Wood or Cork

[masker]

All the wine makers are buying up the premium portugese cork for their wine bottles because good cork improves the taste of their wine. Evidently it takes a long time to grow premiun cork. Here is a link to an interesting article about grading cork and knowing what you are looking at as far as quality.

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[upnorth]

Here is the article Masker is referring to.

If you wanted to buy the very best cork rings available,

would grade would you buy? Flor? Special? AAAA?

Which is the highest grade? No doubt, you don’t really

know. Neither do I, because there is no industry standard

for either cork grading or labeling. One dealer may

call his best grade Flor, while another calls his AAA. And

even when you happen upon two that both use the same

grade name for their very best cork, there is only a slim

chance that any cork bought from both and under the same

grade name will possess the same quality. Plus, the really

fantastic “Flor”rings you bought from your dealer last time

may be an entirely different level of quality the next time.

More Problems

Added to the problem of not having any industry standards

for cork grade names or labeling, is the fact that no

one really has any idea what any particular cork grade is

supposed to look like. Just how clear does “Flor” cork have

to be in order for a dealer to pronounce it as being “Flor”

grade? How clear are “Special” or “AAA” rings?

So we’ve got distributors and dealers subjectively

grading their own cork and applying grade names that

have no link to any sort of published standard. It’s no

wonder that buying cork is such a frustrating and expensive

gamble.

The Solution

Now if we had a published standard for cork grade names

as well as actual photo guidelines of how clear any ring

would have to be in order to attain a certain level, we’d be

a lot better off. Such a standard set of guidelines backed by

photo representation would eliminate confusion and greatly

reduce, if not totally eliminate, the sad surprise that rod

builders often get when their “Flor” grade cork arrives and

turns out to be less than they expected.

So let’s set a standard, right here and now. Let’s also

represent each grade with a photo that clearly illustrates

just how clear any ring must be in order to fall into any of

the various grades or categories.

The Rod Builder Cork Grade Scale

The “Rod Builder Cork Grade Rating System” is limited to

just 3 basic grades, CG1 (Cork Grade #1), CG2 and CG3.

The highest grade, CG1, will be 90% to 100% clear and free

of pits and blemishes. Any imperfections that are present

will be very small, not much larger than shirt pin diameter.

When turned, the resulting grip may show some tan or

brown blemishes, but none will be deep enough to require

or even be likely to hold, any paste or filler. CG1 should be

considered the very best cork available.

The next grade, CG2, is still a very good grade of cork,

but will only be between 80% to 90% clear and any imperfections

may be a little larger than those found on CG1

rings. When turned, any imperfections will be deep

enough to hold paste or filler, but not so deep or so frequent

that paste or filler is actually required in order to

have a comfortable grip. CG2 should be considered the allaround

cork grade for good quality rod grips and handles.

Do not consider it sub-standard as it represents the majority

of what is considered high quality cork these days.

The final grade of cork is CG3. It lumps together

everything else in the world of cork rings - all those rings

that aren’t good enough to be considered CG1 or CG2.

Clarity is less than 80% and the imperfections may, in fact,

be quite large compared to the two higher grades. When

turned, some of these imperfections may be large enough

to cause slight discomfort in the hand. They will certainly

be noticeable in the finished grip. In order to obtain a very

nice looking grip with CG3 cork, some type of filler or

paste will almost certainly be required.

In the photographic standard, I have included 6 rings

of each cork grade. Notice that some slight variances with

each grade do occur. But also note that the best and worst

of each grade represents only a slight difference. The only

exception will be among CG3 rings, which represent all

rings that fail to qualify as either CG1 or CG2. Thus, CG3

rings will represent a wider quality range than either of the

first two, encompassing everything up to, but not including

CG1 or CG2 grades.

The Rod Maker’s Cork Grade Scale

Finally, a grading system with a representative standard behind it!

