I have a 6' Lamiglas blank one piece, I need to make it a two piece. How can I go about making a ferrule? I do not want to use a metal one.

funny you should mention it. i just did this to a one piece lami 5' honey colord glass blank and it turned out great. you will have to make a spigot ferrule. this is made from a scrap piece of fiberglass rod of the right size and taper. i would suggest that you want the ferrule plug to be about 2" long. when you cut your blank, measure the half way point and cut the butt section 1" shorter. this will give you two sections of equal length AFTER the spigot is glued in place. fitting is a trial and error process. you will need a vernier caliper to measure t he inside of the rod and the outside dialmeter of the scrap piece of blank. while doing trial fitting you will need to insert the spigot plug into the butt section of the original blank so you will have to remove any obstruction like a butt cap if one is on there. cut your piece of scrap way too long so you will have some to trim. i suggest at
least 1.5 to two inches inside the butt section. you can slide it in and pull it out the tip of the butt. snug it up but be very careful not to split the rod.
you can now slip the tip over the spigot. it will undoubtedly slide all the way and contact the butt section. you will need to trim back the tip section untill you have about 3/8" of distance between tip and butt and a tight fit. i make a lot of pencil marks as references. once you get this all trimmed to length and your spigot is the proper lenght (or maybe half and inch longer than final length you can glue the spigot into the butt section. with the spigot removed use a toothpick or some other thing, maybe a nail that is long enough or a bodkin to spread slow set epoxy into the butt section where the spigot will go. now, slide the spigot in from the back and push it through with a dowel or coat hanger wire or something long enough
once in pull it to your reference mark (for proper length) and clean all epoxy off with denatured alcohol. the key is to do all of your fitting and cutting before you commit to any gluing. use your head. measure three times and cut once. don't rush. you will have to do a ferrule wrap of at least 1" on both the male and female before you do an wiggling. it should be arrow straight.

i also did a three piece lami fly blank and converted it to a six piece.

as an aside, if your scrap blank is some what thin you may want to reinforce it with an internal sleave before you install it. you don't want your spigot to fail.

hope this helps rather than confuses.

larry

I would recommend an over-sleeve ferrule rather than a spigot. Ralph O'Quinn outlined the process in an earlier issue of RodMaker. I'm not sure if I have any of that issue left, however.

Failing that, no reason you can't try what Larry has suggested. One way or the other, it can certainly be done. Measure and fit your parts carefully and you should be successful.

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Tom, What are the advantages of an over-sleeve ferrule? Aesthetically, the spigot seems nicer, Also, with the spigot, the scrap blank doesn't need to match the spliced blank. What about filling the ferrule with epoxy to ensure that the spigot does not fail?

Larry, You stated: "you will need to trim back the tip section untill you have about 3/8" of distance between tip and butt and a tight fit." Does this 3/8" remain exposed in the finished product?

I'm trying to convert a 2 pc ultralight blank into a 4 pc combination spinning/fly rod with a Tennessee handle.

Steve your email is hidden.

OWEN, yes that 1/4 to 3/8' gap is exposed. you need a gap because eventually the ferrule will wear and
the gap will get smaller. you don't want the tip to eventually contact the butt. the gap is up to you. it could be 1/4 or 5/16 and probably be ok. be careful when cutting your blank since it can be shattered rather easily.

an oversleave ferrule may be stronger but the spigot may be "strong enough" especially if you use a solid glass blank or reinforce the spigot with another piece glued inside. i have an old silaflex glass rod that has an oversleave. either one works well. on a bare blank either one is easy enough to make but if you are going to do a rod that is already built you would need to strip the tip if you are going to do an
oversleave or if using a spigot you would have to remove the butt cap.

once you do one successfully it is a nice skill to have in your quiver.

Steve, have some one email you the artical.

Thanks everyone for the tips. Bill i hopefully have unlocked my e-mail.

Still shows hidden ??

Ideally you want to maintain some continuity of stiffness across the ferrule. You don't want the ferrule softer than the area it's bonded to, nor do you want it stiffer - the latter can create a bad stress point resulting in a break at the edge of the spigot. For this reason I wouldn't recommend filing it with epoxy or using a solid piece when making that spigot. The oversleeve will give the strength you need without requiring a very stiff, or solid piece in there. But as Larry said, on your rod and in the location you're talking about, a spigot may well be "strong enough." I wouldn't worry about filliing it with anything - you do want it to flex wtih the rod and at the same rate if possible.

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