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Oiling a cork handle

Ian Woods said:
I always have a piece of old towel hanging off my waist also and like to keep my hands as clean as possible whilst fishing. I have no odea how people cope with having their hamnds caked in grounbait etc whilst fishing, deffo not my style!
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Ditto! This is me too. I absolutely detest having my hands all caked up with crappy ground bait. I don’t go to the lengths of having wet wipes in the van to clean handles, it now you mention it I just might start to….🙄

To be fair though I find that my rod handles don’t get to mucky when I’m using them so I must be quite clean when I’m fishing, even if I’m unaware of it.
 
Mike Hodgkiss said:
Be very careful with using any abrasive material on cork rod handles , take too much off
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this is why I use P320 silicone carbide. Sand very lightly and It’s so fine that it just sands the grime off the surface rather than removing any cork material. I’ve done this with over 30 rods and have yet to have any reel bands become too loose to hold the reel tightly.
 
Varnished cork, in all its glory.

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I had a holiday, probably 2019 ,part of it in Corsica.
Richard Isaacs said:
Top quality cork is a fortune yeah.
Daiwas are about the best I’ve found for putting something really nice on off the shelf rods.
Some of the old shimano rods were terrible. More fill than cork 😂
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In chalet surrounded by cork trees. Absolutely fascinating to see the depth the cork can grow too even though regularly cut and removed. Seemed they cut it rectangularly about 150cm x say 80cm or so in panels. Some pealed layers seemed about 40/50 mm deep. I had often wondered how deep it grew for wine corks etc, Left me with the impression that unfarmed, it can grow very thick. There were samples in club house etc which were simply huge but how this affects the quality no one seemed to know. I think a wine cork depth seems to be the commercial choice.
But I love my cork handles, don't think a rod without seems aesthetically right to me but regret now not getting into burl a little more.
 
I bought some brummer cork stopper a few years ago. That stopped up holes in used older rods I had then. A light sand and it was fine and mucky hands covered with ground bait soon seemed to blend the light colour.
 
Ian Woods said:
AH, the old placcy on the cork scenario 😱😁🤣. I'm afraid i'm guilty of keeping the placcy on the handles as long as it stays intact. To be honest I like it, it actually feels warm in winter and without doubt keeps your cork lovely and clean.
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At least the plastic will stop all that filler falling out of those nasty Drennan handles 😂
Every cloud 😜
 
Stuart Linton said:
I actually prefer full duplon on my barbel rods. There..I said it.
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Are you sure it's Duplon? I'm quite happy with EVA but wouldn't touch Duplon with a bargepole. It compresses, absorbs dirt and develops a hard shiny skin over time. I avoided EVA for a long time based on my negative experiences with Duplon in the 80s/early 90s. Fortunately, I gave in eventually after more positive experiences with reels that had EVA grips. Since getting a rod with a full EVA handle and growing to like it, I've fitted an EVA handle to an old rod I shortened and refurbished.

Richard Isaacs said:
At least the plastic will stop all that filler falling out of those nasty Drennan handles 😂
Every cloud 😜
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I have one out of eight that really isn't good. It has more filler than the next closest in quality. Even worse is that the filler has shown more propensity to drop out. The very best of them is reasonably good, but none of them feature particularly high quality cork. I have a feeling that really good quality cork may be a thing of the past on all but the most expensive rods. I have a top line Daiwa rod from a couple of years back that has a handle with just 2" (top) to 2.75" (bottom) of cork in an otherwise EVA handle. I really don't know why they bothered. As it happens, they've done away with cork on the current second in the range Airity-X Slim rods.
 
Chris Jones said:
Are you sure it's Duplon? I'm quite happy with EVA but wouldn't touch Duplon with a bargepole. It compresses, absorbs dirt and develops a hard shiny skin over time. I avoided EVA for a long time based on my negative experiences with Duplon in the 80s/early 90s. Fortunately, I gave in eventually after more positive experiences with reels that had EVA grips. Since getting a rod with a full EVA handle and growing to like it, I've fitted an EVA handle to an old rod I shortened and refurbished.
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I say duplon as a generic term, I thought duplon and eva were the same thing. They are on my original Drennan specialist power barbel that I still use. I asked a friend to quote me for some new rods recently and if I go ahead, will still have duplon/eva. I like the feel of it, the way it grips under the forearm. It grips in the butt rest quite well too. It is certainly not a popular aesthetic, that's an acquired taste 🙂
 
Richard Isaacs said:
I’ve heard the cork used on the hardy marksman range of rods is up there with the best of the best
Never had one myself but surely as an owner of quite afew you don’t keep those bad boys rapped up do you?
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Yea, I leave it on them also, but I do remove it when it splits or gets peels back and allows water to enter beneath it.
You are right, the cork on the hardy rods is very nice quality.

As I said in an earlier post it would be interesting to see a float rod handle kitted out with the Japanese shrink wrap that is often fitted to carp rods. It would be very easy to keep clean and I imagine it wouldn't stain like cork and last a long time.
 
Chris Jones said:
I have one out of eight that really isn't good. It has more filler than the next closest in quality. Even worse is that the filler has shown more propensity to drop out. The very best of them is reasonably good, but none of them feature particularly high quality cork. I have a feeling that really good quality cork may be a thing of the past on all but the most expensive rods
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It was a more tongue in cheek Micky take comment at Ian for his plastic handles rather than an actual stab at drennan cork.
I don’t find the acolyte handles too bad. Yes there’s lots of filler in it but the colour match is excellent and it doesn’t fall out.
 
Free spirit handles are bloody awful. They have done it for years on their highest quality shit aswell.
Really thin hard feeling cork.
Quite frankly would be hard to tell the difference between that and a broom handle littered with wood worm if you didn’t actually look at it.
 
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