I was thinking of marbling a cork handle for a rod for my nephew. Looking to paint it orange with some black and white as the marbling pigments. Attempt to make it camo like.

The handle is a pistol grip which i will probably mount on a test blank to paint it up.

Any pointers in marbling a cork pistol grip?

good luck as the paint will set on top of the cork, it don't stick to cork very well, same as colored rings the color set's on top of rings ,
not in the cork an wears off real fast , for what I know about it , if you want a handle like that get a carbon fiber grip [ many colors ] , can paint it also

William Sidney
AK

PacBay introduced a molded polyurethane foam grips that can be marbled. One of these appears to be a pistol grip. Look on page 11 of the 2017 catalog supplement to see some examples. [www.fishpacbay.com]
This link is what they sell for at mudhole. [www.mudhole.com]
Norm

Ken,
If you want to marble a fishing rod grip - use something other than cork for the grip material. As Bill stated, cork is a closed cell material that does not absorb stain or paint and ends up being a waste of time to try.

Good luck

Thanks Norm! I think that will work out great!

Hi Ken,

I've marbled cork before and it has turned out great. Contrary to what has already been stated, the epoxy adheres perfectly fine to the exterior of clean cork; ever miss a spot of epoxy on the cork when assembling your rod? Rod blanks don't absorb stain or paint, but we don't hesitate to put epoxy on them.

The only issue you may have in marbling any type of pistol grip, is the irregular shape. Even allowing the epoxy to set up a bit before marbling, rotating it like normal may not keep the epoxy from running or shifting. You may have to do it completely by hand, and change your angles to combat individual runs.

Also, here is another option: [youtu.be]

I haven't tried this method.

Take care,

Chris



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/02/2017 09:49AM by Chris Herrera.

Hi Ken,

One more thing, due to the pitted nature of the cork, you may want to do a first coat of epoxy or CP to prevent air bubbles from disrupting your marbling as it dries. I did not do this the first time, and had to deal with a couple of bubbles.

Chris

I havent gotten the materials yet for this build so my approach is still up in the air. Im leaning more toward the foam option as it seems like that might be an easier approach. The pistol grip is going to be a bit difficult, I may try the hand turning as I go..not sure yet.