I just bought this blank, and upon taking it out of the shipping tube this evening I discovered that it has a bunch of lengthwise striations on the male part of the ferrule that look like probably they have something to do with the fabric of the blank; and, the rubber plug that goes in the end of the male ferrule fell out. Should I send the blank back to the manufacturer, or just glue the plug back in and build the rod? I'm already behind schedule-wise on this rod due to having to wait on the wood I want to use for parts of the handle, so I'd rather build on it if the blank is not compromised; but obviously I don't want to build on it if there's an increased chance it will break. Here are a couple photos of the ferrule:

[www.rodbuilding.org]

[www.rodbuilding.org]

If the "striations" are cracks then no, you don't want to build on it. However, as best I can tell in the photo, those are simply spots where the fitting of the ferrule resulting in some paint/finish being removed and showing the underlying surface of the blanks. I assume this is a glass blank?

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I think you're probably right, Tom - they didn't look like cracks. It is indeed a glass blank, and the spots did look like fabric. So you think it's okay to build on? I assume I do need to glue back in the rubber ferrule plug?

Take a flashlight and shine it into the blank. You should be able to see if there are any actual cracks or splits as the light will fully illuminate the glass fiber.

If it looks good, glue the plug back in and go to it.

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Okay, thanks, I'll get a flashlight on it and see what it looks like.

look like scratches to me, if they were cracks they would have looked deeper, just my input, but it looks good enough to me! Have a good one!