Good morning, I am a new user/rodbuilder who lives in San Diego. I have built one complete fly rod, and am in the process of finishing my second! I have found this hobby to be extremely fun!! I do have a question about some components that I would like to use. I came across the Snake Brand Snake Guides, and was wondering if people liked them. I was also wondering what others have used for stripping guides, since Snake Brand does not make stripping guides. So far, my first rod has been a TFO Finesse Series Kit, and my second rod has been a Batson blank with Alps components. I have found from my very limited experience that these guides were OK, but I am sure I could find better. If someone would like to offer suggestions other than Snake Brand, I am all ears! Thanks in advance for the help... I am sure I will have many questions that I post on this forum!

Brian

I'm mostly a fly rod builder too.

For stripping guides, I generally prefer the Fuji TKWAGs or KWAGS. These are just great guides with a beautiful finish. I also like the Batson LXN or MXN.

For running (snake type) guides, I always use the REC Recoils either in single or double foot. These are trouble free, damage resistant and will never corrode due to the titanium/nickel material they are made from.

Snake brand has a great reputation, but I've never used them.

If you are looking for inexpensive stainless fly guides, it is hard to go wrong with the Batson snakes. For $1 each they are just great. The Pac Bay and American tackle versions seem to be about the same.

Drew

I build nothing but fly rods, about 40-50 a year and strongly prefer the Batson line of products! For strippers I use LXN and for running guides, either the Lite or Standard single foot depending upon the line weight of the rod. One of my least favorite chores in rod building, is prepping the feet, and I find the Batson line to be the best, needing the least amount of work!

Snake Brand makes a very high quality guide. Never be afraid or worried about using them - some of the very best fly rod builders use nothing else.

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snake Brand is one of best out there, the foot is curved to match the rod , on the small part of the rod it is a real help when winding the guides on ,
but not cheep compaired to the reg snake guides

Here are my pics in order:

1) Recoil - great as they are supper light, flex with the blank and don't break, but expensive and hard to grind feet
2) Snake brand - if I'm not using recoil this would be my next pick
3) Any of the bastons, pacific bay or AT. Good thing about using these is if you try to repair the rod in 20 years you will be able to get a matching guide. Options 1 & 2 are less certain you can get them in the distant future.

Thank you everyone for the suggestions. One issue I ran into with my Batson stripper guide was how hard it was to file to a sharp point. What the factory did was ok, but I wanted a better ramp to work with. Has anyone else found some guides better to work on than others?

Hi, Brian,
I use 80% Batson guides, 20% Fuji
They are both the same, all materials considered. Try a belt sander, then finish with 400 grit emery cloth.
I use the belt sander with caution and can get an knife edge which I catch my skin on, then smooth with emery cloth.

"It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble.It's what you know for sure that just ain't so." Mark Twain
John in Wethersfield, CT