How long should I be making my ferrule wraps. I'm building a 3 pc. 7 weight right now and will be building a couple 4 pc. 5 weights in the near future. I notice short (1/2") wraps on many factory builds.

Ferrule wraps of ~ 1 centimeter or 1/2 inch are good for that size rod blank. -Cliff Hall+++ cmkmhall@ufl.edu

Kevin, Did you get a sense for your guide layout on your Dan Craft 9'0", 4-piece, 5-weight fly rod ? I thought I was gonna get back to your Post earlier this week within 24 hours, but then (yada yada), and then I just let it go, since it looked like your Thread went dormant. ... What would take less than 5 minutes to lay out with the rod sections in front of you would take me an hour to type, because the terminology alone for numbering guides and ferrules and sections could get confusing. ... So, I won't bog myself or you down with my original detailed approach, but I'm sending the general idea appended below.

How critical is guide size and spacing? ... Oct. 31, 2005 11:30PM
Kevin Birznieks <[email protected]> : "I'll be ordering Dan Craft GF/P4-90-4/5 and I need to figure out what guides I need and their spacing. ... "

Basically: 4 guides + tip-top on the tip section. Then 3 guides; then 2 guides. Then no guides on the Butt section. One guide on, or just above, each of the 3 ferrules. (May need to add one guide to each section if the curvature is too great.) A fairly equal spacing, with uniform increases toward the stripper guide. Something like that should work. Putting a guide on or near each ferrule tends to minimize the bending stress on the ferrule. May need to stagger guides slightly to allow good packing of the sections into your pack-rod tube. 'Hope that makes sense, Kevin. (For me, that's about as short as it gets!) -Cliff Hall+++

Thanks, Cliff. I'll do some experimenting on the spacing...I haven't got the blank in hand yet. Dan is including all the guides I need for that one.

dan also offers a guide spacing chart, with different spacing for different blank models in the same length and weights, so one might surmise that he's done some testing to find the best placement for his blanks. but in the end, check yourself once they're temporarily attached would be best. ask him to provide it if he hasn't.

as for the length of the ferrule wraps, i've often read the "rule" of 1.5 times the blank section's diameter. 2x max. really long wraps, like 2-3 inches looks really odd to me as i've seen on some custom rods. but that's just me.

eric
fresno, ca.

I had 2" on it, but I ripped that off the blank and used a 1/2" wrap. I agree, I thought the 2" looked a bit "off". It was also too difficult for me to get the epoxy perfectly even. More practice will help me with the latter.

Thanks for the help, guys.

Kevin...

If the blank is one of Dan's Sig. V's...then I believe he recommends a fairly long wrap...1.5 inches, I think.

I did that on the 7 wt and 4 wt Sig V.s I built.

On the FT's...just go by 1.5 time the diameter of the ferrule opening....about 1/2 inch.

Keith