We hear it here all the time when talking about Spiral built rods. Why are folks concerned about side pressures on guides? The Forhan method (Revolver Rod) has the butt guide offset 3 degrees from the direction of the spiral thus creating less then 1 pound of side pressure with a 5-pound load. This side pressure seems to bother some other builders and I can't get anyone to tell my why they think we this side pressure is bad.

We have been applying side pressures, far greater than 1 pound, to single and double foot guides for hundreds of years and only now with the increasing popularity of Spiral Rods has it become an issue. Let me explain the hundreds of year’s comment. Conventional rods torque under load. When they (conventional rods) are torqued we have line contacting the sides of the guides. These guides being nearer the tip section are experiencing far greater side loads then 1 pound. This has been the case for many, many years without the failure of properly wrapped single and double foot guides.

So I ask again, why is this small amount of side load on a guide a problem?

Brad,

It's not a problem. But most fishermen and many rod builders do not understand what a slight load it really is. Even the heaviest of freshwater rods are never likely to impart more than a pound or two of pressure on any guide and in the article we did on color preserver some time back now, we were able to put 11 lbs of pressure, at a direct 90 degrees to the guide, on the guides before they would deform and/or break loose. And, these were very high frame single foot guides. Much more could have been put on the low frame version.

Only on the heavier saltwater rods would this "sideways" load possibly be a problem, and even then the amount of pressure put on the guides is just not what people suspect.

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