With the rising cost and the decline in the quality of organic cork, custom rod builders and fishing rod manufacturers have long been seeking a viable replacement for organic cork. The performance factors of any viable replacement needs to exceed natural cork’s durability and shape ability while offering a wider spectrum of cosmetic options at a reasonable value.
Patent pending Syncork™ has reached all of these goals and more. It’s promising to reshape the future of fishing rod handles into a whole new world with improved function and comfort that organic cork can’t provide.
The cellular make up of organic cork and Syncork™ is very similar, however, natural cork has a certain level of moisture in it plus it takes on the moisture of its surrounding atmospheric conditions. The repeated process of absorbing moisture and drying out breaks down its organic cells making it brittle and like most organic material it can deteriorate, rot, and it can also become a host to mold and mildew.
Syncork™ on the other hand is plastic and can not hold moisture. It’s not organic and is not subject to rotting, molding or mildewing. It is extremely inert plus physically lighter than organic cork. It can withstand UV rays as well as accelerated weather temperatures (both hot and cold). In addition, it is extremely chemical resistant to a variety of petroleum products, acids, and alkalines. Pound for pound, gram for gram, Syncork™ offers cork like characteristics with far superior performance and design capabilities.
The surface of Syncork™ can be made to be as smooth as an organic cork handle, but smoothness can translate to ‘slippery when wet’. One of the many features and benefits of Syncork is that the handle surface can be textured providing a powerful non-slip grip that fisherman greatly prefer over natural cork.
In the future Syncork™ will offer a variety of solid and mixed colors, shapes and textures. To begin, the first available color is black and the reasons are logical. Natural cork is a tan or blonde color that quickly shows dirt and its age. A heavily used black Syncork handle will look as black and as new as the day you got it for years and years!
To date Syncork ™ is made into Syncork rings used by custom rod builders but we’re hard at work to produce pre-formed handles for fishing rod manufacturers and the custom rod building market.
Syncork™ – Get a Grip on it!