Mentally compare a Leonard made 60-70 years ago to an Elkhorn built yesterday. So many things would be different - Cane vs. Graphite, Nickel Silver Ferrules vs. Self-ferrules, Small guides vs. Large guides, silk thread vs. nylon thread, varnish vs. epoxy, polished metal reel seat vs. anodized alloy metal… Only one thing would not be different, the grip-still made of 1/2" cork rings glued and turned to one of 4-5 classic shapes. Why hasn’t that changed?
There are rods with Eva Foam grips, but those disappear when the price reaches a certain level. I can get Eva Foam wraps to cover cork grips. But cork is still there on all premium rods. That is about the same with all freshwater fishing rods.
Is there something coming to change that, just around the bend or just over the horizon? I am just curious…
Pure speculation on my part but folks like the feel of cork. Doesn’t get slippery ( Unless it is really dirty) transmits the feel of the rod nicely, resilient enough to be easy on the hand, and it is traditional.
Nothing else feels like cork, and lots of stuff has been tried. I have some spin rods w/ foam and have fished fly rods w/ foam and it is not bad, but it is not cork.
Bamboo builders can’t help but be aware that their rods will outlive them. Lots of cork grips still look good after 100 years of use. Few plastics can hope to match that.
AgMD
Why should it change? Cork is the perfect rod grip material. The reason why foam grips exists is that they are cheaper and have lower labor costs. The manufacturers have been able to fool the non-fly fishing types into believing that foam grips are state-of-the art, but not us.
Cork is an absolutly amazing material and no one has yet to develop a synthetic that can replace it.
For many applications it still the best solution. Items such as rod handles, the grip on my nordic ski poles, sealing a bottle of fine wine, making connections on wood wind musical instruments, reel drags etc.
Do to a blight that has attacked the cork producing oak trees in several regions there is a growing world wide shortage of high quality cork. Manufactors are frantically looking for substutute materials. We may still live to see that traditional cork handle disappears.
I just built my first birch bark grip, and I suspect that it will match cork for most of its qualities and probably surpass it in many areas. I also find it much more attractive that a standard cork grip.
That said, I’d be SHOCKED to ever see it as a mainstream material. 1/16" thick rings makes for WAY too much labor to be cost effective.
tyler, with the birch bark do you have to seal it from the weather and if so, what do you use to do that with? I’m staring at the birch tree in my backyard with mischief in my eyes.
I don’t think its necessary to seal it anymore than it is to seal cork. I did coat mine with a few coats of Tru Oil, but I did it for aesthetics rather than the thought that I needed to seal it.
Be careful with your tree. I have read (though I have no first hand knowledge) that harvesting the bark of the tree will kill it. If you do decide to try it, I’d love to get my hands on some more bark.
Wow ! Thanks for the heads up tyler. I don’t think that would have gone over too big with the wife if I killed the tree for want of a little birch bark. Do you know how to harvest it should I…let’s say, ‘find’ a tree somewhere that no one will miss?
Ok, so the edges of the compressed and glued pieces of birch bark won’t soak up moisture. Also, if I use the Tru-oil, will the birch bark grip be slippery when wet I’m wondering.
I ordered my bark from a canoe builder. (The typical use of this bark is for the skin of canoes.) So I don’t know how to harvest it. It looked like someone just cut all the way around a tree on two spots about 2 1/2" feet apart, then cut vertically from the top cut to the bottom and peeled the bark off the tree in one sheet.
As for it being slippery when wet, I don’t know. I haven’t had it on the water yet. I don’t think it will be a problem though.
“For many applications it still the best solution. Items such as rod handles, the grip on my nordic ski poles, sealing a bottle of fine wine, making connections on wood wind musical instruments, reel drags etc.”
The wine bottle application is the one that originally started my musings. There are some serious challenges to cork being the best seal. Though serious oenologists have no problem with corks that break up when removed, the trrouble does not end there. Corkscrews are a pain; and we all know the requirement to store wine bottles horizontally to keep the cork from drying and compromising the seal.
