I found two 1 inch long cracks in the butt section of a blank I've had sitting around for awhile. The cracks run from the very bottom parallel with the rod. I know they will be covered by the reel seat, but I would imagine the integrity of the rod would be compromised. Is there anything I can do to save the blank?

Thanks!

Richard Preston

It should not be a problem as it not only is under, but also well below the grip. I recommend that you wrap the cracked portion with "a" thread then cover well with epoxy when installing the reel seat and grip.

I'd find a thin wall blank scrap which closely matches the taper of the existing blank and use it as an interior sleeve in the split area, running from the butt up to about an inch beyond the crack. Epoxy it in place. You'll be fine.

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You do not want to mess with anything that would change the concentricity of the reel seat arbor - so the repair should be inside like Tom said.
As a matter of fact - I would do the repair after the arbor and even the seat were installed so as not to deform the blank if you push the plug in too much.
Herb



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/2014 08:21AM by Herb Ladenheim.

x 10 on Tom's comment. But I would also suggest that I would use very slow drying epoxy to glue in the inner blank section. I would just push it in far enough so that you can just barely see the crack start to expand. I would leave the repair plug longer than the blank.
Then, before the glue dried, I would do an overwrap on the cracked section plus one inch. After the glue dried, I would then chop off the excess innner blank. You will have a perfectly round repaired section that will give you good service.

Be safe

Another thing you can do is wrap thread tightly around the section nothing fancy tie off Then do your repair When dry take the thread off and clean up the surface of the butt section of the blank

Bill - willierods.com