I've got a 10 year old flyrod that was my first attempt at building, and I never liked the way it turned out, so I decided to strip it and do it again. I wanted to remove the seat, and because I work in the shop of "make-do" instead of "go get the right stuff" I heated it over a light bulb. Butt cap came right off, and I was ecstatic. Put it back over the light bulb, grabbed the pliers for a good grip, and pulled and twisted. Seat came right off, too... with the end of the blank. (sigh)

So I inserted a piece of old blank as an extension. I measured it so it would not extend upwards past the grip, and cut it to length after I glued it in. Anyone else ever do this? Is there a better way to repair that? I figured heat was heat, but I guess not. Next time I'll use the boiling method.

Dave

Oddly enough, you ended up doing a caveman version of a reel seet repair mentioned a day or so ago :) Doing this for extending rods and such are definately documented in various rod building books like the Dale Clemens Custom Rod Building. Personally I think since it's in the reelseat (which is rigid), it prolly won't affect the rod in terms of casting. Also if you used a like material for the extension, it should also weigh nearly the same. Is there something specific that you did which makes you feel less than secure in the manner to which you did the repair?

-- Cheers
-- James

Oddly enough, you ended up doing a caveman version of a reel seet repair mentioned a day or so ago :) Doing this for extending rods and such are definately documented in various rod building books like the Dale Clemens Custom Rod Building. Personally I think since it's in the reelseat (which is rigid), it prolly won't affect the rod in terms of casting. Also if you used a like material for the extension, it should also weigh nearly the same. Is there something specific that you did which makes you feel less than secure in the manner to which you did the repair?

-- Cheers
-- James

Actually, the only scrap blank I had was the same material. Both rods are brown IM6. The ferrule end of the bottom half of the scrap fit almost perfectly in the butt end of the other. It broke more or less cleanly at the grip which held it together (I did a good job with the grip!) I glued it all the way along the insert, and I feel it will do the job. I just wondered how someone else might have done it.

Caveman, huh? Well, I do have some evolving to do, I'm still kind of Flintstone at this stuff.

I did something like that on two of my rods, but I used a piece of wood dowel that I sanded to fit inside the blank about four inches and epoxied it in. It made the rear grip about six inches longer without sacraficing the length of the rod. So far, not any problems. They are both 7' ultra-lites for trout and kokanee. You using a piece of the same type of blank should work okay. Keep in mind that my experience at this madness we call fun is a total of those two (2) rods, so take all of my opinions with a grain of salt.
Murf