Is it me or has the quality of cork grips gone to the dogs? I have just fished for 10 days with a brand new Orvis frequent flyer and after some time the filler that is put in to cover up poor quality cork fell out and I was left with some prety nesty blisters for my trouble. I have cheaper rods with far better quality cork with no fillers to cover up the rubish. Any body had any similar experiences?

Agree a 100% , all you have to do is look at the handle on the western 3,

such junk fitted to a very good blank, , i wish orvis would look for customer feed back from ordinary anglers and not those well paid superstars we see on tv,

There is a worldwide shortage of quality cork. The cork industry is a shadow of its former self as many of the old cork plantations have been ripped up and the wine industry's move to plastic 'corks' has sounded the death knell.

To build a top quality cork grip you would need to buy, I'd say, 100 top quality cork shives and then examine each individually before choosing the 16 or so to be glued to form the grip. Having said that, when you turn the handle you'll almost undoubtedly expose pits that weren't evident on the shive surface or end grain.

Having said that I've seen some 'top end' production rods from Sage and Loomis with some pretty shocking cork. Consistently the best cork I've come across on production rods has been on Winston rods.

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I know a guy who had a look at the the top of the range hardys and couldnt believe the mess of the cork on the rods. I have two helios and they arent brilliant,good but not probably up to scratch so its probably all over the ranges

Hi rook I have a hardy demon the cork handle was'nt very good .I bought it second hand and did'nt get a waranty.Took it to my local tackle dealer who made a great job of filling it in

Guys, I'm just about to return a brand new Hardy Angel2 8ft 3#, used once, filler falling out everywhere.........so bad the cork pinches your hand!

Discusted, and I have loads of Hardy rods, the last 2 were both bad, but not as bad as this one!

600 quid.............still better than cheapo's though!

Jas

Cork on both my budget end Wychwood Auras is first class, surprisingly.