Can you guys view this video and tell me if my fighting butt is looking lopsided or uneven or just not right? I don’t know if I’m being hypercritical or am just psyching myself out but I swear something looks off when I do fighting butts.

Don’t hold back. I don’t want to roll with something that looks off. This is my third fighting butt I’ve done and on all of them I feel like something is just “off.”

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I’d like to note, I’ve taken a caliper to it and everything is good with very minuscule differences when measured from all sides and I’ve even tried tracing the shape of it on paper from multiple sides. I don’t know if I clamped the cork tighter on one side than another so maybe the glue lines aren’t even with the shape but something is visually throwing me off!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/13/2022 07:54PM by Alex purvis.

I'd like to see it a little closer, maybe the front face isn't square? I'm seeing something "off" there, could just be a small radius in one area and not in another, IDK.

Looks fine to me

If there is anything wrong, it's pretty minor. It will fish fine.

You might consider tapering to a smaller front diameter and rounding the rear for better comfort. Just a personal preferance, but something you might try.

What Michael D wrote is spot on. I'd round the dark, rubberized cork over to the joint with the natural cork and a bit more taper forward to the cork check.

From what I see it looks like the face of the cork at the reel seat may be slightly off parallel. The rest looks concentric, I would try to dress the edge or lip in that area if it bothers you.

At first I had to look hard and without prompting I would not have noticed it.

Over the live of the rod you will be the only one aware of that minor condition, that is unless you say "hey look at this".

Fish with it if it behaves well and you enjoy using it then all is well, If not build another rod.

Have fun

John

If you would taper the butt toward the reel seat, it would look better.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/14/2022 04:36PM by Phil Erickson.

I agree with Phil about the taper, but that is just a personal opinion. Looks fine, fit the grip on and see what it looks like together. The reason for the taper is so that it won't hang on things with such a square edge. It also cleans up or hides / fixes any slight out of roundness better. Just remember you can't add cork so do a little at a time.

I think it looks fine, too.

I gotta go with it's fine the way it is.
I happen to be one of those who feels that the small imperfections are what makes it handmade / custom.

OK, I never want to hear how picky I am ever again lol.

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