But there is more. Estimates are that 5-10% of all wine bottles sealed with cork are tainted by a naturally occcuring mould that combines with the chlorine used to clean the cork. About half of those bottles will have a noticeable wet carpet aroma. The others just do not taste quit right. Standard advice when you encounter a “corked” bottle is to seek a replacement or refund.
Many vintners, lead by the Australians, are determined to find a way to avoid that high spoilage level by using synthetic materials or the Stelvin Cap. In the end this could be good for our traditional rod grip material reducing the pressure on the market for premium cork and leaving more for us. Or it may lead to a better more consistent synthetic material for grips. BTW the material that Yellow Tail uses for corks looks promising in that regard.
At present, fly anglers being true romantics are holding out for cork grips the same way that wine aficionados hold out for real corks in their red wine bottles. But things change. When was the last time you saw a bottle of Chianti complete with the wicker basket around the base? Those were romantic too. Let’s not get left in the past.
Funny story on the cork subject… The VERY early rods didn’t have cork grips. The grip area was either bound with rattan or heavy cord to provide extra grip. However, in a stroke of marketing genius aimed at relieving the female fisher of a few dollars, the cork grip was invented. It was touted that it wouldn’t cause blisters and was marketed as a “ladies grip.” Well obviously the idea was a hit. Oh yeah, there’s another big difference between the old Leonards and the Elkhorns - but that’s another story.
Being motivated by some beautiful birch bark grips that I saw on another board, I started a grip that I thought I might use on a graphite rod I am building. I did get it to the point that I turned a round grip blank. At that point I decided that is was too firm a grip for a 9’ 9wt all day rod.
Some thoughts on birch bark
You want WHITE BIRCH ( paper birch) not yellow birch which while it looks sorta white, is much smaller, thinner bark, and bark with a LOT of black areas.
You want "fresh " bark. Not necessarily fresh cut but bark which has not spent a long time dead and exposed to the elements. Rain will leach out the oils. When fresh, the bark is like good tooling leather. As the dead tree is exposed to the elements the bark becomes more like dry cardboard.
I got mine from my firewood man, who gave me some 2 foot sections that were 10 –> 12 inches in diameter. This gave me bark which was about 0.10 inch thick.
I cut this into squares on a band saw. The squares I then stripped of any loose “paper like” layers.
I glued them up w/ Titebond II, alternating which side was up to counteract the natural curve. I also rotated each layer 45* so that the grain would be like plywood.
Mistake – I glued up sections of about 1 inch and clamped them up in some C clamps, using large washers to spread the force. Well if you think about it , 10 sections of bark all gooey with glue tend to all go every which way when you try to clamp them. Next time I think I will center bore each piece and then glue them all up on a threaded rod mandrel which has been wrapped w/ plumbers Teflon tape.
Anyway I bored each 1 inch section and then glued them up on the threaded mandrel.
Delamination of the bark layers is a problem on the ends so I figured I would finish off each end w/ a ring of cork.
I can see some possibilities for this material. I have seen some photos of birch grips and they are beautiful. Right now the bark grip is just a round blank sitting on the bench, but it might find its way onto a SB 119 Doublebuilt that is next in the line.
AgMD
What made you decide the birch bark was too firm for the 9 wt? I’m relatively new at this, and I don’t know that I understand the consequence of a overly firm handle, especially for a 9 wt.
I think I may not have used white birch. My bark came from a canoe maker, and he said he imports the bark from Siberia. It is more yellow, and it had some significant chunks of dark bark on the exterior surface of the leathery sub-surface. I went ahead and started a new thread to show it off in. I love the look and feel, but have yet to have it on the water for a trial run.
The 9’ rod is for Atlantic Salmon. I hope to be throwing #2 salmon hooks all day long for a week or so. That is a lot of casting. Cork has a bit of “give” that cushions the hand. The birch seemed a bit too firm for this particular rod. The rod I am thinking about is a 3 piece SB Doublebuilt bamboo rod which has a grip turning to grey dust. It is rather stiff for its weight. My guess it is a 5 or 6 wt. I would expect to use this rod on the local trout streams and if the grip is a bit firm it probably will not matter for a few hours fishing.
AgMD