I read the thread on spine vs straightest axis. What are some techniques for a 4 piece fly rod, if any?

Line up each section's straightest axis and go from there.

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Will do. Thanks. Just to confirm, I want the bend up?

I like build with the tip up. The guides will help to straighten the blanks, and the tip up rod has more dead lift power.
Norm

Great thanks. If you question,. This blank seems pretty raw. Leaves graphite dust on my hand. Do most people keep the rod blank unfinished?

If the blank is leaving carbon on your hands, put a coating on the entire blank before anything else. It will add a little weight, but will protect the blank. as far as how to layout you guides. , it kind of depends on what the rod will be used for. For instance, I have a good friend who is an avid fly fisherman. He swears by Winston rods, as they are a moderately fast action rod. The tip is relatively flexible a good way back into the blank. He regularly catches large trout with small tippet, allowing that soft tip to act as a shock absorber to protect the tippet. If you are casting for distance, align the guides with the stiffest axis. This will increase strength, but be less forgiving. Line will snap easier if something large hits the bait hard.

Modern rods have strong tips, and can bend a lot to take the stress if fighting fish. It's in the middle, through the bottom of the blank where your lifting/fighting power comes from. If it were me, I'd go with building on the spine, or belly for the tip, t keep from snapping the line when something big hits the lure/bait, and aligning on the strongest axis for the bottom half of the rod. That way, I get the power I need, with line protection.

This just makes sense to me. Others have different opinions.

My best advise is to attach the guides how you think they should go, without applying the thread coating. Take it our and fish the rod. See how it performs. Then change the guide placement relative to a different axis, and fish it again. Determine what guide placement best suits your fishing style, and expectations. Male your final guide placements, and complete the rod. I hope your rod, no matter what you use it for, will perform flawlessly.

Tight lines and frisky fish

RJF

That's just sanding residue. Wipe the blank with alcohol a few times and all that will come off for good.

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Norman, a flys guides are on the underside of the rod.

Odds are someone has sanded Gary's rod blank after it left the factory. The only physical thing accomplished by sanding a graphite blank and painting a finish over it is adding leveraged weight to the blank and decreasing its power.

Phil Erickson, I understand. With the tip curving up when the blank is horizontal I place the guides on the bottom (or convex side), gravity will help to straighten the rod. Same thing with a spinning rod. With a casting rod with the guides on top (or concave side) the tip is sill up and again gravity wiill help to straighten the rod. So in all case I build with the tip pointing up when in the rod is horizontal. Maybe this will be a little clearer. I also feel that rods built this way have a little more lifting power. I know that some people like to build with the tip down, but I don’t.
The NFC rods are unfinished, the only ones that come unsanded are the Delta and X-ray blanks. So I believe Tom is correct. Wipe it down and it will be good to go. If you don’t like the unfinished look just wipe on a very thin coat of Permagloss, it is very light and durable.
Norm

Thanks guys. I think I'm going to leave it as is. I like the look. Honestly, I can't really tell the straightest axis on each rid peice. It's negligible.

There was an article posted on a thread that I found with a test of how trying to align the blank effected the finished rod. While it wasn't an exhaustive study the takeaway was that for all practical purposes it wasn't necessary for today's blanks. I just finished a 5 wt that it would have taken a wizened builder to even find the spine or the axis. I gave up after 15 minutes of trying every method I could find online. The previous 2 builds I did 10 years ago it was fairly easy to find the spine on.

Funny you say that. I could find no discernable spine on any of the rod pieces.

What is the anticipated result of determining the "spine" of a section of fly-rod blank? A curve in the blank in any part of a rod from reel seat to tiptop will not influence the trajectory of the tip of a line being cast. The line will follow the trajectory of the rod tip at the moment of its release and then obey the wind and gravity, not the rod and reel behind it. You can't push a rope to steer it.