Purchased a Greys Platinum XD happy with the rod but not the cork in the handle,for one of the flagship rods in the Greys catalogue the cork could be better.
There seems to be a small hole that looks like it had filler and has fell out,
What would be the best material to fill this,
On a recent thread someone recommends using U40 cork seal on his handles,
Has anyone tried this, does it protect the cork, and is it easy to use.

Hi Joe,
i have one exactly the same mate, at the moment its being held together with bits of electrical tape!!! awaiting return to greys for a new cork handle. i dont know if i would attempt any kind of repair on your rod as this im sure would invalidate any warranty claim you may have, maybe best to check with them first joe.
there has been a fair bit on the forum regarding the poor quality of cork being used these days, and while greys are not top of the price range as far as rods go, they are not cheap rods and i would expect as im sure you do, a much better build quality than they are giving with there handles at the moment.

Robbie

A lot of people, myself included have reccomended using cork dust mixed with PVA, it works, but I now use a far better product called Metolux Timbermate a wood filler and stopper.
You can buy it at most serious timber merchants I think in various shades but I use the pine colour and if I need to darken it a bit add a stain.
It dries and is sandable in about 15 mins it makes a very good repair.
The filler itself is a creamy consistency which makes it easy to force into a deep crack or hole very easy to sand off and I have never had it come away unlike cork and PVA.
It comes in a plastic tub ready made no hardener to add and it's shelf life is years. The date on the tub I have is 2002 and it's as good as the day I bought it.
I think it was about £3 a tub.

__________________
"A glint of sun has warmed the air,The flies will soon hatch out, To lure and tempt from their deep lair, The bonnie speckled trout." SKB tackle supporter. I love Furled Leaders.

Yes it works, looks nice, makes the handle very easy to clean, easy to apply and a £5 pot will do loads of rods (25 +), so 1 pot would almost do Mr Trouts rod collection, and if you follow Mrt's advise and fill the cracks etc first you will have a handle which should last a while with little maintenance.

Good luck and regards V..

__________________
"Perfection will do"

Cheeky bu##er you must be on your 8th pot by now, 8x25=200 about right for your collection of expensive sticks.

__________________
"A glint of sun has warmed the air,The flies will soon hatch out, To lure and tempt from their deep lair, The bonnie speckled trout." SKB tackle supporter. I love Furled Leaders.

Thanks guys advice excellent as usual, i will have another look at it tomorrow in daylight if it looks really bad i will get in touch with Greys,
If not too bad i will fill hole with metolux timbermate rub it down, then give handle a coat of U40 cork seal.

Have sent an email to Hardy Greys, about condition of cork handle,
I await their response.

I've heard people advise against this because if the cork is sealed but there is any unsealed portion where water can get through, then the handle is unlikely to dry out and the cork may rot.

I presume your experience doesn't support this Viking??

W

Sorry to hear that Country Joe, it seems that this is much more common these days. Hope you get it sorted.

Could the way ahead be the cork composite handles used on the new Greys rod (X Flite?) and the Loop AEG Series? They may sacrifice a little bit of comfort in the short term compared to cork, but will undoubtedly last extremely well. Rumour has it they improve with age (but the manufacturers would say that....)

Evening Walt, I've only used the stuff for about a year, but so far it looks great, I go to great lengths to fully coat the handle, it is very easy to apply and most people would find it difficult to mis any part of the handle, the colour of the cork goes slightly darker when applied so spotting uncoated areas is easy, you should however mask of the blank and reel seat to make sure you DO cover all the cork.

I don't think a small area untreated cork would fare any worse than having your complete handle soaked or covered in mud, then placed in the rod tube for a week or two.

But it would be interesting to here more comments on sealed cork, I certainly think the handle looks much nicer after treatment and maintains it's new look much much longer.

For best results, do them from new.

Regards V..

__________________
"Perfection will do"