The best rod handle material

Have you noticed that many rod manufacturers are producing more rods with Cork Handles?

About 10 years ago there appeared a plethora of rods with artificial foam rubber handles. It appeared that manufacturers wanted us to believe that this was to be the stuff of the future and the material to be seen with.

However ask any angler who holds his rod most of the time such as lure fishers, fly fishers and river trotters or touch legerers. They will tell you virtually to a man that there is nothing like natural cork and there is nothing so horrid as foam rubber.

Why, you may ask?

Take fly rod handles for a start. If you use foam rubber, you will find it quite compressable. Try squeezing it, and then squeeze the cork. This reduces considerably the sensitivity of your grip. Secondly, cork is warm in summer and cool in winter. Thirdly, cork lasts.

I have had cork handled rods that have lasted over 40 years.

For fly rod handles, if there WAS anything better you can bet the likes of Sage, Loomis, Hardy, Orvis and other top fly rod producers would be using it.

And the same goes for other types of rods, especially those you hold all the time. Cork is superior.

However I do see many anglers fishing cork handled rods, even fly rods with the plastic sleeve still intact. For goodness sake take that plasic sleeve off the rod. The cork won't breath and is likely to rot if condensation gets under the plastic.

Not only that you are negating of of the main reasons why cork is used. You can grip it and there is nothing quite like the feel of a natural cork handle. It's almost sensuous to the touch.

Using a rubber handle is a bit like having you know what, with a length of inner tube!

I think its simply a matter of persoanl preference.

If it were just about feel then I would choose cork without another thought.

However I find duplon provides better grip both under my hand and against my forearm whilst playing fish and it provides good grip even when its soaking wet.

Rubber handles I suppose are fine for carp rods, pike deadbaiting rods and any other rod that spends most of it's time in a rest or a pod. You don't see many carp rods with cork handles.

However this reminds me of an incident in Bob Frost's old shop in Leamington about 10 years ago.

In walked this Cockney guy and asked to see a certain carp rod. Bob put the rod together and handed it to the Cockney.

He looked at the rod in disgust exclaiming: "I don't want no bleedin' rod with a fah'in rabber endle!!"

Me and Bob laughed for weeks about this incident.

Oh Andy, I didn't think you'd be first to bite. Now you have......

Fly rods different to coarse rods. Fly rods you hold the cork, the grip is different and on the cast the forces are vastly different. Same with baitcaster rods. Cork is the only answer there.

Coarse and spinning rods, what's the point? I refer you to my article on reel seats, wherever it is. You spend all of that money on lovely cork and then grab hold of either a plastic/metal/carbon screw and/or other lumps and chunks of plastic or carbon. That nice piece of cork is unused. What's the point?

As it happens, I like a good quality Duplon handle (as on the Chimera). It is firm and can be sanded as cork can. There's also poor quality cork as well (sometimes filled with whitening that later falls out) and that is atrocious.

Some rods with cork handles, especialy the ones where you screw the top part of the cork up and down to fasten the real on, are far too thin. I know a couple of people who have had problems with the cork splitting in this area. But I do like a cork handle for its looks.

Jeff there is of course some real crap quality cork around. You can spot a rubbishy cork handle easily. It has lots of imperfections and holes full of filler. This filler comes out in time.

The best quality cork comes from Portugal is what is termed "Specie" cork. Me and a friend imported a stack of it from Portugal years ago for making fly rods handles. It was lovely stuff and so pleasant to work with. It needed no filler.

There is of course some awful foam rubber that is used on cheap and nasty rods.

It doesn't last 5 minutes in hot climates by the way. Cork does.

Always liked the feel of cork as it is what I was weaned on so to speak. Never liked the look of carp rods with duplon on but my barbel rods have duplon and they feel comfortable.Dont know how long the duplon will last for but I know carpers give their rods some hammer so I guess it must be pretty reliable?

Do any of you remember a product called Corklon ?

It was an artificial cork and very good indeed.

But I think it was a little more expensive than Real Cork at the time and not taken up by the tackle trade.

Maybe with Cork varying in quality so much it will make a reappearance.

There was a period where cork became quite scarce. This was in the early 80s I think when you had peple walking about with those awful cork soled shoes.

Cork these days seems to be more available, especially now that the wine industry are using plastic plugs instead of cork bungs to seal bottles. The plastic "corks" actually give a better seal than natural cork.

Cork trees, a variety of oak, take many years before they are capable of giving quality cork, which is the bark of course.

They tried growing cork trees in South Africa but were unsuccessful. There is something about the climate of Portugal that makes the Portugese able to grow the best cork. Cork is a lovely natural renewable resource and I would hate to see the industry die due to synthetics.

"which is the bark of course."

No! I thought it was the seed pod after the cork blossom had fallen off and the hole in the middle was where the seeds had been.

Well you learn something new every day!




)

The bark is stripped from a cork tree every nine years and not before Jeff. About 5% of Portugal's cork production goes to fishing rod handles by the way.

The largest demand is still in the wine bottling industry. It was the Aussies who invented the plastic cork.

Champagne and other sparkling wines still use cork, a) because of tradition and b) because they can't get a plastic cork to do what a real cork does - and that is to pop!!

I worked for many years with the SA wine industry and learned lots of things about cork.

I suspect cork will always be used for wine wines which will age in the bottle as there is a fear that a screw top whilst excellent for young whites or reds will impair the maturing process.

I like the feel of cork but overall I think my preference is just because I like the look of it! Just bought a Daiwa Pro Barbel Rod that has a full cork handle and a stainless steel & rubber butt end - retro or what!!!

I'm with Woody on this one - what difference does the handle material make when you're compelled to hold a handful of screw-winch?

That apart, I'm not convinced that cork is superior to closed-cell foam (Duplon et al) - or, indeed vice versa.

I'd agree with you Jim if you want the rod to become a collectors piece and to be useable in 100 years time. I don't think Duplon would quite make it that far as the latex would probably start to separate from the mica powder and just turn to dust. However, for what they call "the life", which might be 20-30 years, of a rod, Duplon is an excellent material.

My friend John has a "Barrie Rickards Piker" 11 foot rod with a duplon handle. This was purchased in 1979 or thereabouts.

The Duplon has gone all brittle and is starting to break away from the blank. His old 60s glass "Fibretube" pike rods with brass ferrules - which he still uses by the way, have cork handles and with a bit of a clean down the cork looks almost new.

I have examined the duplon bits on my Harrison Sulis Avon. Nothing wrong with this material as far as I can see for now. I'll let you know how the material is in 20 years time..... )

I think we do agree however that cork is still the very best material for fly rod handles.

One thing about duplon is that mice don't eat it.

Oh I can see that Harrison Sulis Avon rod of yours going exactly the same way Ron. It won't last 3 years, never mind 30.

I'd get rid of cheap and quick if I were you, get something back off your wasted investment. I'll give you ?40 for it as a friend doing you a favour.

Don't thank me please, just post the rod.

Come on Jeff, stop pleading poverty. Get one ordered for crying in a bucket!!

If you can afford a Harrison Chimera, you can afford a Sulis.

They are lovely rods......... )

Or flog your house in High Wycombe and come up north again. Make a fortune by doing so.

Beer is only ?1.90 a pint.

As much as it pains me to say it Ron, i don't think that cork has any better qualities than a decent duplon handle (has to be a full length handle though!) ..... and when i left some bait residue on my cork handles a bloody slug tried to eat em! but never my rods with duplon??