I have not put togetger many rods and I also modify them sometimes. I bought four 6'6" fenwick hardcore spinning rods several years ago when a local sport store went out of bidney. I decided to make casters with them. I took the cork handle and reel seat off. By golly this gives
new meaning (to me anyway) of the term "blank through handle", About the last 12-14" was pieced with a larger blank. Not good, not
good at all. However I think It may make a real fine caster except for being heavy as it is the hard core graphite. Just wondering If anyone else ran into that.
Thanks
Bubba

Actually, what you've run into was a standard practice and it had and has some merit in certain situations.

For many commercial rod companies, it allowed rods to be wrapped in finished in one place and handles to be built in another. For custom rod builders, building the handle on a sleeve and then installing a rod blank into that allows a bit of freedom in finished rod length that they might not otherwise be able to get in a standard blank thru-handle design and construction. (We'll have an article on blank extensions and sleeves in the Volume 6 #3 RodMaker this year.)

So don't be too worried about it. It was a common practice and most people who fished the rods never knew they any different. Many surf rods had their entire handle sections built on aluminum tube, and remain favorites amoung many anglers. The Conolon 5-Star rods are just one example.

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Aaron -
I do this all the time - lenghtening rod blanks, stiffening butt sections, even use Stuart Tuff butt Aluminium sleeves and stainless steel tubes to lenghten shorter rod blanks for "outside" trolling rods or longer stand-up rods. I think this is still an acceptable practice. All the 'joints' are under the grips, protected and as you found pretty darned durable!