I made a nice little graphite spinning rod for a friends birthday a few years back. I recently found out that he doesn't fish it because it is a one piece and inconvenient for him to travel with it in his car.

Any reason I can't just cut it and install a ferrule?

Thanks,
Joe

Making a two piece rod can be done with the major caveat being you have the appropriate size graphite or fiberglass ferrule sleeve (or insert). If you have a large stash of rod blank pieces or broken blanks, slide them over the tip of the rod until you find a piece that fits snuggly in the area where you want the ferrule. Do not want any wobble, so try to match the taper of the blank. When you find a peice that fits make sure you take into account the length of the ferrule overhang so the two pieces of the rod wind up the same length. Measure several times cut once. In my experience a fiberglass sleeve or a lower modulus graphite sleeve work best because they are less prone to splitting and will follow the bend of the rod. Another method is to a make spigot ferrule, This is more involved and works best when the rod is already two pieces. This requires sliding blank pieces inside the blank until you find a piece that fits snuggly in the area where you want the ferrule. Solid fiberglass works well for this because it can be sanded to fit properly, although a well fitting piece of graphite or fiberglass will work just as well. I have made such ferrules for a long time with no failures, and some of these rods are still in service after 30+ years of hard use.
Another, method is to use a metal ferrule, many of the sponsors to the left sell these. You will have to make accure measurements of the ferrule area so you can order the proper size ferrule. I personally do not like metal ferrules, and they are one of the reasons I started making fiberglass/graphite ferrules over 45 years ago.
The final solution would be to trade your fiend a new two piece rod for the one piece rod. You can either use the one piece rod, sell it, give it away, or donate it to an organization that takes kids fishing. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
Norm

Quite a few of the St Croix blanks can be had one or two piece. Some even more.

Joe,
Be cautioned that the change will adversely affect the blank response and action.
It's hard to beat the response of a 1 piece rod.
If you like the way it casts now, adding the ferrule will add a heavy spot in the rod center that will change the rod action.
Much better to build a 2 piece rod on a blank designed to be a 2 piece.

Gene

Joe

Don't worry about the performance of the rod, If the ferrule is placed in a location where the blank has little or no bend or flex you will see no noticeable change in the performance of the rod.

When converting to a two piece rod all the comments Norman Miller made have to be addressed.

I have converted several rods to 2 pc rods without incurring any problems.

Good luck

John

Thanks for all the input guys. For the type and amount of fishing my buddy does rod action-performance is not a big issue.
Norman....if this rod was going to get any heavier duty than a few stocked brown trout or little smallies I would definitely start over with a two piece blank.
I think I may just choose a spot above the stripper guide where the rod doesn't flex much and insert a metal ferrule...but how do I know what size ferrule I need?

Get out the calipers and make an accurate measurement at the point where you want the ferrule and order a ferrule that will fit. The male and female ferrules will be slightly tapered to take into account blank taper. Better a little larger then smaller, can built up slightly with tread, or tape or lightly sanded if needed. Can put the ferrule on with tip top cement (back in the old days it was called ferrule cement) , or 5 minute epoxy. I personally would not use epoxy because it makes it harder to remove the ferrule if needed. The female ferrule will be on the butt section and thus will lengthen this section by the length of the over lap. so take this into consideration when making your measurements on where to cut. When you order the ferrule set talk to someone there to make sure you are getting the right size and the length of the over lap. Hope this helps.
Norm