I recently recieved a 9' 4pc 4wt St Croix SCIV. When I checked it for straightness, I noticed that the male ferrule on the third section is crooked, sending the tip section of at a slight angle. The tip section itsself is also crooked and appears to have a corkscrew like bend over about 1/3 of its length. When I turn the entire rod on center, the tip circumscribes about a 2cm diameter circle which is well within the 1/16" per foot of length that Tom has mentioned as average in the past.


I've read all the previous posts I could find on this, but I'd just like to know what other builders would do in this case. This rod is being built for a friend will all of the best components from the bottom up including a Venerri seat, flawless cork, and Fuji titamium SiC guides. Time is short on this project and the last thing I needed was to have to send the blank back and have to pay extra to get the replacement FedExed. I don't know if it will affect the performance (I doubt it), but it bothers me to build a rod of this calliber on a crooked blank.

What would you do?

if it bothered me the way you say it bothers you, i wouldn't build it, regardless whether if does or doesn't affect performance. one of the aspects we get to address in custom rodbuilding is aesthetics. although i've gathered very minor, interesting curls and such from blanks are to be encountered on occasion, this sounds aesthetically unpleasing to me. i'd get on the phone first thing in the morning.

eric
fresno, ca.
(new graphite fly rod assembler)

The crooked ferrule and tip section sounds like you got a reject. I would call who ever you got it from and ask that they send you a good blank overnight at their expense.

Brian: For ~ $160, I would say that you are well within reason to expect no serious deviations from straightness within a single rod section that is shorter than 30 inches. Either defect, that corkscrew in the tip or the kink foreward of the ferrule in the 3rd section, sounds like a weak spot waiting to fail. -Cliff Hall-

St Croix should have seen that, and or the supplier should have??

All blanks have some amount of natural curve, however, a sudden crook at either ferrule is not acceptable. Return it to the manufacturer for a replacement.

..............

Been there, done that. 7 wt blank from St. Croix with about the same defect you describe. They replaced it with no problem..

You might also let them know politely that getting a defective blank and having to take the time to get it replaced is a big problem for a builder working on a schedule. Lots of companies just don't do enough quality control, I think because if they can ship 10 marginal blanks that they should have rejected and only have to replace 1 of them they think they are coming out ahead.

For me, it just reduces my desire to order a St. Croix blank again.

Same thing happened to me. I sent it back. They replaced it.

There are some rod manufacturers that have a couple of grades of blanks one of which is "blank" quality. Their "blank" quality are the highest quality and the straightest blanks that they make.

Had same issues with an different manufacturer. Recieved multple blanks with similar issues. After the 4th or 5th one and them not willing to cover expenses of shipping, I refuse to use their product any more for building blanks. At $10-20 per blank for shipping, it isn't worth it. SO make sure THEY fix THEIR problem and not at your expense. I use alot of St. Croix and have so far been very impressed with what I am recieving, but there are always mistakes on some level. If it becomes commonplace, that is a different story.
Elrod