Apparently I am either stupid or physically challenged, I cant for the life of me make a rod do anything when i am trying to spine it. I have watched the mudhole video repeatedly, bought the crb spine finder and I cant make putting it on a flat surface and bending it towards the ceiling or using the spine finder and bending it towards the ground work. I have tried rolling it, pinching it and cussing it, but the damn blank wont move, it only moves the amount I make it move, it will not jump to a certain position no matter what I do. I am holding the blank and applying pressure just like in the video but it is not working, and for something that a 5th grader should be able to do. I cant. Please help before I snap a $ 160 blank in half. Thank you.

Keith Langford

Keith, how hard are you pushing on the blank? You don't really need to put a big bow in the blank, so it doesn't take a lot of pressure. I will say that the further away from the tip your support hand is, the more it takes to get the blank to roll because you have to push harder on the blank to make it bow. One thing is for sure, you want the butt of the blank on a smooth hard surface.

Now I will say this, I pay absolute zero attention to where the spine of the blank is. I build on the straightest axis. If you do a search using the word spine, you will find that a lot of discussion on the subject. I know it swayed my thinking. My guess is that it will probably sway yours as well.

Build on the straightest axis, curve up or curve down. The guides make the rod bend where you want it to. The easiest way to spine the rod is to set the butt end on a smooth floor and put pressure, with your finger on the tip end and bend the rod. Mark the inside curve and repeat a couple of times and the spine should be in the same place. The spine stuff is over rated so that is why you build on the straightest axis, especially rods that are more than one piece. You will find that there is sometimes more than one spine as you apply pressure in different areas of the blank at an angle at different stationary positions of the blanks butt section and tip section. When you build on a blank and it bends without pressure to the right or left and not up and down it will look strange. A four piece fly rod not built on the straightest axis will look like a dinosaurs back.

When using a spine finder you don't have to put a big bend in the blank to find the spine.

I suggest you eyeball along the blank and find the straightest axis and mark its position, put it back on the spine finder and see what happens.

I do the spine finding thing but I eventually build along the straightest axis.

Keith,
You are certainly not stupid. Consider that you may be fortunate enough to have found the 1-in-a-100 perfect blank! Build on the straightest axis, do not fret over it, fish it and enjoy it.

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

I start by rolling on two dowels on a flat surface (while trying a few different spacings between the dowels), then bend and rotate, and finally eyeball for the most straight plane. I mark each step with China markers. The first two steps usually get me very close, and the eyeball test either confirms or leads to a small tweak. I have more confidence that I am correctly feeling the spine when bending after I've marked the resting spot on the dowels. I trust gravity more than my ability to interpret how the rod is flexing as I bend and spin it. I touch the butt end with the China marker so I know that I have the other marks straight down when I eyeball. All of this takes about ten minutes. Whether I even end up correct, I can at least start building with confidence when I've finished this routine.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2020 03:01AM by Kendall Cikanek.

The effective spine is almost never in line with the straightest axis, nor is it opposite the straightest axis.

This might help put your mind at ease: [www.rodbuilding.org]

............

It should easily be possible to temporarily tape a reel and guides to a blank, thread the line through the guides, pull, and find the spine of the rod. If you can't find it using this sure-fire method it probably isn't worth looking for.

Forget the spine, just look for the straight axis.
Norm

Keith,
Congratulations, as Mark has said, you have a blank with no spine.

Over the years I have run across quite a few blanks that just have happened to have no spine.

Grab the blank, build the rod and don's look back.

It's not the "spine" of a rod blank but its RESONANCE which is absolutely critical. Every rod should be tuned to its ideal resonance by moving guides up and down along its length until it resonates perfectly! Sine waves, you know.

short video on the subject

[www.youtube.com]

Flex Coat Company
Professional Rod Building Supplies
www.flexcoat.com

Phil Ewanicki Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It should easily be possible to temporarily tape a
> reel and guides to a blank, thread the line
> through the guides, pull, and find the spine of
> the rod. If you can't find it using this sure-fire
> method it probably isn't worth looking for.

Impossible - the lever arm effect of the guides always overcomes any spine effect. This is why building on or opposite the spine is really a waste of time.

...........

Phil, resonance has zero relationship to any fishing rod! Here's the definition of resonance.

PHYSICS
the reinforcement or prolongation of SOUND by reflection from a surface or by the synchronous vibration of a neighboring object.

Keith,
Additionally, you will find many, if not most, on this site simply build on the straightest axis and do not bother with finding the spine/spline, including veterans who probably used to back when finding the spine was the norm. I agree that while fighting a fish, the placement of the guides will trump (as Tom would say) anything else including the spine or an inherent bend in the rod. However, I still locate the spine in addition to locating the straightest axis and then decide which guide alignment/placement method, or compromise thereof, is used to build the rod. There are two reasons for doing so; 1.) It may be possible that when casting, the line/lure path is influenced (accuracy) by both the spine of the blank as well as the placement of the guides, and 2.) While static bending of the rod, it looks better if the guides are in line with the natural bend (spine) or the rod rather than off to one side. I have listened to the trusted views of those on this site and put more emphasis on building alone the straightest axis but consider the spine location as well.

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

I am guessing Phil may be thinking of damping which to me is another useless property applied to fishing rods.

Thank all of you, only 3 posts and I am really loving this site, a lot of people who want to help others, thank you all again.

Keith Langford

Since fish poles vibrate they must resonate - but just at a frequency we humans can't hear. I have tried to train my beagle to signal when my guide placement creates the ideal frequency/resonance. So far, no luck.

Spine orientation does not affect casting accuracy. The lure goes where the tip goes and the tip travels in a straight line regardless.

.......................

Not sure who the blank is from, but I have had a few blanks from St Croix that the spine was not very noticeable. They use an Easton cutter to cut the flags before they roll them, I think they said they are cut consistently enough that they don't have an overlap and thus don't have a noticeable spine. This doesn't usually happen, but I have had a couple that you would have difficulty finding the spine. With that being said, I usually build on the straightest axis instead of the spine.