When I removed an IM6 rod (that I built years ago) from its rod bag yesterday, I noticed that the chrome-plated, stainless, tip guide was badly corroded. As I tried to remove the corrosion, the tip wobbled and then came off, with the rod tip itself inside. In looking closer, the tip had apparently disintegrated, and had even left a little black spot of graphite residue on the rod bag. I'd replaced the tip back in the winter, using the same 5-minute epoxy I've always used for tips, but hadn't used the rod since. Does anyone have any idea what may have caused this problem? In 20 years of rod building, I've never seen anything disintegrate part of a blank like this. The rest of the rod seems fine, apparently the problem was only at the tip guide.

My only guess would be that the heat that was used to remove the old tip was sufficient to ruin the rod blank tip. I don't think moisture would have done this.

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I heated a nail and just touched it to the tip, which is the same process I've always used. Never had a problem before, but maybe I got it too hot. Can't figure why the guide was corroded, though. The rod has been in the bag and tube for months, stored inside the house, and there was no other corrosion anywhere else. I've been wondering if the epoxy somehow reacted with the tip guide.

I doubt it. If the rod was put away wet, or even on a very humid day, you may have trapped moisture in the tube which led to the corrosion.

Water/moisture can undermine many epoxies (including that used to hold the graphite fibers together) over a period of time. But I still can't see this as the problem. Then again, a heated nail shouldn't have hurt the blank unless you applied it directly to the blank itself.

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The rod was put away dry, on a winter day when I imagine the humidity was about as low as it gets in South Carolina. The heated nail never touched the blank, it was only sparingly applied to the tip guide. I tested the top after the glue dried and it seemed as sound as it could be, never a wiggle. I don't think the rod has been out of the tube or the tube out of the rack inside the house (which is air conditioned) since then until a couple of days ago. Also, I would think that a moisture problem should affect the other guides or the reel seat, but there are no problems on any of these. As I said, the rod tip itself actually disintegrated, leaving a residue on the bag, with all the appearance of a pretty drastic chemical reaction. The rest of the rod looks fine.

Maybe it was the epoxy? See Ralph's response to another post below. I don't do bamboo, so I don't know what the ferrules are made of.

Re: JB Weld
Posted by: Ralph O'Quinn (---.wavecable.com)
Date: September 18, 2005 08:08PM


Here is my answer to the Bamboo Rod Forum

There is no technology under the sun more UNSUITED to bond metal to bamboo than Pliobond. I have had many a pow wow with the bamboo types and they are as tradition bound as any group I have ever experienced. The very fact that you join the ferrule to the rod by heating the ferrule and the cement then with a good deal of effort, press the ferrule on until it is completely seated -- tells me that the ferrule would have many years of good service had you used a car wax instead of pliobond for the joint. Of the readily available technologies available to the average rod builder --- the hot melts are probably the best choice for this job as they will stay bonded longer than the epoxies. The epoxies will exhibit the best initial bond strength, but the interface with the metal ferrule will be corroded away in a year or two. However if you are pressing the ferrule on with a good deal of effort --anything you use -- including a good wax -- will do the job, and whatever you use you can point to it and say you have proof positive that this is the best.

Ralph