I was doing a little house cleaning today and noticed that the butt of one of the blanks I have is cracked. It's a 6'6" M blank and is cracked about 3" starting at the butt.

How should I ensure that it doesn't crack anymore?

I had 2 thoughts: 1) Wrap it with thread proior to putting on the handle.
2) Use a scrap peice of blank and put an insert inside the blank about 4.5-5".

I'd rather not make it any shorter if I didn't have to. Of course, thinking out loud, I could cut off the cracked part and extend the blank that much with a chunk of scrap blank. I'm quite new to this so I've never extended a blank, but have read the tutorial about doing it.

Find a thin walled piece of scrap rod blank about 4 to 4-1/2 inches long that matches the blank butt's taper reasonably well. Sleeve the cracked butt with that scrap piece and all should be well.

................

Thanks Tom!!

Okay, next question. What's the best way to cut the scrap blank?

Wade White Wrote:
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> Okay, next question. What's the best way to cut
> the scrap blank?
miter saw

A rotary tool with an abrasive cut off wheel.

Chris Richer
Iroquois ON

I had a similar situation. I did just as Tom describes and it worked great. Though I used a an "insert" vs. a sleeve (That is I found a scrap that fit inside the butt rather than one that fit the outside). Not sure which is better, but since it was right at the butt end, I was not too worried about the flexing-of-the-rod part. To cut it...a simple hack saw also works just fine. Just make sure you cover (tape) the cutting area of the blank with masking tape (which ever way you decide to cut it).

If you don't have a Dremel Tool you must buy one. I use mine to cut blanks , shorten reel seats, split reel seats for removal, many many uses for one in the rod building and repair world. Couldn't be without one and the little cut off disc.

J.B.Hunt
Bowling Green, KY

For that type fracture, an inside sleeve is fine. That is what I was referring to in my earlier post. I should have been more clear.

.................

Wade,
Actually, the use of the sleeve, on either the inside or the outside of the butt is just fine if you want to go to the trouble.
But actually, since you have a piece of sound blank material running the length of the rod, and since the fibers can't compress any more - a very effective fix is to simply overwrap the butt section - up about 1 inch further up the blank than the crack extends.

Then, go ahead and glue on the handle and you will be fine. The thread will stop the crack from extending any further, and the thread and epoxy over the thread will essentially recreate the blank as it was before being cracked.

--
With respect to cutting blanks.
I picked up an inexpensive 8 inch miter saw from one of the big box stores. I think the cost was $50.
Then, I picked up some very thin machine shop 8 inch abrasive wheels having the standard 5/8th inch center used by the saw.
I could use the saw in this fashion, but as soon as the abrasive wheel wears down about 3/8th of an inch, the wheel will no longer touch the bottom base.
To solve this problem, I added a 2x3 inch piece of channel to the base and bolted it down to the base using counter sunk machine screws.
Between the back of the channel and the miter saw backstop, I added a piece of vertical 3 inch 1/8th inch thick metal to act as a stop.

Now, after installing a new abrasive wheel on the saw, I make the first clean cut - cutting through the back stop metal as well as the 2X3 base channel.
This gives the abrasive wheel a clean cutting line to cut to and through. Now, since the base of the saw has been elevated by 2 inches, I can wear down the abrasive wheel to under 5 inches before being unable to reach the cutting base. Since this is near the size of the motor housing, this is about the extent of the cutting that I can do with the wheel, before I need to throw it away and mount a new wheel.

Since the wheel is only 1/16th inch thick, the wheel removes very little material and the cutting is very clean and fast.

With a wheel like this it is easy to cut blanks, cork, wood, steel, etc. Obviously, since I have made a fixed position cutting slot for the wheel, I have given up any ability to cut miters with this saw. That is why this is a dedicated material cutting chop saw.

Simple, clean cuts, light, easy to transport, takes up very little room, and very accurate.

I use this chop saw for a myriad of activities in both rod building as well as many general workshop duties.

Give one a try, you might like it.

Take care
Roger

Dremel, diamond cut off wheel.

DR