Quote: "

I realize that the length of the foot on single foot guides (with ceramic rings, not looped wire) is considerably longer than on double foot or single foot (looped wire), but I have been reluctant to shorten them. 1) I doubt that the weight reduction would be significant and 2) I'm sure that the manufacturers considered this in the design of the guide. I'm not sure of the reason, but it might have to do with increased leverage resistance (see next sentence) or increased winding/mounting surface. "

This reminded me of a question that popped into my head this morning while showering.

When I grind the guide foot down, I generally shorten the length of the feet *and* thin the guide throughout the full length. I do this becase the SiC guides I get tend to be both very long and very stiff.

In general will this affect the rod in terms of durability? Since I'm thinning the guide foot a bit along it's full length, I'm not sure if I'm making it so that the guide will fail after a while?

Also, what are the general rules of thumb when it comes to guide foot grinding, other than the "don't over heat it" and "avoid sharp edges"?

-- Cheers
-- James

I think everything you've said points to the fact that you're real understanding of everything to do with this. Grinding as you've said (don't overheat, etc) shouldn't harm the guide or cause for failure in any way as long as it's not too thin.

Adding one thing, the thinning of the foot of the SF guides gives it a bit of flexibility and aids the finish in not cracking.

Putter
Williston, ND

I don't think that the guide manufacturers are remiss in the guides that they provide us. My tendency is to leave a guide foot alone, other than to remove burrs. Since I build mostly 4-5 wt trout rods, I find the guide feet to be thin enough without further shaping. The thread goes on seamlessly, and the resultant finished guide + wrap + finish is very smooth. But that's just the way I do it.

In some cases, I find that the guides are fine just the way they are too. But in the case of a lot of wire guides, they aren't doing a whole lot of finishing. Quite a few of them look like they were bent on a jig, then have their feet 'shaped' by a hammer press. In those cases, thinning the guide feet seems obvious. The specific case I'm thinking of is single foot ceramic guides. Since guide weight and flexibility affects the rod, my general practice has been to reduce mass and stiffness. My biggest concern is more that I'm sacrificing durability for what I believe will improve performance... So far in this young post, I have what appear to be conflicting ideas!

-- Cheers
-- James

Wha'ts teh worst thing that can happen? As long as you use common sense (uh-oh, not THAT common sense) and don't grind teh guide to a nub nothing's going to happen. The amount f pressure a guide recieves is so small - your 5 weight rod probably uses, I dunno 10 guides - if you use 10# line, and catch a 20# fish - the MOST pressure each guide is going to get will be an averages of 1#.