I'm feeling somewhat confused with using the terms "carbon" and "graphite", when it comes down to fishing rod blanks... Well, it was no big deal to learn the difference between these 2 kinds of C in terms of their molecular structure etc. But what still stays unclear for me... Reffering to the materials contemporary rod blanks are made of, what is usually meant: graphite reinforced and/or bonded with some other materials, or carbon fibers with addition of some other substances?

I understand that I probably should not worry about, but, after spending a couple of hours surfing over numerous web sites, I became VERY curious to find out...

Can anybody give the explanation?

Pavel,
Moscow, RU

Technically, fishing rods are made from carbon fiber. This is supplied in a prepeg which consists of fiber and resin. If you do a search of this site you can learn a lot more about the various types of construction and the way different fibers and types of fibers are sometimes combined in a single rod.

Graphite is carbon fiber, but not all carbon fiber is considered graphite. With regard to fishing rods, the terms are often and usually thrown about interchangeably, mostly because the first rods made from carbon fiber were called "graphite rods." It stuck and has been used ever since.

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"...Graphite is carbon fiber, but not all carbon fiber is considered graphite... the terms are often and usually thrown about interchangeably..."

That's what I guessed. Thank you for explanation, Tom

Pavel,
Moscow, RU