I'm getting ready to shrink down some shrink tubing that I got from Janns. It is a Pacbay product. If my handle that I am shrinking to is 14" long, how long should I cut the tubing to allow for lengthwise shrinkage? The stuff is kinda expensive so I would rather not cut more than needed to allow for the shrinkage there.

I pull the tube towards the tip of rod with a 1/4-1/2" extra. Then shrink it working towards the butt. When I get close to end I make a cut about 1/4-1/2" past end and finish shrinking. Hope this helps. Best, MH

Hello,

My experience w/that product is that the shrink ratio seems to be a bit less than it is with others.

It does not shrink as much when heated, so needs to be sized very close to what you are wrapping.

Great for covering blanks, or a grip that has little change in diameter along its length.

I would not use it for grips that have a significant taper towards the end where it meets the blank.

-chad

Surprisingly most of the shrinkage takes place in the diameter, not along the length of the tube. In fact, you could cut your length to just a smidgeon over the actual required length and find it any loss in length to be absolutely negligible. I am going on use of the same tubing from only a few months ago so unless something has changed (somebody chime in if you know different) I wouldn't cut the tube much beyond the actual length needed.

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I agree with tom and chads advise, but I left out an important fact. I havent used the pac bay tube. I use the Batson tube and the flock tube mud hole sells. Not sure if there's much difference. Anyway, I leave extra on mine so I can slide reel seat over it to get a clean finish and I also use butt cord under the shrink tube to do diamond patterns, spirals and coils on my bottom fishing and surf rods. I even shrink it over some if my fly rod cork grips. That is when I see linear shrinkage. Good luck with your project. Tight Lines, MH

I think that shrinking it over any sort of contoured grip will result in what appears to be shrinkage, but in effect it's just the conforming of a straight tube over an irregularly shaped tube which has a longer surface area. Regardless, in such a case you'd certainly want to allow for a little more length. You could also hold a tape measure along the surface of a contoured grip to get a better idea of the actual surface length involved.

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I'll add one note of mine on shrink tubing:

On some tapered grips, I've had the trouble mentioned above with it not wanting to shrink enough at the narrow end of the grip. After a few trials, I've successfully overcome this in a lot of situations by buying a size or two smaller diameter then would be required to fit over the grip, lube up the grip with some rodbond, then force the tube over the larger portion of the grip. Afterwards shrink the grip like normal. This can often allow you to use small enough tubing to shrink onto the narrow end of the grip properly. As Tom mentioned, the length of the tube will change a bit due to the contour.

There are several vidios on YouTube that should answer most all of you questions Take a lot see

[www.youtube.com]

Bill - willierods.com