Any disadvantage in using a wood insert vs. an alunimum reel seat on larger fly rods say from 9ft 6 weights on up ?

Andy,
I use'em all the time on 9's and 10's...no problems at all.

Andy Dear
Lamar Reel Seats
www.lamarreelseats.com

I only had one problem on an 8wt. The rosewood Pac Bay insert sheared in half along the neutral axis You've heard the CRACK of mono snapping before, well this puppy let out a good yelp itself. I thought I blew up the blank and it took me a while to find out exactly what took place. So from then on, I oriented the grain of wood inserts 90 degrees from where that insert failed, so straightest grain was on the top and bottom of the rod instead of the right and left side of the rod which aligned itself with shearing forces that are applied when the rod naturally flexes downward 90 degrees.

This is much the same as when you look to purchase a good shovel, besides the metal head itself the orientation of the straight grain of the handle, should be of paramount concern, the grain should, first and foremost be straight, and on top side, running straight down the handel length, if it veres off to one side or another, this is a potential weak spot. The straight grain should never be oriented to run down the each side of the handle as this aligns with the neutral axis and smaller forces are necessary to easily shear the handle apart along this natuarlly occuring weaker grain line.

Hi Chris,

It is very important to us at Pacific Bay that our customers can be as confident in buying and using our blanks and components as we are in selling them. Please know that if you ever have a problem with one of our products you can call us and we will always do our best to make it right by you.

I hope you will contact me either by phone 1-800-447-0089 or via email with you mailing address as I would really like to send a replacement out to you.

Thank you for buying Pacific Bay products, we appreciate your business!

Traci Hutt
Customer Service Manager
Pacific Bay International

This is interesting. I've always aligned the grain on my wood seats to run down the top just as say. It just seemed like it could pop or split if I ran it the other way and really got a rod to flex deep into the butt.

I've always wondered if you really could split an insert by orienting the grain to the sides. I guess you just answered a question I've wondered about for 10 years!

Traci:

I did return the insert to Pac Bay and it was promptly replaced.
Thank you, for your consideration at this time.
Exemplary work, keep it up.