I am building my first 2 piece rod. It ia a G. Loomis ST1025 8'6" steel head rod.
I have read several past posts regarding the unimportance of the spine. When I sight down this rod each piece seperately and both pieces together it seems very straight.

1. Can I place the guides any where on this rod with no ill effects?

2. Should I wrap and epoxe the ferrule section of this blank where it slides over the male section to give it more strength?

Any suggestions or Ideas are appreciated.

Thank you,
Tom

mmmm good question.......
you could build eiter on the spline (slighty stiffer),, opposite the spline (slightly more forgiving) or in the best optical position (that is the axis that has the least bend in it when sighted butt to tip)

wrap the ferrule to a t least 1.5*dia of ferrule and epoxyy yes


depends if the rod is a perormance job for a pro or yourself personally nowerdays i go with the best sight line (unless its a top end rod)

Allen

You can put the guides anywhere on the rod without any ill effects, yes. The idea that bad things will happen if you don't put your guides in a certain place has always been nothing more than a myth.

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tom do you think too much is made of the spline issue or not???

Way too much. Spine can't be used to make a rod stable nor can it be used to make a rod cast more accurately. So exactly why is it so important?

Earlier articles in RodMaker proving why spine has nothing to do with rod stability at least made other writers crawfish a bit and admit that spine orientation really didn't, after all, have anything to do with rod twist. I have some earlier data that will be repeated on a new platform this spring to prove that casting accuracy is not affected by spine position. I think most of the myths on rod spine have been solidly debunked, but it's a long held myth and will die hard.


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I asked the same question of Tom a while back and we had a bit of a battle back and forth as to what is right. After some research and close examination of past and present rod projects, I totally agree with him. it does not matter. Just use the straightest axis. if I find and minor variation in stiffnes along this axis I will align it to suit the rod, but the effect overall is minimal. Study the blank as to how it reacts and lfexes, it will tell you what it wants.

Tommy, I don't concern myself too much about the spine. but I still build along the spine if a rod is straight. If a rod has a pronounced curve, I have no qualms orienting the guides along the curve. However, if I am building a rod for someone other than myself, I do make certain I orient the guides along or opposite the spine (depending on the type of rod). I do that just in case the rod owner believes it is important to him/her, even if it isn't important at the time.

Have seen lots of talk on spine. When folks recommend to build to some spine orientation, it is always to the spine as found on the bare blank. I just went thru 4 factory casting rods and located the spines. It located each time with the spine 'happening' to be right where the factory guides were. Can't believe the factories bother spining, so would seem to say the guides themselves define a much stronger spine than the innate one. Certainly on at least one of those rods the blank spine would be off axis and then, with the guides on, the aggregate spine would be noticably off from the guide plane.... if the blank spine made much overall difference anyway. Or maybe by chance I just picked really good Daiwa, Penn, and Ugly Sticks to try.

It was by chance, nothing more. And remember that what you do when locating the spine by hand - flexing the blank by hand, is not at all what happens when a rod is loaded by a fish pulling on a line running through guides attached to the rod blank. These are two entirely different things.

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i just build on the straightest axis and have no problem when fighting 80+ lb fish with a 30-50lb rod