So I'm a relative beginner and have some questions concerning ferrule wraps:

One book I have recommends that you wrap the female ferrule as far up (or even a bit farther) as the male end goes. I've done this on my first rod, and things seem to be fine. While perusing the info on this site, I have seen recommendations to not wrap the ferrule up too far, but rather 2x times the diameter of the hole at the female end of the ferrule. These two options seem orthoginal to each other, and I assume that it's because of performance.

Other than performance what are the pros and cons of long versus short ferrule wraps? Are there durability concerns with ferrule wraps that short? I've had one of my rods (I didn't do it) break right at the ferrule when someone reefed on it while hooked up to a log, so it would be nice to make it durable. But at the same time I don't want to hamper the rod's performance with wraps that are too long.

For the record, I'm asking about this as I've purchased a Dan Craft blank in the hopes that I'll be able to put together a rather high performance rod for myself.

-- Cheers
-- James

i would suggest that you follow dan crafts instructions. some of his blanks are somewhat thin walled with low profile ferruls and might need the additional support. on the other had i have
a six wt rainshowdow that i wrapped about twice the length of the hole and have caught lots of strong fish (bonito) with no problems. in the final analysis, talk to dan.

Since I always put a guide on the ferrule, this is never a problem.

Generally the purpose of the wrap is to stop a split-out from occuring. Such a thing can only start at the edge of the female ferrule, so anything past that point is really just extra weight. It's the first 1/8 inch or so right near the ferrule opening that counts. Beyond that really doesn't matter.

Now, in the event that the manufacturer of your specific blank tells you to wrap farther - I'd do it. Otherwise you may void your warranty.

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

tom, so wrapping to the end of the female ferrule prevents split-out. makes pefect sense to me. what if a wrap leaves 1/8 an inch at the very end? is split-out still a very real danger? i'm referring to one specific rod i made, a lightweight 3 weight fly rod for small stream trout. a 10 inch trout can be HUGE so i'm not dealing with truly big fish here..

eric
fresno, ca.

I'd get it within 1mm if it were me, but, keep in mind that most good ferrules are internally reinforced by the manufacturer. There remains some debate if any external thread reinforcement is necessary at all anymore.

I do wish that the blank makers would put instructions detailing what they prefer be done to their ferrules on the header cards of their rod bags.

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

well i just looked tom and it's more like a quarter of an inch. i'm not sure why i stopped so soon but there you have it. it's built on a pacbay rainforest 7'-9" 2 piece 3 weight so i would consider this a good quality blank but it IS thin or rather small diameter. and it's wrapped well and epoxied well dang it.

two options, right? one, cut off the epoxy and rewrap or two, using a dremel, very carefully grind the end closer. i think i read that somewhere so do not know how valid that is and have forgotten the source. or thirdly, wrap a little extra thread on the very end and epoxy once more, meeting the original epoxy. or fourthly ;-) laying down another coat of epoxy, but epoxy isn't the true strength of wraps is it? or even fifthly... leaving it as is...

eric
fresno, ca.

Don't grind the ferrule shorter - that reduces your overall ferrule overlap. Since you build rods, removing the old reinforcement wrap and putting down another shouldn't be much of a problem. Granted, you might never have a problem with that ferrule even if you just leave it as it is, but if it was mine, I'd buy a little piece of mind by getting a better reinforcement wrap on there.

...........

... yup, you're right. it would also be good practice since i have yet to remove and/or replace a wrap.

many apologies to james for highjacking this thread but hopefully some of this meandering open thoughts and conversation and advice will be helpful now or down the road.

eric
fresno, ca.

Eric--ditto Tom...just re-wrap. :)

James-- 1-1/2 to 2X the female ferrule really is all you need. Another option for trout weight rods would be to just do a 1/2" wrap on each ferrule. I usually do 7/16 on the tip, 1/2 on the second, and 9/16 on the third. I have NEVER had a ferrule issue.

All the best,

James Mello - Another closely related Thread also had an excellent string of Replies discussing how wide a ferrule wrap should be:

[www.rodbuilding.org]

"Lamiglas fiberglass and ferrules" started by Peter Mulbjerg Dec. 17, 2004
[Hi, just received a Lamiglas FL904-3 blank and inspecting the female ferrules I noticed how thin the walls are - much much thinner than any of the graphite blanks I have seen - it looks very brittle ... ]

Todd Vivian, Tom Kirkrman, Emory Harry, et al and myself all added something significant to round out the discussion. (I was advocating a wrap width beyond the full depth of the ferrule, and discussed my reasons why.)
-Cliff Hall, Gainesville, FL-

The first page of Dan's catalog has the warranty info with recommendations for ferrule wraps.

Tony