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Grips - Burl Bamboo

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I was thumbing through a Tackle Craft '09 catalog and saw a cork grip labeled as "Bamboo Burl". Can anyone shed some light on these?? Has anyone used them? What's the quality like? Would you put them on a bamboo rod after seeing them??  (David Dziadosz)

Can't remember who it was at the Denver flyfishing show that came by with the first rod he built and asked me to critique it for him, he said "and don't be nice I want the truth." Soooooooo, I looked the rod over and was real impressed with his work, cane work looked real good, but, he had put a grip on it that looked like that reconstituted rubberized cork, and a modern Fuji ceramic stripper on it. So I let him have it for that. I would rather see the worse cork that you can dig up than one of those grips on a cane rod! And you can buy boat guides that really look cool for less than those ceramic POS. What a way to ruin all your hard work! But not all is lost cause you can take a Stanley Knife to it and replace it. Anyway that's my .02 worth. And if you want me to tell you how I really feel about that I will! That being said I would be careful about something like that, I'm not sure if that is the same thing, but.............

Hope that's not too harsh, my apologies in advance if I offend anyone.  (Joe Arguello)

I wouldn't swear to it, but my impression is that they grind up the cork that is unusable and then reconstitute it. 'At's what it looks like to me, anyway.  (Art Port)

The bamboo burl cork that I saw does not look like that rubberized cork crumb rings that seem to be discussed here.

I bought a few grips that have graining like cork, has dark and light swirls and some filler in it. It is slightly harder than a good cork grip but definitely not as hard a rattan grip.

Not for the purist but maybe it has some application somewhere in the fly rod world.

Here is a link.

See item # RHW7CBBC  (Scot Fertich)

I make great grips from Champage corks. I have everybody I know gather them during Christmas and new years celebrations.

They are a similar burled cork.

And they have held up very well and you cannot beat the cost.

You can get two rings from each cork. Watch your fingers on the band saw so I have a couple of simple jigs.  (Gordon Koppin)

I ran across a bag of these corks, can't remember who I got them from. They look like they were made with cork chips glued together. On the end of each one is two 1/4" cork rings, pretty good looking quality too. Are you using just the cork rings on the end? Or are you using both parts?  (David Dziadosz)

I get a ring out each end but middle is too small.  (Gordon Koppin)

I know what you mean. I measured mine and they're about 1". A little too small for my liking! Might work on a toy bamboo rod!  (David Dziadosz)

No, I don't think it's the rubberized cork rings! As far as I know, you cannot get "just the rings". The grips that I've seen advertised are only one color(natural).

Ever notice the exterior grades of plywood and chip board (Blandex) for construction? Pretty popular stuff. Cheap and tough, as long as you keep it dry. The wood is held together with a purple colored glue. After some research, it turned out to be resorcinol glue.  (David Dziadosz)

I use sections of the "Bamboo Burl" grips as end pieces for my Cholla cactus grips because it turns so well and actually looks rustic (burly) when the entire grip is varnished. (Will send pic off List on request)  I never could figure where they got the "Bamboo Burl" hype from though, got nothing to do with bamboo - but it is tough.  When turning you'll hit chunks that are like wood.  In fact, Dave A. may be right about the Beaver Poop part.  It seems a mixture of cork and various other celluloids, some hard/some softer, but definitely, no rubber.  O. K. for my purposes and maybe coarse/Snoopy rods but definitely not traditional.  (Darrol Groth)

I used one on one of my own rods. Looks OK and it feels fine when I fish it. That's all I care about. I think I only paid  $8 for it.

(Ken Paterson)

My favorite handle material is cork rings with small voids that don't have to be filled. But, due to the price and quality of cork rings now days, I too look for other materials to build handles. Rodmaker gatherings will show you that others are doing the same thing. I've seen a lot of different materials used, some good, cool, different, shitty, unique, and some, you wonder if they would last a year, let alone 100! I figure if you make a grip and don't like it, change it! We put it on there to begin with!! Might be a pain in the seat of the pants, but easier than changing a ferrule or sometimes a reel seat! So, keep on doing what you're doing! I enjoy seeing the inventive ideas that others are coming up with!  (David Dziadosz)