One thing led to another and the foam-core, carbon-skinned grip was born over the phone. It would be another year or so before we published the articles because we both thought there was almost surely some commercial feasibility, and therefore $$, to be made with these type grips. Our problem was in not being able to find a way to reduce the labor intensive process needed to make them. Eventually we realized that others in the business would be more suited to developing a manufacturing process that would make them affordable for the masses, so we published the information and let others run with it.

A quick funny story.... I was at a sportsman/fishing show back around 2008 or so. A gentleman there was selling his line of custom rods and all featured foam-core carbon skinned grips. He walked over and told me how he had invented these grips. As he was telling me about all the advantages of the grips, he happened to notice the embroidery on my sweatshirt "RodMaker Magazine." He just said, "Oh, okay, never mind" and walked off. He's still selling those rods today and probably still claiming to be the inventor, but he knows better.

Yes, the core is key to the grip's performance. Simply putting carbon over any old material (as Andy was doing with the cork) isn't buying you much of anything except a "trendy" look. Carbon, after all, is "in" and the mere appearance of a woven carbon surface is enough to get some people's money. But it's the rigid, lightweight core that provides the "magic."

I doubt Andy would have ever skinned rigid foam and I'm pretty sure I'd have never put a carbon skin over the foam. We were going in two different directions and just happened to collide.

...........

Syncork is actually both lighter and firmer than cork.

Tom

Awesome story and history of the CF grip! Thank you for sharing your mindset and especially your anecdotes from the time!

Amazing how happy accidents came together to make such a Huge impact on our sport, industry, and craft!

I don't know what the future holds as far as innovations in materials and such....the CF grip jumped way ahead of it all, IMO.

I want to like syncork, but I can't get past the aesthetics. I can't stand EVA - it doesn't seem to matter how complex the pattern, it just looks cheap to me - just an inferior product. Carbon fiber and/or skinned grips are the champion when it comes to pure performance - but again, aesthetics... Wood is beautiful, but even cored out, it's so heavy and tough to keep in good enough condition. I guess I'm just a cork guy. Mainly burl cork in its many configs and potential patterns.

Not to shill for NFC but, I love the soft touch CF with the light cores. Reason: Very light, extremely durable, feels good in hand unlike other molded carbon grips that can hurt on pressure points.

If it isn't soft touch then I am using cork. Reason: Good grip, light, Beautiful, and timeless. Not as durable as the above but not a problem when cared for.

I enjoy the soft touch NFC grips, too. It has that cork feel. Handsome looks, too, IMO.

It took me a minute to trust that CF tubes (made by NFC and AM Tac) did not have to be supported with a full-length arbor. Makes fitting and glue-up so much easier - not to mention saving the weight of additional arbors and epoxy.

CF tubes and grips are beastly strong and durable.. Ever try and crush or break one with your hands? Come on! Go for it! Or, save yourself the effort.

For me, a lot depends on the type of fishing.

For basic bottom-fishing rods, I will use EVA. For my higher-end bottom fishing and saltwater jigging rods, I use the G2 carbon fiber system from American Tackle. I also have several inshore rods with 14" cork handles.

For my Trout rods, I like either cork or the G2 Split Grip systems.

For my Slow Pitch rods, it is again the G2 Split Grips.

For my steelhead rods, it is cork.

For Walleye, I use either the G2 system or cork. For kids rods, I use EVA foam.

For my fly rods, it is either the woven carbon fiber (NFC) or high-end Forecast cork grips.

I also have several rods with Winn Grip handles, both full length and split grip.

One thing, I make sure I protect my cork handles by applying Cork Seal to them. I have cork handles from 50+ years ago that are still going strong!

Rich

I don't mind foam grips on boat rods, pretty tough, stays nice looking longer than cork, last a long time. I imagine the lighter colors would show dirt, etc. faster, I've not used it, but some of Billy's grips look pretty good still when looking at the pictures of boat trips.