I just received a Lamiglas 3pc 5 wt fiberglass fly blank, with spigot ferrules. I am very surprised how thin the walls are. In wrapping the ferrules, should I wrap past the end of the spigot on both male and female ends? That would be 2 inches or more. Should I reinforce the female end with a metal ring?

What would you do?

Dave

Dave,
Two inches is more than is necessary. One inch is more than long enough.
You do not want to put a metal ring on the female end. When a rod flexes it also becomes slightly elliptical. If you put a metal ring on it that prevents it from becoming elliptical the stresses will be much higher at that point and there is an increased chance that it will break just in front of the metal ring. People often use metal winding checks without any problems but only because the rod is usually not flexing significantly in that area or that far down the rod.

If you use too much thread you can cause flat spots in the arc of the rod under load, they will eventually round over under increasing pressure, but the more wrap and consquent flat spot, the more pressure it takes to round them over. Any flat spot will concentrate stress on either side of the flat spot and certain guide spacing (on ferrule) can place the load of the rod on top of one of theses stress concentration points, or heighten the leverage over this area.

I adjust my Winding checks I.D. to fit a bit loose on most of the steelhead noodle, fly, or spinning rods I build as most blanks are long, lighter and have a fly rod type action (parabolic) So in effect they can bend well down into the handle and reel seat. I like the tollerance on the winding check to be just enough that the thread that abutts it will cover is empty space up, yet leave the check loose.

Thanks, fellas. I'm mainly concerned with stress being concentrated at the ends of the spigot, both female and male sections. As I was flexing the rod, and the insert flexes with the blank pretty well, so I guess it's not an issue.

I was expecting a heavy blank, but this glass is as light as any carbon fiber blank I have. It had me concerned for the durability is all.

Dave