One of REC Recoil's selling point is its elasticity when deformed. It just bounces back.

However, I'd like add some additional light bends into a Recoil guide and have it stay put. Anyone know how to do that with this material? (i.e. heat it? Overbend it?)

Thanks,
Mo

Hey, I messed with a few rec guides and come to find out that if you heat them they become very brittle. If you are using them for a spin rod they work great but DO NOT use them on a baitcast rod. Once you get to use the small 8 and 6 you can break them real easy. Plus the line gets tangled in the guide every now and then. Don't get me wrong there great guides for some things but bad for others.

Luis Villarreal
www.bass_v_rods@yahoo.com
Rio Grande City, Tx

Mo,
I definitely would not heat the Recoil guides. I am reasonable sure that the Recoil guides are annealed. Annealing is a heat treating process where the temperature, how fast they are heated, how slowly they are cooled etc. all will affect the molecular structure of the metal and its the properties. I would be willing to bet that if you heat them you will get some unpleasant surprises in terms of how it affects the characteristics of the guides.

Why do you want to bend them? Like Emory said, the characteristics of the alloy are dependent on it's heat treatment. Annealing to make it less brittle, and remove internal stresses in the metal. Heating would possibly change that dramatically. Also, the alloy REC uses falls into the category of Shape Memory alloy. Often heating is a way to change this property and allow the metal to be re-formed to a new shape, but the cooling used is done in stages at different rates to maintain the characteristic once it cools. I don't think you'd be able to replicate that method, and it's likely to ruin the guide.

Well.....I guess I won't be heating any guides anytime soon. LOL.

I'd still like to know how to put a permanent bend in them if possible. I want to bend them to raise or lower the 'ring' to suit. This is very important for a specific use of the Recoil that I have in mind.

Thanks!
Mo

Not possible any other way, other than to try and bend way past reasonable, and hope the springback is a bit smaller.

To change the subject a little, does anyone have experience with the Recoil guides on a 10 - 11 foot surf rod. How do they handle bigger fish and do they restrict distance? Thanks, Bob