when test casting a surf rod what do you use to hold the guides temporarily? i have the little rubber bands for my bay rods but somehow i don't think they'll hold up to a pendulum or backcast.

and how much force do you use? do you go full bore or like 1/2 speed?

Tape your guides to the blank.

Give it everything you have got. That is how it will be cast.

Overload the casting specs, just to see what happens.

You need to know the limits of your blank, so you can build your rod.

This is the same for all rods.

Paul

I fish therefore I am.
www.hookeduprods.com

I use black electrical tape and wrap it REALLY tight. I also start with 1 layer of tape under the guide to protect the blank (I don't want to scratch it in the event I end up moving a guide. Having said that, the guides will still sometimes slip under the tape given the force of a surf cast.

Shawn,
I don't think there's any way around doing a static deflection set up (as explained in the Library) and then wrapping the guides on the rod - you don't have to be super neat with the wraps and you don't have to finish them off (no CP / no epoxy) then see how it works. If you think something's wrong cut the guide(s) off and retest. There's just too much strain to hold a guide in place on a surf rod to test cast it - and tell the difference. Also too many variables in the casting motion (physics / physiology) to repeat a cast exactly the same. (too many things in motion simultaneously - rod blank, torso twist, left arm pull, right arm straight /not straight) . That goes double for any kind of pendulum cast where you have little control over the length of the line payed out.

First, these rods have operational limits which , if exceeded, will cause breakage.

I do use electrician's tape for all my testing and once fished a whole season with a rod with the guides taped on.

Deliberately power casting or overloading(and other factors) can cause the rod to exceed it's limits and it'soff to the dealer for replacement under warranty.

Before I came down here on vacation, I was testing a popular blank that was used by many people.

I put it through configuration and tests but felt that it could be esily overloaded.by weight or casting methods

In Tom Kirkman's article in the RMM, he provide charts to help with calculating rod loads.

I place the guides on a rod with several different methods as crosschecks. These methods include static displacement. When a rod gets guided, it is whatI consider OK , but will test cast just to be sure. The guides are then wrapped and I do another spine check and my final eyeball test.

I don't do a cast test with the guides finished. Perhaps I should, but I'm confident and haven't had one come back yet.

I have used heat shrink tape before. You can fish with it if you like, not to mention casting with it. I once saw Nick Meyers of Breakaway at a casting tournement with his guides heat shrunk on to the rod, and he casts about 700'...............Kyle

Kyle -
Big "duh -oh" from here. I simply never thought about heat shrink tubing - Great idea (and I'm officially stealing it from here on out).... LOL

No problem, and good luck............Kyle

Since this thread has evolved from a question on how to test cast a surf rod through advice on how to willfully destruct a surf rod to a dissertation on tape, let me join in.

Frst; welcome back Ken, it's good to have you back,

A little known fact is that some hjgh end rods have their guides taped on or tape is incorporated into the cosmetics. It allows some prettu inlays and contrastinfg effcts.

Some day, I may write something called Decorative Tape Art; who knows?

For whatever my opinion is worth, I always use masking tape when test casting surf rods, and I've never had the tape fail. And I've done test casting up to 16 oz. of lead. I'm not an expert caster (I certainly can't do the pendulum cast), but masking tape has worked fine for me.

When I'm testing a lighter surf rod, like a plugging rod, just one or two wraps of tape work fine. For heavier rods, I'll use more tape, and apply it more snugly than on a lighter rod. I've thought about (and tried) more secure means of attaching the guides, including duct tape, but I've always gone back to masking tape. The way that I see it, a big part of test casting is being able to move the guides around, and if you use too much junk to do so, you're going to spend too much time removing the junk to move the guide an inch or two. Masking tape has been plenty secure in my tests, and is easy to remove to move the guides around.

And a word about test casting method: I would have no qualms about really heaving a surf rod whose guides are attached with tape. The tape is more than strong enough to do the job. But I see no reason to strain so mightily during test casts, and consequently put forth a comfortable, reasonable amount of effort - say 70-75% of maximum force. It's the equivalent of hitting a 9-iron rather than a driver.

The reason I do this is twofold. First, when I'm test casting a surf rod, I normally spend anywhere from 15-30 minutes monkeying around, and may make as many as 100 casts. Repeating a maximum-effort cast that many times would probably leave me in traction for a few days. Moreover, I see no performance reason that breaking your back on a bunch of test casts is necessary. If Guide Array B is better than Guide Array F, than it's going to show whether you're casting at 100%, 70%, or 5% of your maximum effort. Once I get a guide array that I like, I might make a few heaves, just to make sure that the setup is going to perform the way I want it to when it's being used the way I'm going to fish it, but I see no benefit in impersonating Hulk Hogan during the test casting process.

Just my 2 cents.