On another forum I saw a problem that I am having at the moment. The ferrule does not seat fully. The end of the female seats down tight on the male but the end of the male up inside is not tight so it moves or clicks when I cast or shake it.

Is it wise to apply some sort of finish or epoxy to the end of the male ferrule to enlarge it and then sand to fit? This seems to be the consensus.

Well, it would not be the consensus among those who do a lot of work with ferrules or understand how to properly fit them. There are all sorts of stop-gap methods that might get you by, but permanent ferrule repair/fitting is so easy to do you might as well go that route and just be done with it forever.

When the female end seats on the male, before the male end seats up into the upper end of the female, you need to allow the male end to move a bit further up into the female. Generally this can be done by trimming a slight amount from the end of the female ferrule. Trim perhaps 1/8th inch from the end of the female ferrule. Rejoin and see if that doesn't fix your problem - in 99% of cases, it will. If not, try a little more and rejoin and test again. Generally, you won't have to remove more than 1/4 inch (nor should you) to get a perfect fit.

If the problem is the reverse - the male end seats into the female before the female opening tightens down on the male, you would trim a little from the end of the male piece. A little goes a long way, so be patient and check for fit after each minor trim is performed.

Typically, these are permament repairs that will last for many years, if not forever.

What happens if these techniques don't improve the fit? Well, 9 times out of 10 they will. In the event that they don't, the tapers of the two pieces are off by enough that you have a defective ferrule. You can add finish, epoxy, etc., and try to sand things to fit and you might meet with some success, but it won't be long before the coatings wear and the fit is lost, again. Test fit all new multi-piece blanks to make sure you have a good ferrule fit. When the fit isn't good and it can't be quickly restored by the methods outlined above, return it. You're not going to be happy with the blank down the road.

We have an article in an upcoming issue of RodMaker that deals with all sorts of ferrule repairs, fixes, matching tapers, etc. This is an area that most custom rod builders should be proficient in.

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Rob. For cutting a graphite blank, a dremel with a cutting disc works great. Apply a strip of masking tape to the edge of where you will cut. Remember a little goes a long way.. Also wear eye protection.