Has anyone ever made a 2 piece rod out of the a glass and a graphite blank?
Or
Has anyone ever slipped a smaller graphite blank up the inside of a heavier glass blank and joined the two together as a rod?
Or
The other way around Glass on top of heavier graphite?

What was the result?

First problem would be to find two blanks to fit tightly along their entire length. The chances of finding two identical profiles, one on the Inner wall and the other on the outer wall seems astronomically improbable.. and not easy to determine but by many trials... perhaps numbering into the thousands.

Supposing you got lucky and found the "needle in the haystack" how do you propose bonding them together? Any glue that sets up hard will all but destroy the action that was so carefully designed into each of these blanks.

Lastly, and of even greater detriment, is the matter of weight. Two blanks which each have their own scrim and wall thicknesses necessary to function alone.. carry far more weight than is beneficial to create one blank. The many blanks that combine fiberglass and graphite do so in very carefully planned ways. Weight reduction is of major concern and it is handled by using one scrim for the blank and by very carefully varying wall thicknesses. The compromise is to gain as much strength as is preferred for the purpose or the rod while keeping the performance characteristics that are best suited for the application. Unnecessary weight negatively affects all aspects of rod performance while making the rod more uncofortable.

To sum up my seat of the pants viewpoint, I think this approach is not just impractical but a sure fire way to build one terrible rod.

Having said that.. I seriously hope you try. There is always something learned by experimentation and I would never want to discourage that.
If you do venture down this road I would think a silicon type flexible agent would provide a decent bond and also act as a cushion between the two blanks. That's just a hunch.

I assume you would not want to cast with a rod like this but it might work for hauling up huge Groupers if you selected blanks appropriate to that task. I'm picturing the fishing rod equivalent of an oak tree.

If you make one I'd sure like to see it and hear how well it works.

What would be the point? As in, what would you be trying to accomplish with that sort of 'construction'?

Scott Kinney
The Longest Cast Fly Rods
[www.thelongestcast.com]

Robert
Number 1 and number 3 YES. Emphatically YES. Fiberglass tips on Graphite butt sections make very fine rods. I don't slip one inside of the other though. I make a FIBERGLASS ferrule and slip it over the Graphite butt section and the fiberglass tip section fits into the ferrule. I have made several very fine rods in this manner, mostly spin and casting rods, but a few have been fly rods -- short ones-- 7ft 6in to 8ft. 3in. Some of them I make into two piece rods, and some of them I make into 4 piece. It takes a bit of searching to find the pieces that will fit. You are always faced with the necessity of spoiling a perfectly good fiberglass blank, and an equally perfectly good graphite blank. Your calculations and measuring had better be right the first time because you just don't get a second chance if you cut them up and they don't fit. Once you get the proper size -- read / diameter -- you still must be sure that when cut the pieces will FEEL right. I have goofed several times and wound up with a rod that was heavey and/or to stiff in the tip, or maybe to wimpy in the butt. But we learn by doing, and the more of them I do, the better they seem to turn out when I'm through. I have seen very few production rods built in this manner and I have to wonder why?
I have also taken broken graphite rods--where the tip section was smashed or otherwise ruined beyond repair, and made a fiberglass tip section for the existing finished graphite butt section. The owner of the ruined/rebuilt rod always marvels at the magical transformation into a better rod than the all graphite that it came from. You seldom can make the sections equal length, but I always come within about 6 inches of them being equal, which is close enough. Go ahead and try it -- you can't help but have fun in trying, which is the name of the game.
Ralph

Here in Japan there is a LOT of rods that are graphite butts with solid fiberglas tips. The tip is solid, can be sanded to fit exactly into the graphite butt. This way you can have a rod that has backbone, but a super light tip for detecting the smallest bites. I wouldn't do this on every rod, but it has it's uses.

Graphite top with fiberglass bottom, wouldn't really see the point. JMHO.

Phil

St. Croix made a ton of rods with graphite butts/fiberglass uppers. The Pics that I just posted are that type of rod. The bottom 1/3 is graphite and the rest is fiberglass. It has a real nice feel to it.

[www.rodbuilding.org]
[www.rodbuilding.org]




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/01/2007 07:27AM by Bruce Wetzel.

Many surf rods have been built with graphite butts and glass tips. The idea is to keep good stiffness and power in the butt, but with reduced material and thus diameter and weight, while maintaining toughness and flexibility in the tip.

I can't imagine that one done the other way around (glass butt and graphite tip) would be any more than Dave said - a terrible rod.


.............

Ralph - If at all possible could you take a picture of your box, chest, storage compartment, room, house, barn or warehouse full of broken rod pieces and post it on the Photo Board. I think it would fall in line with one of the Wonders of the World!

Better just buy one pre made. I can't see having the right pieces to match up in such a way that you'd come up with anything any good.

We have in the past made some very light Crappie rods with a 5" UL Fibreglass blank for the tip section, and a butt section from a light graphite fly rod blank.
After trimming, the glass tip fit as a "tip over butt" ferrule, overalll length was 8', it made a very nice rod for fishing light line and live bait as a "down rod" The tip was very soft, so the fish would not feel much resistance on the take, the butt gave some backbone for handling them.
So I would say a "hybrid" is very duable, and As Ralph said, fun to experiment with.


Best wishes,
Ron Schneider
Schneider's Rod Shop
Mountain Home, Arkansas
[www.schneidersrods.com]
mtnron40@yahoo.com
870-424-3381