Hi All,
I have two 9'6" blanks that I would like to build into casting rods for the Surf. The problem that I have is that I have no clue what line class or lure weight these blanks can handle. (They are Composite Developments blanks from New Zealand but the specifications were lost). Is there some kind of test-setup to determine the line class and lure/bait weight?
Kind Regards
Elmar

The CCS system will nail down the approximate casting weight range for you. The line rating is, like all others, pretty much arbitrary. You should be able to flex them by hand and figure out what would be a safe maximum for them.

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COMPARISON with built rods or unbuilt blanks is about the only other way that is convenient. If your current on-hand access to rated rod blanks has no suitable rods for comparison, you may try going to a local tackle dealer and re-educating your eyes and hands to those line & lure ratings. Then when you go home, check your own rod blanks again for the Nth time and see what you think. ... All things considered, not knowing the precise lure & line rating may not be that much of an impediment to deciding how you can safely build a rod that will perform well for your intended use. IMO, -Cliff Hall+++, Gainesville, FL-USA*****

P.S. - Another form of a comparative method, if static testing (CCS) and dynamic comparison are insuffucient, would be a structural comparison. If you are reasonably confident of the material for the rod blank, then measuring the butt-OD, tip-OD and blank weight can be corroborated with your other assessment to help you converge on, or at least bring you closer to, a better determination of the line and lure ratings for your rod blank. Look thru your rod blank Catalogs and pick a series of blanks of the same or similar material as your rod blank's taper. Look at the butt to tip ODs and blank weight and see how your blank compares to the Catalog's rod blanks. Wall thickness is not reported in the Catalogs, but taper and weight give some clue to that. Sometimes a smaller OD with thicker walls (heavier blank) is a stiffer rod blank (higher power rating) than a larger OD rod with thinner walls. -Cliff Hall+++



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/11/2005 12:22AM by Cliff Hall.

Thank you Tom and Cliff,I will do a Static test and see what the results are
Elmar

How about just supporting the butt section vertically about a foot of it. Then hang weight or pennies on the tip till it is at 1/3 rd deflection. Then just figure out how much weight is put on . Now your in the ball park.

Bill,

No, that won't work. The amount of weight required to flex a blank that distance is going to be way more than it can effectively cast.

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Was it not a certain distance like 1/6 flex, If I remember right ? 1/3 rd was for fly line.

No, neither. The deflection distance per weight does not approximate the weight the blank can cast. Remember, when you cast, you are combining the lure or line weight plus the caster's input. In deflection, you are only using weight to deflect the blank and the measurement taken is data from which other information can then be derived - including the casting weight range. But it will never be the same as the weight used to deflect the blank for taking the measurements.

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Tom, my article on measuring Tip Power (TP) should be applicable to this problem. One just needs to correlate TP with lure weight.

Common Cents Info: [www.common-cents.info]
Q: Where in this large volume of information is this "TIP-POWER" Section ...?... Thanks, -Cliff Hall+++

Cliff,
Tom hasn't printed it yet. It will be in the magazine before on the web.

Thanks, Dr. Bill, for the heads-up. I'm trying to get caught up on ordering my desired back-issues of RMM right now, so this provides me with the incentive that now is the time. BTW, while I have not yet read much on the CCS, thanks for your work to standardize the classifications of and the techniques for determining a rod blank's characteristics. One day, I'll study up on all this CCS, and make it onto that same "page" with everybody else. -Cliff Hall+++

"If you cannot measure it, if you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meager and unsatisfactory kind." - Lord Kelvin .
From the man who is "Kelvin = Celsius + 273.15". (temperature degrees)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/14/2005 01:25AM by Cliff Hall.