Thanks, Roger -- looking into a new set of guides now. I use size A thread and wrap nice and tight.

Trying to do a Forhan locking wrap on a snake is a waste of time and effort, IMHO. Use good guides, appropriate wire size, wrapped properly, and all is good. I've never used a Forhan on a snake and have never had a need to improve the security of the guide.

Randy: I am not familiar with all makes and model of snake guides, but I assure you that at least one - a REC NiTi lightweight snake guide, has and will back out from under thread wraps if pushed or struck in one direction - such as hitting the rim of your rod tube when putting your fly rod into the tube. This is still an excellent guide: light, flexible, and absolutely break and corrosion proof. As for the difficulty of executing the Forhan wrap: when you have wrapped thread to the bend in the snake guide press your windings with your finger to maintain tension and cut your wrapping thread leaving six inches or so of excess thread. Take three wraps of this thread around around the guide leg (not the rod blank), then pass the tag end of your winding thread through your "pull under" loop and pull the tag end of your working thread under your wraps, as usual. This whole operation takes less than 20 seconds, and I have found it to be time well spent.

Thanks, Phil -- the Forhan demo I saw was with a single foot guide, so I figured you'd have to do something as you instructed on a double foot. The other issue I'm facing is the guide actually breaking where the leg transitions to the foot -- both feet are still under the wraps. Of all the rods I've built, these are the only ones I've had trouble with. They were built more or less in the same timeframe.

if a wire is flexed enough and often enough, it gets brittle and breaks...

ben: Bend and break? You are correct. It is also true that nickel/titaniun alloys (NiTI) are phenomenally resistant to fracture caused by repeated bending/deformation. Do not worry about a NiTi guide breaking by repeated bending. You should live so long.

heaven forbid people should use guides that they they don,t have to replace every year or two and line as well

Randy,
Initially, I thought you were referring to spinning guides, but apparently you are concerned with fly guides. Follow the suggestions of the veteran fly guys for guide suggestions. You will be hard-pressed to find Fuji fly guides!

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.