If I had a 9' 4 piece fly rod from which I decided to create an 8' 6" rod by removing 6" either by
A removing 3" from the handle section and 3" from the tip section
B removing 6" from handle section
C removing 6" from tip section

What would be the likely consequences of the rod's action, power, recovery time or any other subjective/objective measurement for each of these scenarios?
As always, thank you for your input.

Trimming from either end will slow the action. Trimming from both ends will slow the action.

Trimming from the tip will slightly increase the casting power. Trimming from the butt will reduce the rod's lifting/pulling power.

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

Sell the rod you have and get the one you want
You may want to make Reamers after you trim it

Bill - willierods.com

I will cut a one or two piece rod in a heart beat. Three or four pcs are off limit since you will have one piece that is really short or two pieces that are a bit short. Graphite can really very on how much this will change the rod. Fiberglass is much more forgiving.

Rob, Trimming a blank may cause failure of the blank. Also, manufactures may void your warranty.

Bill, Sound advice. Thank you.

Jimmy, I recommend that you read the following link. It is about the results of croping blanks. Hopefully it will be helpful.


Don

Don Becker



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/03/2015 03:26PM by Tom Kirkman.

Donald,
I read your post.
But I fail to understand how trimming a blank could cause a failure of the blank.

Do you have any first hand experience to verify the statement?

Just wondering.

Be safe

Hi Roger,

Have I ever cut down a blank? Once in 1981. At the time it was the practice to cut 2" off the tip of a Fenwick 16810 and use the piece to make a bell holder. The finished rod never failed.

I thought the link would provide all the necessary information to clearly demonstrate the issues with cutting a blank. It identified load failures before and after making cuts. It also demonstrated how the pivot point impacts failure. Nev does briefly mention shear point in his write up. What are Nev's credentials? He is one of the two production managers for Kilwell's Fibretube division. Kilwell has been making fishing rods for over 80 years. Nev came across some threads regarding a different company having failures of blanks and decided to help rectify the situation.

The expertise of Fibretube goes beyond rod blanks.

Don Becker



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/05/2015 03:17PM by Donald Becker.

Don,
Thanks for the comments and updates. I am always willing to learn new information.

Be safe

Don I would like to read what your talking about but those links just bring me to their website and I can't find anything about it.

I have to trim a blank to fit what some one wants in lure weight and power No CCS to work with
if you could bring up the artical and give us a link

Bill - willierods.com

Just playing devil's advocate here, but aren't all blanks trimmed by the mfg at both ends to provide "finished" ends? Are those trims bad?

Common sense would tell us that a small trim that doesn't significantly alter the specs of a rod should be okay, but proportionately more significant alterations designed to change the specs or intended purpose of a blank into something it's not designed to do warrants caution.

Jimmy, Bill

The site I referred to was inappropriate and the link has been removed.

The content is now in two topics: Blanks that snap and Cropping Blanks

Don

Don Becker

John

That is what i have read about Seeker blanks They make them longer then trim to fit the lure weight Mark them Written on Billies site

So why is it so bad to trim a blank to fit ones needs ??? Saltwater i always prefer a composite for lightness and for streight

Bill - willierods.com

With very few exceptions, I cut every blank I build on. Only disadvantage I can think of is mfg warranty, but many advantages. It should go without saying that a cut down blank will lose power (from its uncut length), putting it at risk if overtasked, so its specifications must be recalculated after URRS, CCS or RDA measurements are taken.Never had a failure due to cutting.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/2015 08:25AM by jim spooner.

Jim

Not having the CCS system How could I figure out where to cut a tip for a certain lure weight

Bill - willierods.com

Bill,
I kinda think of lure weight as being dictated by a rod’s Power. Cutting the tip will in fact change the Power (slight increase, assuming the length is maintained) as well as the lure weight capacity, but I generally only make tip cuts to get a specific flex (stiffer) at the tip (i.e., Action), or in some cases where I want to tweak the lure weight range just a bit. Cutting (or adding) from the butt end is more practical for making Power adjustments because tip cutting gives relatively less Power adjustment and can adversely affect Action with even small cuts.

Difficult to answer your question without knowing all the specifics of your situation. I guess if I didn’t/couldn’t use a rating system, I’d resort to intuition and/or trial and error. I’d try to mock-up the rod as best I could by changing the reel seat location or taping the tip top at varying distances from the tip, then try casting different weights.

I hope someone can give you better advice.