Hi Mates,

I'm going to build a 9 wt fly rod, and I like the look of the black guides.
My question is, how fast these black guides would wear? Is this black colour painted, or a kind of galvanized finishing? How fast will the black clolur disappear on the points, where the fly line contacts?
Do they release the fly line any harder (so is their friction bigger, or not) compared to to chrome finished guides?
Overall, are the chrome finished guides longer lasting than the black ones, or not?
Sorry for the very basic question, but neither of my fishing mates has fly rod with black guides, so I know nothing about the long term experiences about them. Thanks for your help.

Regards, Tamás Tóth



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2019 03:07AM by Tamas Toth.

It's a metalized finish like any other we use, it will come off only on the inside where the line touches it, but it takes many years. The fine line is not visible unless you look for it. The guide I used are Hopkins & Holloway black Diamond finished snake and single foot guides.
Editted because I forgot to mention, that there was a hard chrome finish under the black, so no wire wear on the guides.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2019 01:04PM by Spencer Phipps.

T here is no performance differences. I have fly rods with black guides (mostly single foot) that show little or no wear on the inside of the ring.

Okay guys, thank You for your answers. Then i'll pick the black ones.

one thing when you dress the FOOT of a BLACK guide you have to cover the file marks up with sharpie or black paint of some type just a "" NOTE ""

William Sidney
AK

Thanks for the note, Bill. What kind of paint do You recommend? Is acrillic hobby paint good for this use? The one thing I know is that the finish solves the permanent marker, so that won't be good.

I've never needed to dress up black H & H, or Snake Brand guides.

We have used Black Permanent Markers (like to identify clothing),
that when allowed to dry (at least a couple of hours) it did not smear when finishing the wraps.

Best wishes,
Ron Schneider
Schneider's Rod Shop
Mountain Home, Arkansas
[www.schneidersrods.com]
mtnron40@yahoo.com
870-424-3381