Are Ferrule Plugs necessary in the male end of a rod section of a tip over butt connection on a rod blank? I have some Diamondglass fly rod blanks that do not have them. All the other rod blanks I have dealt with that are tip over butt have ferrule plugs in the male end.

Mix up some rod bond or some 5 min bond and push it into the end . Whip it off sand if needed and it will ad a strong end that should not split

Check the fit of the tip section I aways sad the tip to round it off after dry

Bill - willierods.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/09/2011 07:48PM by bill boettcher.

Bill,
I have a variety of various sizes of solid blanks. I simply chop off a bit of blank of the right size, use a drill to spin the blank and a belt sander to sand about 1/2 inch of the solid blank so that it is a nice fit on the inside of the blank that needs to be plugged.
Mix up a batch of 5 minute epoxy, glue in the plug and let dry. Then, chop off the rest of the plug that is sticking out of the end of the blank. Total time about 1 minute.

Take care
Roger

Better yet. Sharpen the end of a rifle case, such as a .243 or .308 and punch out a slug about 1/4 inch long from a piece of EVA . Smear a little Rod Bond on it, stuff it in the hole, wipe it down, trim it off with a razor blade and let it go. I keep 4 or 5 different size rifle cases sharpened up and ready to use just for that and plugging holes in EVA but caps. I don't want to put any solid mass nor extra weight into the sections of a nice Fly Blank. I'm just particular about things like that I guess.

J.B.Hunt
Bowling Green, KY

Jay,
EVA works great as a plug to keep junk out of a blank, but I prefer to have a solid plug to insure that there is no possibllty of blank compression.

But all ideas for the right job are great.

Roger

Roger; At full load, or less, the blank is going oval, it doesn't stay round. If it doesn't go oval to a degree it will most likely break earlier than it is designed to. That is why the manufacturers put a little black rubber plug in them, or nothing at all. They are allowing the blank that freedom of compression, or going oval shaped to help prevent early failure. Of course that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

J.B.Hunt
Bowling Green, KY

Jay,
Makes perfect sense to me.

Roger

With the tip of a two piece rod inserted into a ferrule I can not see it going oval ??

Bill - willierods.com

Bill;
Any cylindrical tube will go oval in a longitudinal bend, even steel. That's why we build big buildings and bridges with "H" beams instead of pipe when pipe would be about 1/3 rd the cost. Even with two cylinders mated together, one inside the other, they will still go oval when bent enough. A cylinder / tube is at it's strongest when the weight /force is applied to the ends. You will see a lot of metal buildings with the roof supported by pipe standing vertical. Also , you will never see a horizontal bridge beam made out of pipe.

Any time you prevent a cylinder / rod blank from going oval during a bend you are helping it git to an early failure.

J.B.Hunt
Bowling Green, KY

i can see you point I just have not had any fail

Bill - willierods.com

Thanks for the info! I like Jay's idea the best. I figured the plugs were really for "us" to not crush the male end and to keep debris out of them. Thanks again for all those that offered tips.

Bill;
Take some different caliber rifle cases, punch out the spent primer from the inside with a nail or a pin punch. Sharpen the bullet end on the inside with a pocket knife, just scrape around the inside edge until it's sharp. It's easier than doing it with a file on the outside.
You can easily stick it right through the side of a scrap piece of EVA grip. Now that you have the little slug of EVA inside of the neck of the rifle case, how do you get it out ? Straighten out a large size paper clip and push it out from the primer hole.
Now you can make all the different size ferrule plugs you will ever need. Put them in a little zip-lok bag, stick it in drawer. And if you are like me , you will forget where you put them.