I have just got my first set of titanium framed fuji guides and I have never prepared these before. Is there any special tips or anything? I have just used a sanding disk on my dremel tool when I prepared all the other steel footed guides I have dealt with, can I use a sanding disk on the titanium also? Any help to possibly keep me from messing these high dollar guides up would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Mike

Mike, I havent had the opportunity to prep those guides. However, if you send me a set, I'll prep them and put them on a rod and after a few years observation and critical scientific field evaluation, let you know how it worked out. Seriously, I have sanded and ground titanium for knives, and its really not much different IMO. Dremel would work fine, I would think. Ti is all about flexibility, and corrosion. Its still machinable. Respectfully, Levi

Mike...

Titanium is harder and will eat up your abrasive faster than stainless steel. The TNSG series are heavier and more forgiving when dressing the feet than the TLNSG's (concept frames).

Be careful not to be too heavy handed with the TLNSG's. For the guide foot on the double-legged side, the two legs are joined together at the very tip of the guide foot. If you get too heavy handed on that foot, the junction will fracture and the frame will spring apart.

Also, I've had the titanium concept guides fracture at the junction where the ring meets the "j" leg while dressing the feet. I have pretty much narrowed the cause of this down to vibration and harmonics.

See photo here [www.fishingphotos.net]

This occurred while sanding the feet using a disc sander on my lathe. The guides were sent to Anglers Resource, who brought them to Fuji for testing and examination. The engineers at Fuji were unable to reproduce the problem and could not find a "defect" that would explain the failure. This leads to the thought that the combination of RPM, the abrasive grit rating, and my dressing technique were just right to cause some kind of harmonics that caused those frames to fracture.

Essentially, I'm a little more careful with the TLNSG's now... I dress them using a file, which actually goes pretty quickly. For the single foots and the TNSG's, I dress them with the disc sander... they're more forgiving than the light double footed concept series of these frames.

Erik



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/23/2005 01:14AM by Erik Kunz.

Tehre's a pic of what ERik describes in his first paragraph in my Gallery (Billy 40) on the Photo PAge.

I really, really wish tehy came out with TMNSG's already. And some more tip sizes for the ICMNST's

If you are using a Dremel try the Dremel chain saw sharpening stones. They come in a 2 - pack and the pink colored ones seems to work best for me. I have Dremel mounted in a Dremel drill press in the horizontal posistion which makes it easy to see and hold the guide. Set the speed at about medium and don't let the guide get hot. Be sure to wear safety glasses!!! Much faster and precise than a sanding drum.

I just use regular sanding drums on my dremel. The titantium guides grind just like the stainless steel versions, except it takes a lttle more time, as they are (apparently) a harder metal. I'm not sure harder is the correct word--anyway, it just takes a little longer. The nice thing about titanium guides is that you don't have to re-color the guide feet. They're the same color ground as they are un-ground.

I've prepped my titanium guide feet using a bench grinder. Move quickly so as not to take off too much material and also not to overheat. Then I polish the feet with a wire wheel. When I first used these guides years ago I got too aggressive with the grinder and made several "UNPLANNED" foot shortenings and reshapings, but for the last 12 years or so, no mistakes or problems with the frames cracking or anything. Aloha.