Ok, to bring back an on ongoing question. I have been building flyrods for over 10 years now and I do get the magazine and read this forum. I want to thank all of you builders who take the time to post here and answer question we all have. I decided to take the plunge and start a small business building and selling custom flyrods. (which brings up a whole alot more questions). I was watching a video on spine finding and the builder was marking the inside curve of the flyrod blank. When you read the paperwork that flex coat puts out it shows to mark the outside of the curve. This keeps coming back to me like a bad dream. Both are suppose to be marking the spine. I mark my rods on the hard bump not the soft bump and they cast fine. Am I missing something here?

Dave Loren
Daves Custom Flyrods

This illustrates just how unimportant that this whole spine thing really is. They're marking totally different spine orientations and yet nobody's rod is blowing up or short circuiting. The spine cannot make a rod stable and has no effect on casting accuracy. It just doesn't matter. If it did, bad things would happen if you didn't orient it a certain way.

The "hard bump" is neither the spine nor the opposite of the spine (the stiffest and softest axis are not 180 degrees opposite each other) so you're already disregarding the spine entirely and as you say, your rods cast fine.

You can do it however you want and all will be well. However, I'd recommend you skip the spine and build on the straightest axis. Sounds like that's what you may already be doing.

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Some say that putting the guides on the outside of the curve will tend to give more power to the blank ????
I mark the out side --- then also check for how straight the blank is. If it has a curve in it, I face it upward and put the guides on the bottom of that.

Most just check for straightness.

Bill - willierods.com

That's because they mistakenly believe the stiffest axis is exactly 180 degrees opposite the softest. It rarely is.

The stiffest or most powerful axis (and this is marginal in most cases) is along the straightest axis.

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this means to say that the prepreg, when rolled, doesnt necessarily end exactly over or opposite where it started on the mandrel

-
Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day..
Teach a man to fish, he'll be broke!

LMAO I binned that spline concept ages ago (on toms advice) and just build to the straightest axis
Roll the rod on a flat bed and see which side is in full contact thats the side to put the guides on

Right from the get go, I have been building rods on the straightest axis, from the advice I received here on the forum. I have never had one blow up nor have I ever had a complaint about how the rod feels fighting a fish or casting. As Tom says, it just doesn't matter. Rarely is the spine on straightest axis, so if you build on the spine, and look down the rod, more often than not, the tip section is curved sideways, and it's very noticeable. A customer will pick that up instantly.

cheers
Harold

OK, I appreciate you asking this question, It is one I have had for a while, but stuck with what I was doing because it worked. I have always spined the rod, but always put the mark on the inside as well, and never had any issue. I have noticed that what tom says about the stiffest axis not being 180 from the softest is also true in most of the blanks I have used from cheap 15-40 dollar blanks to the sage and the ATC blanks I recently built on. The next one I will do toms way.

Let's call it "Tom's way" as this isn't something I came up with. It was the norm for rods until an author in the 1970's came up with the spine idea. Even then, commercial manufacturers have nearly always built on the straightest axis and have done so for over 100 years.

You'll be interested to read the comments on rod spine and rod set up by a leading blank designer in the issue of RodMaker that mails next week. These folks have gone out of their way to build special equipment that ensures that they are building on the straightest axis.

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That must be a - Flatter Table ??? LOL

Bill - willierods.com

It's not hard to do, but because of the number of rods they build and the rate at which pieces must run through a QC check and be sent on to production, they have built a series of laser alignment stations that do everything from checking for straightest axis to aligning guides.

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If your confident in your abilities enough to build rods on a professional level then it should be "your way". If your already building a quality product that is in demand and you see a potential additional market then you don't need to and shouldn't be asking "am I doing it right".

Dave, if your selling your rods and customers want more then your good. that's the bottom line. Keep doing what your doing and you'll be fine. In this business the market is the great equalizer and judge of what is right and wrong. Guys who purchase custom rods are buying those rods because they have risen to the next level in they're angling quest. They know right from wrong.

Man I knew I'd be stirring up a bucket of bees in a honey jar when I started this. I have been marking the "hard bump" and then checking the rod for straightness and building on the straight axis. Thanks for your complete feed back. Yea my gut feeling was that no one ever complained about any rods or brought any back for performance problems so I knew something was right.

Just briefly - - - - - This involves charter boat fishing ( I had one - Ches. Bay ) - - - The last few
days we had been catching large fish ( 10 lbs. +/- up to about 30 to 40 lbs. ) during the Spring
Trophy Season; about 15 - 20 yrs. ago. Another boat Capt. showed me 2 of his identical
store bought trolling rods. They were twisted (not exactly alike). Spiral wrapped -NO.
Routine was to let line out; set drag light; place handle in rod holder; because it was known
a hit by a "heavy" could snatch a rod from the hands of a sleepy person. Cause of twist ??
I don't know. The spine? Or just rods made with some inherent weaknes of blank. The Capt.
continued using the rods "as is".
For myself - - - I check the spine using a rig with 2 roller bearings. Also roll it on a flat surface
(workbench). - - - Unless findings are significant, I don't worry much about it.

jocko

Whether you align your guides to the stiff side, soft side or straight side does not mean that the user will cast in-line with that plane. I have noticed that some excellent and even famous fly casters will load the rod at an angle to the placement of the guides.

Jack,

Spine has nothing to do with rod twist. All rods that have the guides located on top will either twist, or try to twist, when under load from a fish. All rods with the guides located on top of the rod are inherently unstable.

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John,

Your assessment is correct and shows again why spine orientation in a particular plane makes little sense - rods aren't used that way in the real world.

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I haven't marked or even checked for the spine in quite some time, just build on the straightest axis.

We talked about this very subject today at the NERBS gathering. It could have gone on for hours but I think we decided to do whatever made you feel like your building the best rod possible. I am sure it is brought up in some fashion or another anytime 2 or more rodbuilders get together.

I once got a bit upset with a customer who went out of his way to shave every dollar of a rod but insisted that I build it on the spine even though the blank looked like a banana. I asked him "would you like me to build it on the strongest or the weakest or would you like me to balance it between the two" ......LOL