I have a chance to build a 8ft 5 wt Bamboo blank, I want to use single foot wire guides, I have never used these what size would be right.
I was going to use a traditional stripper size 10 or 12, do these rods use 2 strippers or one?
Thanks for the help. Cheers Ron.

HI Ron,
I have an 8 1/2 ' 5/6 wt that I built from a salvaged South Bend 359. I used a size 12 casting guide for the stripper, and added a size 8 casting guide for the tamer. The running guides are 2/0 single foot wire. It will pass my loop to loop connections when I am stringing the rod up, but I would not try to pass these connections while fighting a fish. There is just not much clearance. It's OK, though, because I use short leaders. I built this rod as a "modern" interpretation of a bamboo rod. It casts very nicely. The single foot wires keep weight to a minimum. Only you can decide what size running guides are right, since it depends on the connections that you use.
Here is a pic of my rod:
[www.rodbuilding.org]
Feel free to contact me if I can help.
George

2/0 is about as small as you would want to go and still get the leader connection through the guide.

No need to step down from the tamer (if you use one) to the running guides, even though it looks different. Some folks use an intermediate guide size, in this case probably a #2 between the tamer and the running guide, but this is your choice.

Be sure to use the Forhan locking wrap on your SF snakes. They come out easily after a time without them.

Terry

Most of the on-line retail houses have conversion charts to go from snake to single foot guides. Single foot guides are a challenge to get and keep aligned. After much trial and error on my most recent fly rod I ended up using the latex rubber bands my daughter uses on her braces. I wrapped the band several times around the blank and rolled it up onto the guide foot. I then used tweezers to pull one loop up and over the ring to seat against the backside of the guide. On the larger guides I could pull the band and use again; on the smaller guides I cut the band away. This worked really well.

I like the looks of the single foot guides and will use again. Good luck.