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New Dawn Rods

Just good old slug pellets do the job around my hostas and Christmas cake on the traps, when you have a dead mouse in the trap and the cake is uneaten you know you have caught the last one.
 
Neil - yes, it's just a tactility/aesthetic thing with cork. I had a couple of rods with what I think is called a shrink wrap handle, i.e. both plastic and abbreviated, but neither cork nor duplon. Anyway I had cork handles put on both at the cost of £90 each. Love them now, even if the handles blew the cost sky high.
 
Adrian Williams said:
Just good old slug pellets do the job around my hostas and Christmas cake on the traps, when you have a dead mouse in the trap and the cake is uneaten you know you have caught the last one.
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Ade, please don't do that again. I was in a state of shock until I Googled 'Hostas' :eek:

Cheers, Dave.
 
Adrian Williams said:
Just good old slug pellets do the job around my hostas and Christmas cake on the traps, when you have a dead mouse in the trap and the cake is uneaten you know you have caught the last one.
Click to expand...

Hostas! Blimey if you can keep slugs of those things you are doing well.

Best slug repellent bar none is copper wire, it really does work.

And very bird/ mammal friendly too.
 
Richard Parsons said:
Neil - yes, it's just a tactility/aesthetic thing with cork. I had a couple of rods with what I think is called a shrink wrap handle, i.e. both plastic and abbreviated, but neither cork nor duplon. Anyway I had cork handles put on both at the cost of £90 each. Love them now, even if the handles blew the cost sky high.
Click to expand...

Must admit prefer the feel of cork too, but my wallet will like Duplon :)

Never heard of shrink wrap handles, but I assume they were good rods to justify the expense with the cork handles.

Actually as a lad I used to make rods (not Bob Gill's standard :)) but did make a reasonable job of the cork handles.

I wonder :rolleyes:
 
Cork - expensive, variable (little consistency within grades) and a bit messy to work. Usually needs quite a bit of work to get good result.
Duplon - cheapish, consistent and available in various shapes, lengths, bores. Can get away with no finishing. Can soak up grot and moisture and surface crack with time.
Shrink wrap - fine and consistent but very limited with what you can do with it.

It takes time and effort to make a nice cork handle, but IMO nothing gets near the feel. Been a number of attempts at synthetic cork and all so far have not made it.

Picture of start to finish of a cork handle:
Top: Finished item Harrison Torrix, KDPS reel seat, hardwood foregrip.
Middle Top: Turned handle
Middle Lower: All glued up on rod blank and mounted on lathe for turning
Bottom: The makings - shives, reel seat and hardwood.

wholething800.jpg


That's why when done properly it costs quite a bit. If you buy shives at retail, these can run out in excess of £1.20 each - or more. I buy in bulk usually by the 1000. At 1/2" thick then you are talking around 40 to 50 per handle.

Cheers
Bob
 
Neil - no, pretty cheap rods (one from Ebay and one swap from a chap on here), both about £40, though great blanks and worth a lot more. The price of the handles still causes the occasional palpitation. I'll probably never buy another rod though. :)

Cheers for that, Bob. It's not just about the cork, is it? All the trimmings push up the cost as well. :) And yes, I agree that the feel of cork is superlative if, as you say, it's done right.
 
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Hi Bob. Beautiful.

I tend to give my cork handles a very fine rub over with light sandpaper at the end of the season. Can you recommend anything to then coat them with..if needed, to make them a bit waterproof, or is this not a good idea?

Cheers

Graham
 
Graham, if you sand them you remove a little bit every time.
I use a solution of washing up liquid on mine with a Scotchbrite sponge, if that doesn't work I step up to a kitchen degreaser, Aldi Power Force is the best one I have ever found. It should be like new by now but if there are still stubborn stains I use Cif cream and the rough side of the Scotchbrite sponge That has a mild bleach and a scouring action which should get them spotless.
I like to leave mine natural but I suppose a smear of boiled linseed oil wouldn't hurt, You could use peppermint oil to keep the mice away.

Bob do you ever use the sheet cork on the wood former like the old Allcocks Wizard (et al)?
 
Graham, Thanks. I usually clean up handles with washing up liquid and a soft brush. Make sure you wash it off thoroughly. For stubborn areas Ade's way is good. Tackle carefully as any filler can be washed out. For sealing cork I hear this is OK, but somewhat loses the feel of cork.

U 40 Cork Seal

Richard, Yes the fittings, stripping and bits increase the price. Often, to do properly, then any rings may have to be taken off the butt section and also redone. In some cases it's possible to replace from back but not my preferred method as it can involve padding the handle out with masking tape or something else.

Ade, I used to use sheet cork on my own beach casters where the blank diameter was high and I didn't care for the materials offered at the time. Used to do his as a abbreviated type grip where the cork sheet was spirally wrapped and glued to the blank. Worked and felt good. Talking older rods, occasionally find a handle with the cork bark cut differently - at 90 degrees to the norm - the 'pits' in the cork appearing like small holes rather than longer strip voids. Bought a big bag of shives (unintentionally) like this once.
Have used other cork products (mostly reconstituted cork products) and in some cases for certain applications they are very suitable. Reconstituted weighs about 2.5x of normal cork. Drennan use/used this on some of their rods for their balanced handles eg Drennan Tench Float.

Cheers
Bob
 
Interesting what you say about the different way of cutting the bark Bob, It sounds like it could be the equivalent of quarter sawn.
 
I guess, with hindsight, that £90 wasn't too bad then, Bob? I probably had the effect of seeming overly-expensive because I had two refurbished at the same time. A chap by the name of Colin Leatherbarrow did them for me (he lives just around the corner from me). Nice fella.....
 
Haven't tried that one Paul, but some others are well carp. Having a fair bit of corkdust around have been making my own for years - much cheaper!
Sorry....
Cheers
Bob
 
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