Does anyone know where I can get tapered steel rods to use as the internal mold?

I'm looking for 6' - 7' (or longer) with a taper from approx 1" to .3" for some custom stuff I'd like to try.

There is a company that specializes in making tapered steel mandrels for the rod blank industry. You would be very surprised (and perhaps put off) by the price.

The difficulty with simply have a machine shop make you such a thing is the diameter of the tip - which is going to be a lot smaller than .3" unless you plan on making blanks with tip diameters as large as your thumb. Take a look at the tip of any similar blank you have and notice the opening there - that's the diameter of the mandrel tip you'd need.

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Thanks Tom - Actually looking to make gaff blanks - the large tip opening is to support the gaff head.

I've looked to a couple of machine shops, and you are correct - the price is staggering.

If you are going to use graphite you will also need an oven to bake the product if you wish to have untimate strength.
Herb.

Okay, if you're talking about something larger, you can likely find somebody in your area that could make you such a thing. And the cost would be far less.

I assume you'd make your shafts with the same carbon-skin technique outlined in RodMaker year before last? That would be far more economical than cutting a flag and then rolling, wrapping, cooking, stripping, etc., in the way that a rod blank is made. There are numerous bi and tri-axial sleeves available that make what you want to do entirely feasible.

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I have made shafts for canoe and Kayak paddles that way for a long time - but there is usually no taper involved,
so using standard steel pipe is no issue there.

I was just hoping to find something already made. Thanks Again

It is possible that you could make such a thing in that diameter on top of a tapered wood shaft (coated and protected of course), which would be much less expensive to have made. Many woodturners would likely do it for very little money, provided they have the bed length required.

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