Hello everyone, dealing with my first rod broken during shipping (thank you USPS, never again). I think I am lucky as to the location of the break, a few inches in front of the first guide. Just looking for some advice on whether I should just make it a 2 piece? If so, as i said i have never done that before.

thanks in advance everyone.

Scott

[www.rodbuilding.org]

[www.rodbuilding.org]

"My biggest fear in life is that when I die, my wife will sell my fishing gear for what I said I paid for it."

Fixing it as a one-piece would be easier.

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

Hi Scott,
I'll agree with Tom. From the photos it looks like a good candidate for an inner and outer sleeve. Check Ralph O'Quinn's article in the library for the best way to do it and how to finish it to minimise the visual side of it.

ESFNEM Col
Port Kembla, NSW
Australia

Thank you both very much. I will check out the article. Thanks again

Scott,
First of all, don't be too hard on UPS.
I assume that you insured the rod for at least twice the selling price of the rod - to take care of your time and trouble in case of a problem didn't you.

Simply put, if a shipping container that contains a rod gets caught in a conveyor, the rod will be broken. end of story.

I had gone for many years with never a shipping issue - either receiving or shipping finished product.

Then, in the space of one month, I had shipments broken by
UPS
FEXEX
USPS

I have had no issues with any of the shippers since then.
It just seemed that there was a month that all of the shippers had hungry conveyors.
When something gets caught in the conveyor, it makes no difference what the container is made from. The rod will break. These conveyors are designed to handle hundreds of lbs of freight at a time. There is no way that a simple container containing a rod is going to be able to stop the conveyor.

That is why it is always important to insure the finished product with sufficient pad to cover all expenses, labor and profit in a rod, to be able to recreate it again.

In my case, the insurance covered all costs. I did what was needed and moved on. Just build well, pack carefully, insure very well, and if something happens, then collect the insurance and move on.

Be safe
Roger

Thanks Roger, it was actually USPS I was angry at but your point is valid. I guess as a taxpayer I am just fed up with the fact that they bleed money on a daily basis, and was ranting. In fairness, I am new to this game and unlike most of you I have only shipped a dozen or so rods and this is my first bad one. I am however, a man of my convictions, and will not use the US Postal Service again for my rod shipping needs.

Thank you again, and I apologize for venting here.

Scott

Scott,
If you are going to repair this rod properly, the best way to do it is to strip the guides and tip from in front of the break.
Then, remove or drill a hole in the butt cap which would be the same size as the ID of the butt of the rod.

When you repair a break like you have on your rod, DO NOT do any trimming of the break area. You want to fit the pieces of the break back together as in a jig saw puzzle to let all of the broken pieces form a stronger glue joint.


This is the reason for removing the tip and guides from in front of the break, and to remove the butt cap or to drill a hole in the butt cap. You want to use a similar thickness blank with the same taper as the original rod. You want to cut a perfectly fitting piece of tapered blank to nicely fit over the outside of the rod - sliding down from the tip of the rod to the break and for an overlap of about two inches.

Then, you want to cut another piece of tapered blank to be able to be inserted up the butt section of the rod - up to and past the break by about 2-4 inches as well. In the case of this break location, you want to insure than any inner or outer plug extend at least 1 inch past any sign of fracture on the blank.

When your blank sections are sized perfectly and when you have the ends of the inner and outer sleeves nicely tapered for appearance, simply use 30 minute epoxy to glue up the inner, the blank and the outer sleeve all at the same time. As soon as the pieces are all aligned, glued up and pressed together, immediately begin to clean up any excess glue from the splice. Have everything set so that you can get the blank completely cleaned up before the epoxy kicks and hardens. That is why you want to use epoxy that has s setup time of at least 30 minutes. This will give you a "cool glue" time of at least 10 minutes.

After the repair has set up overnight, go ahead and rewrap the guides, recoat as needed, and repair or replace the butt cap on the rod.

Of course, if this is a clients rod, I would expect that you, as many folks would do, simply strip the guides from the rod, toss the broken parts and build a new rod for the client.

But of course, you might want to repair this rod - it appears to be a great one - for your personal use.

Good luck
Be safe

Roger

Scott,
USPS has the best record for undamaged deliveries, and they are bleeding money because congress is forcing them to pay retirement and medical benefits 75 years into the future in a 10 year period. Name me a business that can make money and pay benefits for someone that's going to work for them who isn't even born yet?
Another crazy Bushism that's true, look it up. How long would military benefits last if congress had to fund us under the same deal?
MKC Phipps, Retired



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/08/2012 10:04AM by Spencer Phipps.

Thanks Roger, it is for a friend actually, not a client per se. It was a 50th birthday present, and I put a lot of work into the NY yankees graphic. Being a Red Sox fan, it was difficult enough to stare at the logo of the Evil Empire for that long and I am not sure I could relive it! . Thank you very much for the information, that is totally different than some other advice I recieved, so I appreciate it.

Spencer, thanks for that info, I would have never known.
QMC, retired.