Ask Pearow to post a pix of a grip wet sanded/varnished. Then you can have supergrade grips. Don

Orvis grips as a whole are junk...there are some nice grips on their higher end rods, but even on some of the Superfines, the grips are junk. Scott grips have a lot of filler too!

I was told a few years ago that the wine makers get the best cork. They're a huge customer and demand the top stuff--voids in a wine cork render it useless. Rod building is just a tiny drop in the bucket in comparison. I don't know how true it is but at least it gives us someone to blame :-)

I agree with J--it really is a crap shoot. I've purchased batches of cork rings that were gorgeous, and a month later bought more from the same place and they were horrible. I also tried purchasing pre-built Struble "premium" grips and they weren't any better than the cheaper stuff. There was a custom rod builder in Austin for a while who would let me pick through his cork rings when I bought blanks from him. He always had a few big boxes of it and I could count on getting a nice grip that way.

Yep Jerry is right, the winemakers get all the best cork, everyone else is secondary at best. I don't turn my own grips yet but when I start I will probably just go with a burl cork. Not nearly as much of a crap shoot that way.

J.

just a few; maybe there's one good pic in the bunch; I'm not a good photographer-p-

not slick at all; in fact it is less slippery than straight cork; when it gets wet, it is easier to grip. Yeah, I didn't believe it either. Some of those are done with Miniwax, colonial maple stain; the last pic was of an old rod with very cheap cork; very old and brittle cork; the treatment actually gave life back to the old grip. A couple that appear to have no stain are done with true-oil; one coat of true oil, sanded wet with 300,500,600,1000, then 1200; then another very light coat after the sanding is my favorite way to treat them; the cork seems to be softer, almost velvety in feel. I learned all this from Don, who is the Master; I'm just a "grasshopper"-p-

I generally use my all purpose General Arm-R-Seal for grips, although Tru-oil is excellent for the purpose. You can add a little stain to a medicine cup of Arm-R-Seal or other varnish and get a very light tint to the cork. It is like putting the cork under a soft filter camera lens. It softens out all the grain and filled pits. I will put multiple coats on a grip to change its color. Be advised that you can stop wet sanding at 600 unless you want a perfectly smooth grip. Don't use multiple coats of Tru-oil as it is too yellow. After all the coats are dry I mask off the hardware and buff hard with 0000 steel wool. Thanks for the pix P. Don

Where do you get the true oil?

Woodcrafter's for the Arm-R-Seal. It is a wipe on varnish. I use it for everything. Don

you can get true-oil at wal-mart; gun section