Well I some how managed to crack a blank at about the last inch and a half of the butt. I know it did not arrive that way. I have the handle all glued up except the butt of the split grip when i noticed it. The crack will be fully covered by the butt with a few layers of drywall tape between the blank and butt. The area foreword of the crack is also complete covered. I fitted a wood insert in the gap between the rear grip and the butt. Then of course the reel seat and the foregrip. So total about a fourteen inch grip forward of the crack. I really don't think there is anyway for the crack to migrate and it is not in area that will see and flexing. If the rest of the grip was not glued up I would just cut the blank back forward the crack. I figure I will be okay. Anything I am not thinking about? Thanks.

If you have some scrap rod blanks lying around, all you'd need to do is fit an inner sleeve into the rod butt. Extend it a half inch or so beyond the crack and you'll be fine.

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It should be fine even if you do not have the scrap.

Michael

You really don't have to do anything, but for peace of mind you could use a wood dowel if you don't have a scrap blank section. The main purpose is to keep the blank from collapsing which is very unlikely.because the grip/butt cap will protect it, that is if you don't step on it then that starts other issues.

Have fun

John

If either end of the crack is exposed I would drill a small hole at the end to prevent any traveling from shock.

Butt crack? Just lube another rod with epoxy and shove it up the butt to ensure no further crack is exposed.

I would wrap it as though it were a ferrule and coat it with Permagloss or similar. If you use an inner sleeve and it's too close a fit you can cause the crack to migrate farther. Ask me how I know.

I had a blank arrive with about the same thing you're describing. I took a polyurethane arbor, the thing you would use inside a reel seat, and sanded the OD so it would fit inside the blank. A little rod bond, and I was good to go. If you're concerned about adding even more weight, it may be something you want to consider.

Weight is not a concern. Actual going to add a fair amount of weight to achieve a decent balance. Think I will drill the end of the crack and sleeve it then add my weight. Looking like the entire length of the crack will be filled on the inside of the blank with my weight and expoxy and then covered by epoxy and the butt. Doubt I will have any issues with it being fully encapsulated. Thanks for the input.

Don't go overboard with a bunch of epoxy. That's not the way to achieve strength.

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Michael,
I have had this issue before and there is a really simple fix.
If you don't have solid stock, go to the hardware store, and pick up some fiberglass driveway markers.

Then, cut off about a 6-8 inch piece of the marker. Chuck it into a drill and while spinning the solid fiberglass stock hold it against a spinning belt sander or a piece of stationary coarse sand paper on a bench.

Assuming that the solid stock is as large or larger than the butt of the rod, taper the solid stock so that it is a nice fit on the inside of the blank. Taper the solid stock so that it fits up about 4 inches into the blank, well past the crack. Then, take the piece of solid stock that is tapered, coat it with 5 minute epoxy and insert it into the end of the blank. Before doing this, wrap the end of the blank with a couple of wraps of masking tape to avoid having the crack open up. When the epoxy is dry, cut the end of the solid stock extending from the end of the blank with a cut off wheel, remove the masking tape and finish building the rod. The advantage of using the longer piece of solid stock with it being tapered on the end, is that the protruding end is used as a handle when working with the break, the epoxy and the final result.

The entire task should take no more than 5 minutes.

p.s. if you can not obtain a piece of solid stock that is as or larger than the butt of the blank, just take masking tape to build up the diameter of the solid stock and use that for the plug. Not quite as good as all solid stock, but it will do the job of keeping the blank from collapsing or expanding, or having the crack grow larger.




Best wishes.

Got it figured out. Just need to glue it up. Was thinking of going with solid stock as I have some fiberglass rods from a popup blind. Would not be able to weight the blank to balance it though. Fortunately digging through my stash I found a a piece of fiberglass blank that fit nearly perfect. Need maybe two wraps of tape. Got the weight figured and glued into the sleeve. Drilled the end of the crack and taped the blank with drywall tape and coated with epoxy. Once it drys should have no worries of opening up the crack when I insert the sleeve. Appreciate all the input.

Michael,
You said that you would not be able to weight the rod butt if you used solid stock for the butt crack.

I hope that you are not considering on adding weight to the inside of the rod blank to balance the rod are you?

Put ting weight on the inside of the blank is a really bad idea. The reason for this, is that folks will start adding weight by putting weight up the inside of the blank. They will add more and push the weight further and further forward in their quest to get perfect balance. Soon you will have a balanced, but very heavy rod, because you will have weight going all of the way from the butt cap all of the way up to the reel.

Rather, use a weighted butt cap, or use 1/2 inch wide lead tape on the outside of the blank, and then cover the lead tape by using an appropriate cap over the lead tape to cover it up.

Good luck

Weight going from the butt cap to the reel? What are we doing here .... adding 2 lbs?

As far as adding weight that is going to be hidden by the butt cap goes, that weight is still going to be towards the tip of the rod. Most butt caps I have used are around 3/4" deep. Let's say you need to add 1 oz of weight to balance the rod to the degree you prefer. How much 1/2" wide lead tape are you going to have to add to equal 1 oz? To the thickness of a 1/4"? 3/8"? And how are you going to secure it, and the butt cap? Are you going to reduce the OD of the tenon on the rear grip? Ream out the inside of the butt cap?

IMO, adding weight inside the butt of the blank is only a bad idea in this respect ......... if you changed reels and the reels didn't weigh the same, it would be more difficult (not impossible) to change the weight mounted inside the butt of the rod. As far as it extending too far up the blank, sorry, not buying it. Of course it depends on a variety of factors, but in most cases you're probably talking a few ounces at most. I added 2 3/8 oz inside the butt of the blank of a flipping and pitching rod I built. I used tungsten fishing weights. The total length of the weights I used laid end to end, equaled 2".

When I say it is not impossible to change, it's not, because I've done it. I use U-40 Rod Bond. Apply heat to the butt cap, it comes right off. I also used Rod Bond to epoxy in the polyurethane reel seat arbor the weights were mounted in. Apply heat and with a little jerking up and down, either the weights will drop out of the arbor, or the arbor will start to slide out. Pretty simple from there. If a person wants to easily change the weight then yeah, mounting weight inside the blank may not be the best idea.

Other wise it's not a bad idea at all.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/22/2019 06:41PM by David Baylor.

I understand the thought of not wanting to extend the weight to far forward in the blank. When balancing a rod or anything for that matter weight closer to the end will have more effect on balance. Knowing this I have always tried to keep my weight within the last couple three inches of the blank. The total length of my sleeve was about 3 inches. Before I started packing weight into the blank I taped a small plastic bag to the end of the blank and added weight until the rod balanced. Once I had the blank balanced I placed that amount of weight into the sleeve. Once inserted into the blank it took only a tiny bit more to achieve the balance I wanted,less than ten percent. I kept that weigh out. I will do my final balance and place the small amount of weight in the butt cap. I have done this in the past. I use a tungsten putty. I will cut a small section of the tenon off and form the putty around the blank matching the tenon O.D.. Glue the butt cap on and good to go.

As for changing reels I have not seen it change the balance much. Your reel ends up on the balance point of the rod. As long as the weight on the reel is distributed the same or nearly so on the rod the balance should change little. Take a rod that you have balanced mark the center of the reel . Take the reel off and rest the rod on a a couple finger tips at that point you will find the rod balances nearly the same as with the reel on it. Not exact but close.

Michael, exactly!!