OK, going to build a couple of short rods for my boys using 5 1/2' and 5' long UL blanks.

We are going to use tennessee cork handles just barely long enough for their hands and the reel foot at the very butt of the blank. We want to add a bit of lenght below the blank to have a small split but that can be removed for packing or changing the balance point. What's the best way to go about doing this?

For example, should we pick up some old broken blank and make a removablt butt piece? How would we do this?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Mo

You're right on the money with using old scrap. Something close in diameter (inside and outside). You can try an oversleeve ferrule, with the cork handle going over the ferrule, but this is long and tough work needing careful measurement. The easiest way is to use the fighting butt hardware for fly reel seats. The female part is glued inside the end of the blank, and the male screw is glued into the piece of scrap blank. You then build your handle extension on the piece of scrap.

You can search the photo page or fishingphotos.net for Mark Janeck's spin/fly handle setup. This is built along the lines of the 2nd method. I think someone else (Bill Boetcher?) has also built like this: a pink/purple girly number. Then again, it was for a girl, wasn't it?

Bang!! On the photo page, search for "spin/fly". Mark's sketch of the hardware needed and the assembly are posted there. You can save it and blow it up.