Hi!

I've seen some pictures of fly rod grips made of wine/champagne cork. I love the look of them, so I've collected some plugs. :) I tried to sand them, and I had better results with composite cork than natural cork plugs.

Is there someone here, who uses a fly rod assembled with wine cork grip? Is the grip wearing faster then factory made grips? Does it need more or different maintenance then factory handles? Is using composite wine/champagne cork any or lot worse than using factory comopsite cork rings?

Thank You for your answers!

Travis;
I Wrote an article on this subject (RodMaker mag. Vol.13 issue #2) back in 2009

While I don't build fly rods, I've used these (mostly Champagne corks) on rods were sensitivity is not an issue (top water and Alabama rig type rods)
They have held up really well with no problems. I've not noticed any wear on them and based on some rods with regular cork rings, they seemed to hold up better. I too have had better finish results with the composite corks.

On rods requiring any type of touch sensitively I stay with graphite grips.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/05/2015 07:36AM by Steve Gardner.

I'm not sure a fly rod's sensitivity is measurable or significant since the fly angler always has the line in direct contact with his thumb and forefinger.

Tamas,
Cork is cork is cork.
Cork is the bark of the cork tree.
It doesn't matter if the bark is punched out for rod building rings or if it is punched out for wine bottles.

Be safe

Thank You for your help!

Roger, You're right, but there might be defference between glue used to produce champagne cork plug and glue used for making burl cork rod handles. I don't know if there's relevant difference, my question refered to this. It would be sad to mess it up, and to replace the grip one year later.

Tamas;
After six years of extensive use, I've not had to replace one yet. And in their current condition, don't think I will have to in the next several years

There shouldn't be any glue used in quality wind corks, unless you're working with the composite variety. Even then, I doubt it would create any problem.

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

From having a number of wine corks crumble as I was trying to extract them, I don't believe that all cork is created equal. Possibly the good stuff ends up in champagne and the cheaper wines I buy get the crumbly stuff. (I'm not cheap, I'm frugal.)

Crumbling might happen because the tail-spin damages the integrity of the plug, but it can happen to natural cork plugs too.
I have visited a wine cork factory last week to buy a few champagne plugs. In fact all champagne plugs are made of the cheapest matterial, which is a composite made of 2-4 mm sized cork pieces. (Quality champagne cork contain a natural end sheet, but the main part is the same.) And it never crumbles, because it is extracted using no tools, just your hands.
I have started making a full wels grip, I'm excited if it's going to turn out well.