The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

A while ago a friend, who is a skillful angler, made me squirm by saying he had 'cleaned ' a cork rod handle with sandpaper! I have been trolling through old entries of TFF on this subject and most of them suggest abrasives of some kind.

For years I have used a soft (finger)nail brush, warm water and soap, (not detergent or washing up liquid which I think are too harsh). Just wet the handle, but do not soak it, in warm water, then scrub gently but fairly vigorously with the soft nail brush and lots of normal toilet soap. You will be surprised how much dirt comes off. You may need to repeat the process to get off even more dirt. Rinse thoroughly, dry with an old towel, (because some of the dirt can still come off), then leave in a warm airy place for two to three days to fully dry.

The key thing is the brush, which works better than a sponge because it gently gets into the natural holes and grooves of the cork.

I actually do mine over the bath using a flexible shower to wet and rinse. I clean all my rods in this way once or twice a year, depending how much each has been used.

Hope this is helpful.
Old Angler

Great tips, thank you old angler

Excellent advice....been wondering about that actually, another useful tip for inclusion in the book......

Yep, that's what I was always advised to do, too.
Those melamine cleaning pads get the worst off pretty quickly, too (working wet).

Fairy liquid and those green scour pads, remove only dirt. They do nothing to the corks apart from leaving it pristine, if that is what you want.

I do the same as OldAngler.

Scotchbrite and white spirit, leaves the cork in near mint condition, just removes dirt and grease without damage to the cork.

Gin or vodka works wonders, knock back half a bottle and you just don't care how dirty your handle is

I got the idea of this forum magic cleaner from the range it cleans rod handles like new when I bought some I thought this will never work but scrub away with plenty of water they' come up like new none abrasive too mike

Another vote for Scotchbrite non scratch pads*, which are perfect for the job and with a miniscule drop of fairy liquid (with its surfactants) it removes all the dirt & grease. Second the nail brushes, for all the nooks and crannies ...

* I know folk who use them on optical glass and lenses, printing rollers, so they'll be safe on a cork handle....