From what I can tell the Flor Plus grade of cork is the highest and best grade, then Flor, then Super, then the A groupings. Is this correct.
Also, do the burled cork products come with any grading? How does the burl cork compare in weight?

Thanks,

Todd

Cork grades are arbitrary at best! They can be called pretty much what ever the dealer wants to call them. There is no uniformity or consistancy You might want to post and ask for opinions on where to get good cork (good luck)

With Burl cork, every piece is pretty much perfect (never had a bad piece) and is consistant. It is a bit heavier, but in the butt where it's not that big a deal. For many (myself included) burl is now the cork of choice! Besides the standard burl there is the beautiful varieties of exotic burl available from Andy Dear (Lamar Fishing, on the left) It's awesome stuff! In my opinion, the best use for regular cork is as a base for Flocking.

This is, of course, MY opinion! Your mileage may vary!!
.

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!

Also, check the Rodbuilder Magazine site for the issue on Cork Grading.

Bill in WV

Mike is right. Andies burl is nice stuff !! And I don't think is at all heavy.

I'm with Mike on this. imo, one of the other advantages of Andy's exotic burl is that the various shades are the same across the different types. For example, if you use the burnt for dark solid inlays, the brown in the inlays will be the same brown as the brown that makes up the burl in the other types (sorry, I've forgetten which Texas bay name matches up with the name of the burl type).

Is there a big difference in burl cork and burl bamboo?

Todd

I checked one time and standard burl cork is almost exactly three times as heavy as regular cork. But remember this added weight is almost perfectly balanced in your hand so does not add to the swing weight much. I think Andy's cork is very similar in weight to standard burl.
There is an issue with Andy's cork though. I think it evaporates! If you have several kinds of cork in boxes or drawers etc, after a few grips, you will notice that the rings of exotic burl are all gone. POOF!
Bamboo burl is also cool but so far I haven't been able to find it in rigs, just completed grips.

Bill
What do you mean " poof " ?

todd, when you ask about a difference between standard burl and bamboo burl, do you mean in weight or appearance? i feel there is a big difference in appearance between all three burl cork types (bamboo/standard/andy's exotic) so don't let the common denominator "burl" name throw you. not sure on the weights. andy's exotic burl is very very cool. and pacific bay's bamboo burl cork is also very very cool. i personally don't care for the look of standard burl cork.

also, you're basically correct with the terms "flor," "flor plus," etc. but those terms don't mean very much when it comes to specifically describing what the cork looks like. the definition varies from one vendor to another, perhaps even week by week. the printed magazine rodmaker, related to this site, published articles on a new grading scale based on photos to help set a new standard for grading cork and describing the quality. except for the terms CG1, CG2 and CG3, it relies on actual photographs. the success of this new scale is dependent on how many vendors decide to adopt the new scale. i hope it becomes the industry standard but only time will tell. from what i've read there ARE vendors, specific sponsors of this site (see to the left) that have adopted the new scale and can tell you what their current cork stock resembles. you first have to get ahold of the benchmark photos showing CG1, CG2 and CG3.

bill, as for the availability of pac bay's bamboo burl in rings, i once asked my region's pac bay rep about it and he said (if i recall correctly) that the bamboo burl grips are still new and they're waiting to see how much demand there will be for the cork. if anyone is interested in these as rings, you should contact pac bay and share that interest.

eric
fresno, ca.

Just a Joke, Meaning of all the different types of cork in the drawer, It seems that I always reach for the exotic, and before I know it, its all gone!

Oh, thought you were saying some thing was wrong with it ??

Nope, Bill W. was joking about the fact that you can't get enough of the stuff. It is that cool. Who wouldn't want a grip that looks like a chocolate chip cookie?