G'day All

I have a few of my old store bought rods that i am going to sell off but a few of them have cracks at the base of the guide feet.I will strip them off
and rebind them before i sell them.Just wanted to know some of the causes of this happening.Thankyou for your replies in advance.

cheers

Ray Balmforth
Figtree
NSW
Australia

Hard to completely prevent. But, making sure the guide feet are ground/shaped to a very shallow taper makes the ends of the feet a bit more flexible and will help considerably.


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G'day Tom

Thankyou very much for the reply.I will check out the guide feet wont be to surprised as to what i find.Would this be a greater chance of occuring at the
stripper guide on rods that flex more through the blank than a faster type blank which is flexing more towards the top third.Also these are quite light rods
in the 4 to 8/10 lb range.

cheers

Ray Balmforth
Figtree
NSW
Australia

Hi Ray,
Tom is pretty spot on with his assessment. The thinner the ends of the guide feet the less chance of it happening but it still is one of the biggest rodbuilding problems, if not the biggest. Hard to stop it from happening especially with rollers. You should be ok with well formed feet on a light rod.

ESFNEM Col
Port Kembla, NSW
Australia

If the finish on the guide feet cracks and the guides are truly corrosion proof there is no harm done. I doubt the strength of the guides and the guide wrappings are compromised or the cracks affect the utility of the rod. I appreciate such cracks disturb the craftsmen who build rods and customers who value rods for their aesthetic appearance.

Thanks Phil i mainly use titanium coated or titanium guides so yes there shouldnt be any damage to to the rod or components.I guess its an aesthetic thing
and i would like to try and prevent it happening to my builds.

Col i will try and do the best dressing of the guide feet i can.It opened my eyes seeing how much Tony took off the roller guides but i can now understand why.

cheers

Ray Balmforth
Figtree
NSW
Australia

Hi,

Cracking at the ends of the guide feet. Ahhh! An age old problem. Quite a few years ago I emailed with a rod builder who was a personal friend and I think a neighbor of the Flex Coat owner. I wish I could remember the man's name. He explained that he started each wrap using only two turns of thread before it went up the guide foot. He even sent me a video. He claimed he NEVER had the cracking problem.

Capt Neilf

Capt Neil Faulkner

It's less visible when you start the wrap at the very edge of the guide foot as you have no point of reference extending beyond it. But it's there.

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Hi,

I have found the epoxy finishes that set up very quick, a very hot chemical reaction, are very hard and will crack sooner. The newer epoxy finishes that I tried, chose and still use the same one, take longer to surface dry and cure underneath. I believe they stay more flexible over the wrap and take a long time before they crack. Do you folks have the cracking problem when using the titanium frames? I find the feet in these frames to be softer/more flexible. I have not used the titanium frames long enough or often enough to see a pattern.

Capt Neil Faulkner

Yeah, they can look bad but don't seem to hurt anything really.

G'day Neil

Thank you for your replies.Both of the rods i am rewrapping have titanium guides.The rods are a few years old but in very good condition,So not sure of
the epoxy type used.Definitely not something that will harm the rod but for reselling the aesthetics are not a strongpoint so hence the rewrap.

I will definitely be keeping an eye on my builds and seeing what happens.Fingers crossed.

cheers

Ray Balmforth
Figtree
NSW
Australia

Neil,
Was it John Anderson??

Neil,
Was it John Anderson??

Hi Andrew,
I wish I could remember his name. Unfortunately my memory is getting worse. This was quite a few years ago. We talked on the phone after emailing and he offered to send me a tape of his wrapping style so this had to be before dvds. I do remember him telling me his friend and neighbor was the owner of Flex Coat and he used Flex Coat finish. I do believe that he has passed over.

Capt Neil Faulkner