From RodMaker Magazine Volume 8 Issue #2

RodMaker 19

Variances

Do keep in mind that cork, being a natural material,

varies from ring to ring. Acustomer ordering

a bag of 100 CG1 rings should fully expect the

quality of the rings to vary from one to another.

Still, they should all fall within the standards set

and the range is narrow enough that wide variances

in quality within the same grade shouldn’t

occur. There will always be a slight grey area, of

course, as one grade begins to slip into the next.

In other words, when does a CG1 become a CG2

ring? Out of 100 rings, you may find a handful of

what you consider to be CG2 rings in your bag of

CG1 rings. But it should be a close call. Because

cork grading is done by human hands and eyes it

still requires some amount of subjective judgment.

However, with a photographic scale to go

by, rings shouldn’t fall off the mark by much if

the person doing the grading is even remotely

competent.

How To Use It

Now if you pick up your phone tomorrow morning

and ask your dealer to send you some CG1

cork rings, he won’t likely know what you’re talking

about. And even if he does, he is under no

obligation to adopt nor conform to any such cork

grading system. Still, the system is completely

useful to you. If he can’t tell you just how clear

his “Flor” or “AAA” cork is, just fax or email him

a copy of the Rod Maker’s Cork Grade Scale

photo standard and ask him which of these three

grades is closest to what he calls “Flor” or any of

his other grades. It’s a simple matter for him to

flip 3 or 4 rings out on his counter and compare

their faces to those in the photo standard. If he

won’t do it, you may wish to buy elsewhere.

Cork is Cork

Like any new system that defines standards and

then uses a relative and objective scale to measure

them, the Rod Maker’s Cork Grade Scale is accurate

and it is very much correct. But it is not

intended to force anyone to adopt it nor to use it

in their own business. Most likely, it would be

advantageous to do so, but we can all understand

why many distributors and dealers would prefer

not to be held to any definite cork grading scale.

Still, that has no effect on how the useful the system

can be to you. With at least one published

standard in place now, we can all relate cork ring

clarity to this scale and at least require our cork

dealers to let us know how their own cork grades

relate to this published, visible standard. -

[Mike Wallace]

Great informative post, upnorth. Sure is a bummer when you think you are getting something and it's not the quality you expected.

This seems like a great way not to be disappointed. At least you can be using the same standards. Unfortunately, I think cork will just keep getting more and more expensive, even for the low quality.

When will we see someone making cork rings out of synthetic cork (newer wine bottles use this)? Not the Syncork from Thorne Bros. (which I kind of like).

[upnorth]

That is one of the reason you are starting to see more folks using alternatives to cork. Wood, burl cork, various kinds of bark, are all being used in lieu of cork as handles.

[CustomRodFan]

Mike, what is "syncork"? Are they just giving burl another name here?

Since around Christmas time, I have been trying to perfect a new concept using urethene foam pours and carbon fiber skinned grip coverings with regard to handles that at this point all I can do is tease you, simply because I have not gone a to z with it. I need consistent 70+ degree days to try and overcome some imperfections I am getting at this point. Stay tuned - I need to give a demonstration to a rod building association I belong to on it in August.

[JohnMickish]

 Originally Posted By: CustomRodFan

Mike, what is "syncork"? Are they just giving burl another name here?

It is synthetic cork. It's not EVA. It comes in bands just like real cork, weighs a tad bit less, can be shaped into the same shapes as cork and is less slippery when wet. It gets epoxied the same as cork. The only difference is you shape it with a cheese grater, then finish it off with emery cloth. For now it only comes in black but I have a hunch it will be in different colors in the next few years. Check out Thorne Bros HSOforum and look at it under the custom rod section.

[Mike Wallace]

Custom,

what mnfishingguy said. I found that I was able to use a rasp at LOW speed on my drill press to shape it.

I put it on a muskie rod and I like it.

It's just another option. Pretty expensive at $1.25 per piece, but you know exactly what you are getting, no surprises with quality.

Color is an issue with some but the performance qualities are good.