I have made a few so far from fiberglass(it,s cheaper than messing up a graphite rod lol.) but the ferrules stiffen up the rod too much..i wonder how short i can go with the ferrule to get a less stiffer rod and not damage the ferrule when loaded..i know the ferrules near the butt will be the longest because of a greater load and shorter near the tip end..i just don,t have a feel for how long or how short..your thoughts will be much appreciated..

Here's a tidbit for you - every multi-piece St. Croix rod in the freshwater line uses ferrules with a 2-inch overlap. Doesn't matter if the ferrule is on the butt or the tip on a 3 or 4 piece rod. Every ferrule has a 2 inch overlap. There is more to the story but it's not necessarily relevant here.

Granted, the material, diameter, blank type, etc., all play a role. But for what you're doing, a 2-inch overlap should be sufficient in all cases. It may be a bit overkill in some cases, but in almost instance will it be too little. I assume we're talking about general freshwater rods here.

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OK! great..Thanks Tom..i,m cutting up a 7 foot rod and getting a five piecer about 52" long..when i put the four guides on the ferrules, they are about nine inches apart...i would like to get them closer but that makes the rod even stiffer..two inch overlaps is better than the three and four i,m now using..i have just one seven foot light power blank left but will order a few more..i,m going to try two inch overlaps for the two butt sections and one and a half inches on the two tip sections maybe one inch on the last tip section instead of one and a half..a rod like this will make walking and fishing brushy banks a little easier..i also would like to use a bow and arrow cast but i,m not sure how well the ferrules will hold up to that much flex..Thanks again Tom.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/04/2021 01:43PM by ben belote.

Right, you don't need that much overlap. 2 inches should work fine for you.

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Ben,
Are these truly telescopic where each section is completely concealed within the next larger section? Are you simply cutting the blank into sections which fit inside the next section? If you are looking to produce a multi-piece rod, check out my flexible tubular, tapered, FG CARL ferrules. They impose less than 1% difference between the original one-piece blank and after cut. The process has been slightly modified since the article was written so talk to me if interested.
[www.rodbuilding.org]

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

Hi Mark, yes these are true telescopic rods..the thing i like about tele rods is the ease of set up..i just pull out the tip section and they all come out then i just snug up each section at the ferrule and go fish..it,s impossible to lose or misplace any sections or crush any disassembled ferrules but on the minus side is guide placement..guides must be plaeced on the ferrule for the rod to collapse and the number of guides is limited to the number of ferrules..but the thing still catches fish..it,s a pack rod and does it well enough for me.

Both Fuji and SeaGuide do make guides for telescoping rods. Don’t know if you can get them in the US.
[www.fujitackle.eu]
Norm

Thanks Norm..i,ve seen those before and gave them some thought but i have to make a reinforcing wrap on the ferrule anyway so it,s no problem slipping a lower profile guide in there too.

Please send me your process and any pictures you have. I am very interested in doing this.

Ben,
I, too, have been and am intrigued with the possibilities of a telescopic rod but have not discovered a method which appeals to me; mostly due to restricted guide placement. I am interested in seeing what you have accomplished thus far, if you care to divulge such.

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

Hi Wade and Mark..several years ago i got interested in tenkara and made a poor man,s version by using a Cabelas 10' telescopic pan fish pole...it slayed bluegill..then i thought why not put some guides on thefurrels which were only ten inches apart..i dropped two butt sections, added a reel seat,etc. and had teleccopic four weight fly rod and caught even more bluegill..lol..by dropping some of the one foot sections iwas able to build some telescopic spin or cast rods also just from that little panfish pole..i fished from a kickboat at that time and could put all my rods into the pouches and have to make only one trip from car to water..then cabelas quit selling that particular rod and i have not found a replaceent..i decided to make a teley rod from a one piece rod..so far things are not looking good..i decided to use glass because it,s cheaper..i started with a seven foot one piece light power rod to see what comes out..i ended up with a fifty two inch rod that was just too stiff even with just two inch overlapping sections..i enjoy short glass rods for farm pond fishing and making bow and arrow rods but these were too stiff because of all the trimming to get the sections to fit..if you want a short powerful teley rod, this works..you can build from the butt to tip or from the tip to butt..butt to tip is a little less stiff but not by much..for example from tip to but start by trimming one foot off the tip off the 7' donor blank and inserting the one foot tip into the shortened 7' foot donor blank..it will overlap too much so you have to trim the former 7' blank to get a 2" overlap..now measure and cut another one foot piece off the donor blank that ovrlaped the tip section..you now have made the tip section and the one following it..now slide the second secton you just made into the long donor section creating another overlap that has to be trimmed to get a 2" overlap..just keep repeating these steps to the butt of the donor..yea, it,s real easy to screw up..lol..OH! and good luck.