The process of making a natural wine cork.

After the cork bark is harvested from the cork oak tree, how does it become a wine cork?

After harvesting the cork bark off cork oak trees, the bark is gathered and placed in large piles waiting to be loaded onto trucks and transported to the processing factories. The health of the cork oaks is not effected …. The same tree can be harvested over and over again every nine years.

The bark is cut into strips by a very sharp knife. The thickness of the strips determines the length of the cork stoppers. In the above photo the strips are quite thin …. about half an inch or 12.5mm. This means the stoppers punched from these strips would be ½” or 12.5mm in length, about half the length of a standard wine cork often used on olive bottles or spice bottles.

In this picture the stoppers are being punched from the bark strips by hand, the strips are about 1-1/2” long or 38 mm. These are wine stopper corks. The operator must be very precise. After the corks are all punched out of each strip the leftover strips (those with the holes in them) are called “cork waste”. This name is misleading because in cork there is no waste. These leftover strips are later ground up and turned into cork grain. Cork grain is further processed and turned into other products such as cork floors, walls, insulating materials, bulletin boards, coasters, and much more.

Punching stoppers out of cork strips can also be done by automatic machines such as the one pictured above. This is a safer and quicker process but not as exact as hand punching.

After the cork stoppers are punched out they are sorted into various qualities – usually seven standard qualities - by expert sorters who can quickly and effectively recognize the difference between each cork. Qualities are determined by the number of pores, cracks, or other imperfections.

Here you can see the sorters surrounded by wicker baskets. They pick and choose the corks and throw them into the designated seven different quality baskets without even glancing up. They seldom miss their shots, even those they throw side-handed or over their shoulders!

Following these procedures the corks are washed, branded with company logos, treated with a surface coating to make insertion into and out of bottles easier and smoother, and finally sterilized and packed in hermetically sealed heavy duty poly bags which are not opened until they arrive at the bottling line.

Vegetable oil + cork = Jelinek Cork Comfort Finish Cork Flooring

So what do you get when you take a beautiful cork floor and stain and seal it with natural vegetable oil? Jelinek Cork Comfort Finish cork flooring.

Cork, as you know, is an all natural product. It comes from the bark of the cork oak tree. Cork flooring needs to be finished in order to protect it from daily use. The most eco-friendly floor finish is a natural product -- vegetable oil.



Jelinek Cork's Comfort Finish flooring line can be stained various shades. The stain is also formulated from vegetable oil.

This natural and environmentally friendly surface finish protects the cork floor while maintaining the look and feel of the cork. The finish gives the floor a very soft feeling - some describe it by saying it feels like leather.



Typically, these floors do not need to be recoated - even after years of use. About once a month, the floor needs to be cleaned with a special cleaner which will reapply a small amount of oil to the finish.

So there you have it - cork flooring + vegetable oil = a truly environmentally friendly plus gorgeous floor.

Heidi Ackerman at Toronto Alternative Arts and Fashion week

Toronto Alternative Arts and Fashion Week has been on since April 21. On Friday April 24 2009, Heidi Ackerman's new collection of Avant Garde and eco-friendly fashions will be featured.

Heidi Ackerman uses eco-friendly materials including cork fabric in her designs. Jelinek Cork is proud to sponsor Heidi Ackerman as she continues to push the boundaries of Canadian Fashion while honouring her commitment to responsible and eco-friendly design.

Jelinek Cork at the Halton Eco Festival

This past Saturday, Jelinek Cork was pleased to be a part of the 9th Annual Halton Eco Festival in Oakville, Ontario. This free-to-attend environmental fair brought visitors from around the GTA to listen to speakers address sustainability as well as visit exhibitors booths and learn about their "green" products and services.

At the Jelinek Cork booth, visitor response was amazing. Many visitors knew of cork only as a bulletin board or wine stopper. Others were more knowledgeable about the many uses of cork and many already use cork in their homes - on their walls or floors. All visitors were impressed with the versatility of cork and the many products created from this natural and sustainable product. Along with cork fabric and cork hand bags, Jelinek Cork flooring was of great interest. The Jelinek Cork Comfort Line of cork flooring was a huge hit. The Comfort Line has a natural vegetable oil finish which protects the floor while maintaining the natural look and feel of cork.

We heard many great comments from our visitors on Saturday. Some of the more common ones were,
"Wow! This has to be one of the most sustainable flooring options."
"I had no idea you could do so much with cork!"
"It's SO comfortable underfoot! and warm!"

We love cork!

Thanks to the Oakville Community Centre For Peace, Ecology And Human Rights for organizing this event.

Interesting Uses for Cork #4

Here is another interesting use for cork - the bee and honey industry.

Cork and the Queen Bee:
When a queen bee is to be introduced to a hive of bees, it needs to be done carefully. The queen bee is foreign to the other bees and could be seen as an intruder to the hive if she is not introduced slowly. To do this, the queen bee is kept in her own cage, known as the queen cage. One side of the queen cage is closed with a cork. The other side is sealed with bee candy and sometimes another cork. The cork on the side with the bee candy is removed and the queen cage is inserted within the frames of the hive. The other cork is left in place to keep the queen from escaping. In a couple of days, the worker bees will have eaten through the bee candy and released the queen bee into the hive.

Cork and Observation Hives:
Sometimes bee keepers want to keep the bees out of the observation hive. This can be done by using tapered cork stoppers to plug the passage of bees into or out of the observation hive.

Cork and Honey:
There are many ways to package and sell honey. One method that is both natural, functional and decorative is to use a natural cork stopper. Being all-natural, cork works and looks great in the container.

Note: I am not a bee keeper however I love honey!

Cork Balls

Most everyone knows cork for its use in wine stoppers and bulletin boards and more and more people recognize it as a floor covering however not as many people know what a cork ball is or what it is for. I'll take a moment to enlighten you ...

Cork balls come in a variety of sizes and are used for many applications ranging from magic props to buoyancy aids.

Ever wonder what's inside one of your sporting balls (ie. baseball, cricket or hurling ball)? Often, its center is made of cork.

What about the little ball in a whistle? Its often a tiny cork ball.

How about a foosball? These balls can be made of cork also.

Cork balls are also floats for level gauges and heads for craft dolls and outrigger cork stops.

Remember, cork floats! Another great use is as a keychain for boaters.

The list goes on and on. Whether for arts & craft use or fishing floats and lures, cork balls can be used.

For more uses, visit www.jelinek.com/balls.htm

Jelinek Cork flooring installed in LEED compliant Oakville Soccer Club building

The Oakville Soccer Club has opened a new indoor soccer facility. The Pine Glen Soccer Centre is the first LEED^®(Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Compliant public building in Oakville, Ontario.

Jelinek Cork Comfort Line cork floors are installed throughout the facility's offices. These floors have a natural vegetable oil finish which protects the floor while maintaining the natural look and feel of cork. The pattern used for this facility is Cai Sienna.

Jelinek Cork is present in other parts of the building as well - RubberCork flooring is installed in the community room and staff kitchen (see bottom picture).