As I stated in earlier posts, I'm a new builder.

I was wrapping a couple of snake guides last night, and noticed when I finished that the width of the wraps varied on of the guides. It took me a minute, but I figured out that the length the the guide feet (on only one guide) were different.

So..to get the width of the wraps to look uniform, I need to file off the end of the one of the guide feet.

I don't know much about materials yet, but am I safe in assuming these titanium guides are a solid material, not coated, and that either way it's safe to grind down one side to get uniformity, as long as the end of the guide is smooth to keep from damaging the thread?

Many thanks -

Tom,
There is an even simpler solution.
Find the guide with the longest foot. Measure it. Then make all of your wraps be the same length as the wrap that you use for the longest foot. Perfect appearance with minimal trouble.

But, if you wish, sure go ahead and make the long feet shorter. File, sand or grind. These methods all work fine. I routinely do this for some brands of guide feet that I use. I will sometimes use a brand of guide feet that I need to use for a specific client or blank related reason. But, for some of those brands, I am not necessarily satisfied with the shape, size and or length of a guide foot. So, that is where my powered 1x30 inch belt sander comes into play. I normally keep 150,180, or 220 grit paper on the sander. I use the belt that is appropriate for the needs and will reshape, thin, or other wise modify the guide foot to do the job that I wish it to do. I will then restore the color of the foot using appropriate materials for the foot in question and build it into the rod.

Take care

Perfect. Thanks for both tips.

Tom,
Another thing to look out for when you come across this, is to make sure you have the right sized guide. I have had this happen to me before because a lot of the time these small guides can get mixed up with the guides in the storage bin next to the ones you want. This can happen at your house or the place you are buying from. Its a good idea to lay out the guide train in the order of position and make sure you have the right sizes.

Altering guide feet is common and Roger's method is spot on.

Lance

Tim,
REC S/F often have legs of unequal length.I always use the shortest leg as the first guide after the tip-top. And grade them with the longest at the butt end.
I have never found the snakes with different length legs.
What sometimes happens with the snakes - because they are so flexible - is that if you are not careful wrapping and re-positioning them their rings either get spread out or compressed. So it looks as though you have installed different size guides.
Herb

Tom,
If you try the REC single foots, fly, or spinning, don't use power to grind the foot, they are held together by a low temp solder and they'll split.

Gentlemen-

Thanks again.

One leg is actually about 1.5mm longer than the other - just on that one guide. So, I'm going to trim one end down.

The tips given will really help planning my next build. I'm at a point where I don't know enough to know what I don't know - so this board and your help is invaluable.

I have used piles of REC guides over the years and the feet do vary a bit. In fact I only use REC guides on fly rods, both single and double foots. Roger is exactly right, just make the wraps a consistent length and don't worry about the length of the leg. It is not a thing anyone will ever notice, not even you. These are great guides and the shaping of this material at home is not easy. So I don't alter them at all, other than a bit of edge tapering. I have never had one get damaged or anything else. They are tough, perfect, corrosion free, light and the only way to go.