Hey all, I'm looking for a 10-10.6' 2wt blank for a euro nymphing rod. I'd really like a graphene blank similar to the Epic 4wt I just built, but can't find anyone that sells long 2 or 3 wt blanks. Any ideas where I can get a very lightweight, thin, high end blank? I think Vision has rods like what I want, but I just want the blank so I can build my own.



Thanks!

Airflo makes rods like that. I used a journeyman blank for one of mine. Not sure if they are available any longer, but check with airflo.

CTS Affinity X.

HNL Rod Blanks-CTS, sponsor to left.

[www.fishingart.eu]
Really high quality blanks made in Poland.

Michal Rozycki Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> [www.fishingart.eu]
> ly-blanks/fly-blank-vesper-nano/
> Really high quality blanks made in Poland.

Confirm, very high quality blanks with good service.

__________________
BRC Rods USA
Best Rods Center Poland

Distributor of luxury Japanese blanks, FUJI guides.
SUZUKI BLANKS, Carefully made in Tokyo, Japan

[brcrods.com]

We also provide services to wholesale customers.

Thank you Bill.

Christian,
There is no such animal as a Graphene rod blank. There are blank manufacturers who put a small amount of Graphene in their blanks for PR purposes - just like when Winston put Boron into their mix (5%).
Graphene is a derivative of carbon - and is lighter than Carbon. But makes the blank more brittle.
CTS has played with the product, and decided that it added nothing to the performance.

BTW - CTS used to build Glass fly blanks for Epic. They stopped doing that, and for others, when CTS' delivery times became too long.

Anyway - CTS has a 10'0" or 11'0", 4pc, #2 blank that people use, very successfully, for Nymphing.

Email me for special RB.Org pricing.
Herb
U.S. Rep CTS

By definition graphene is a sheet of material ONE ATOM THICK. A graphene blank would make the ultimate ultra-lite fly rod - but you could easily lose it.

SPOTLIGHT ON MATERIALS | THE LOWDOWN ON GRAPHENE

As a highly specialized and engineering-oriented blank manufacturer, we often get asked about materials, and what are truly the best fabrics for making blanks.

A number of you have asked about graphene lately – here’s the lowdown.

Graphene was the name given to a single layer of connected carbon atoms when they were first observed in the 1960’s. It is made, in elementary terms, by removing or ‘peeling’ a single layer of atoms, off a lump or sheet of graphite.



Graphene has been around for quite a while and hit the commercial headlines in earnest around 2010. A single layer of carbon atoms (graphene) is incredibly thin, around 30 times thinner than a single strand of carbon fiber that we use in our rods.

It’s incredibly strong for its weight. Theoretical illustrations of its strength, such as a graphene hammock holding the weight of a cat, but only weighing the weight of a cat’s whisker, get folk very excited!

The thermal, electrical and magnetic properties of graphene and that it is almost transparent, offer exciting opportunities for the electronics industry, and this is arguably where it has most promise.

The current commercial industry practise within the recreational composites market is to mix a small amount of graphene flakes, commonly called Nanopowder, into the resin that makes the carbon fibre epoxy impregnated material (prepeg) that fishing blanks are made from.

CTS investigated graphene as an additive to our resin system some years ago. We found no evidence that adding graphene nanopowder to the epoxy resin improved any of the characteristics we were looking for in a material for fishing rods.

Conversely, we found evidence that adding more than 10% nanopowder to the epoxy matrix, increases its brittleness. In a fishing rod we rely on toughened epoxy resin systems to distribute impact shocks, protect the laminate and support the fiber in compression.

One of the main benefits of adding graphene nano powder to composite materials is to improve electrical conductivity. Naturally, not something we’re particularly wanting to do with fishing rods!

We concluded that adding a bit of graphene to our resins might be good for the marketing department and our ability to sell a higher priced product, but marginally detrimental to performance.

CTS is at the forefront of any developments in the composite industry. We attend trade shows around the world in search of the latest advances in both materials, equipment and procedures.

Our in-house test lab provides us with real world data, with testing specific to our requirements. It’s where we constantly ask the question: “Does it improve on what we have?”

We live and breathe our ‘Hooked on Technology’ mantra. With CTS, you can be assured you are getting the best, most advanced blanks in the world.

CTS is about Performance. Pure. Simple.

> One of the main benefits of adding graphene nano
> powder to composite materials is to improve
> electrical conductivity. Naturally, not something
> we’re particularly wanting to do with fishing
> rods!
>
> We concluded that adding a bit of graphene to our
> resins might be good for the marketing department

A powder is nothing but an epoxy resin filler and would not make anything stronger in any way. Quite the opposite. It would provide places within the rod for it to separate and pull apart and decrease strength of the rod. What makes a rod stronger is fibers locked together by a binder same as rebar inside concrete. A powder does not cut it and I can see why it was deleted for not adding anything of value to a fishing rod as nothing more than a sales gimmick. And, as if we need a better conducting lightning rod in our hands. Sounds like graphene should be relegated to the scrap heap of bad ideas and forgotten.

Lighter is not always better.

I can attest to nano infused blanks to being more brittle. The blanks I have used that claim Nano technology have mostly broke more than any other blank type. Thanks Chris for the "Lowdown".

My Lamiglas Si nano resin rods have been very durable, but they were made on the 3M resin. No graphene in them.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/16/2021 06:46PM by Spencer Phipps.

I just built a nymph rod on a 10 ft 3 wt blank from Proof Fly Fishing, nice blank, good choice of hardware and excellent service. Price is reasonable, take a look at his website

Herb -
Earlier this year it was announced that CTS was going to do a euro-specific blank (the FY series). Are those available yet?

Mike,
Sorry - I just saw this.
See my email.
Herb