I was getting ready to start a new rod and checked my supply of cork rings and found I didn't have any on hand. So, as I have done in the past I went to Mudhole and started checking prices. Am I missing something or are they selling individual rings for around $3 each? That's about $45 for a cork handle. Not sure but I think I can buy the whole handle ready to go for less than that made with high-quality cork. What am I missing, or did I just misread the site?

If that is the case, I will start looking for handle alternative materials. I have built handles with cotton wood bark in the past and it is pretty nice, but a little too dark for me. I may have to experiment and see if I can bleach it to a more pleasing color.

EVA is another possibility and I have seen some beautiful work with this material. However, I have not had much luck finding articles or Videos on some of the advanced techniques for the interesting patterns I have seen.

So any suggestions for alternative materials? I have looked into birch bark, but we don't have any locally, and it's pretty pricy too.

Thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions.

I've been paying $3+ for cork rings for years. That's what you have to do if you want grips that do not need pit-past to fill holes.
Herb

Alternatives - foam-core, carbon skins, carbon tubes, leather wrap over cheap cork or foam core, flocked grips also over cheap cork or foam core, shrink tube handles, wood, etc. Lots of options to choose from.

RodMaker is filled with dozens and dozens of articles on techniques, basic to advanced, for making various type handles and grips.

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Hello All.
I think more has been written about handles than anything else in rod building.
This is not all of them either.

Volume/Issue......Article........................Author...................................Page.
17/6 Handle And Seat Comfort. 22
20/5 Handle Length for Surf Rods Pt.1. By Tom Kirkman. 10
11/6 Handle With A Bareback. By Stan McClean. 16
11/2 Handle, Hot (Hand Warmers In The Handle). 10
13/3 Handle, LSH/USH Revisited. By Tom Kirkman. 10
15/6 Handle, Rod The Simplest And perhaps… still the most practical! 16
15/5 Handle, Single Piece Concept. By Tom Kirkman. 22
15/6 Handle, Spinning SSG-TN. By Rich Forhan 12
9/4 Handle, Spinning SSG-TN. By Rich Forhan 22
24-6 Handle: Cheater Rod Handles? By Tom Kirkman. 16
10/1 Handle: Tennessee, Here Is A Better One. 22
14/5 Handles & Grips, Stacked Leather. By Larry and Raymond Adams. 16
14/6 Handles & Grips, Stacked Leather. By Larry and Raymond Adams. 14
9/4 Handles for Featherweight Rods. By Gene Bullard. 28
20/5 Handles Made from Synthetic Leather. By Nuno Paulino. 14
16/1 Handles Of Fish & Of Wood, Make your Own! By Bill Ballou. 18
17/3 Handles Of Wood, Custom and Easy, The Hardest Part Has Already Been Done. By Bill Colby. 22
7/4 Handles Of Wood, They Are Unique for Custom Rods. By Ray Jergensen. 22
9/2 Handles, Birch Bark . By Antti Kymalainen. 10
18/5 Handles, Cord Under Glass. By Tom Kirkman. 16
9/3 Handles, Cord Wrapped . By Emory Harry. 10
15/6 Handles, Corded Tennessee By Tom Kirkman. 22
17/2 Handles, Improved Tenneessee. By Tom Kirkman. 18
18/4 Handles, Shrink Tube. By Capt. Mike Ballard. 26
13/1 Handles, Veneered Carbon Tube. By Steve Gardner. 10
12/5 Handles; Off Center Turning. 26


Enjoy!

Tight Wraps & Tighter Lines.

Instead of Mud Hole, I would suggest you use another sponsor of this forum, Custom Fly Grips LLC. They are an excellent place to deal with, and have a pretty wide selection of rings as well as other materials to choose from. And if they have it in stock, it ships very fast, and at a reasonable price.

Nothing against Mud Hole mind you, they're a great place to deal with.

But materials for making cork grips isn't their main business. It is at Custom Fly Grips LLC.

Take a peek at our Sale page.
And, more will be posted soon.
Here is a link;
[www.schneidersrods.com]

Best wishes,
Ron Schneider
Schneider's Rod Shop
Mountain Home, Arkansas
[www.schneidersrods.com]
mtnron40@yahoo.com
870-424-3381

If you’re talking Flor grade, yes, but I didn’t even think Mudhole offered that grade.

Be careful - so called flor grade can be anything the dealer says it is as there is no percent grade nor photographic standard for what constitutes "Flor" or any other grade (Gene Bullard made up the term "flor.). This was the point of the RodMaker Cork Grade Scale I set up several years ago, By providing an actual photographic and percent clarity scale you know what you're getting before you get it. [www.rodmakermagazine.com]

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The Cork4US cork seemed like a good deal for the quality you get. Bought a bunch at last year’s Expo. I think they will be there again this year. If I’m not mistaken, I think it is sold by HFF Custom rods and maybe Custom Rod Grips.
Norm

John, Billy over on the NERBs site has a fairly extensive bit of eva grip design for a nominal fee.

Take a look at the Portugal imporers of cork. Some of them have surprisingly high quality cork for surprisingly low prices.

Best wishes

Never ever put bad cork under other materials.

Great ideas and suggestions all. I now have good alternatives and places to shop.

I bought 200 exceptional cork rings back in 1999 for $1.20 each. As close to voidless as I've ever seen. I got out of making rods while my kids were growing up. Now that I am back into it they have become a kind of prized possession, put only on special projects. $3 a ring is crazy!

An epoxied carbon skin sleeve is the perfect thing to use to hide marginal cork.

I don't know = $3 per cork ring is a bargin these days.

I was just in the store yesterday, purchasing senior pads for my spouse.

Two years ago, a package of 60 seniour pads was $6 and 23 cents.

Yesterday, the very same package of 60 senior pads was $28 and 14 cents.

It seems to me that this is about a rate of 400% inflation.

Be grateful, if you an buy any cork rings for $3 per ring.

Best wishes.

Simply put, our dollars are worth about 40 cents compared to 10 years ago. (or so it would seem when purchasing many different items today).

Spencer Phipps Wrote:
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> An epoxied carbon skin sleeve is the perfect thing
> to use to hide marginal cork.


Interestingly, that is exactly 1/2 of the equation that resulted in the first foam-core, carbon-skinned grips. Andy Dear was doing this exact thing with some poor pre-formed cork he got from either All-Star or Cast-a-Way.

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$3.00 per ring for really nice Flor rings is normal. Fortunately for me I like the look (charactor) of B-Grade rings which can be bought for $.50 per ring.

HFF Custom Rods has lots of great quality burl cork rings at .68 each. I really like the River pattern, comes with a colored "binder" if you want. Classy, not gaudy. Burl is significantly heavier than regular cork, but is much more durable. I keep the weight down by using split grips on spin and use only 7 rings total for a ramp off the front (2) , back (2), (pipe style seat usually in size 17), and butt knob (3). With 1/8 inch burnt rings between the 1/2 " rings, it's attractive, interesting, but not busy or gaudy.

NFC has nice light, good looking, functional carbon fiber grips, too. Would cost a lot less than $3.00 rings and IMHO, would look better and be more durable and easier to keep nice.

Hi John, depending on the type of rings you are looking for, TackleZoom sells burl rings for 65 cents each. Top Flor is $2 each. If you are looking for really nice natural cork that won't break the bank I would suggest our Extra or A Grade. The pic below is Extra Grade... It's probably our most popular grade...