I ordered a handful of CRB guides before I knew better (essentially stick with Fuji and Alps, and some AT)

I noticed it doesn't lie flat on the blank and leaves the toe point above the blank and very difficult to wrap without thread slipping off and sometimes under it.

Any suggestions?

Is that a single or double foot guide? If double bend the foot downward a bit. If a single foot then just wrap it. You can use a dremel or file for a little shaping of needed though it looks like you’ve already done so

It is not unusual to have a guide foot/feet not lay flat on the blank. With a little effort the guide foot can be bent to sit flat.

It can be bent using a vise with needle nose pliers. Once I chucked a round rod in my drill press and placed the guide foot on a washer with the foot spanning the hole in the washer and then used the drill press lever.to apply force on the guide foot to make it lie flat.

I am sure there are many other ways to get the foot flat.

What would Macgyver do?

You can also remove a bit from the back to flatten it, I'd work from the tip back to keep your strength. If you round the bottom to follow the blank's shape, especially in the tip area, you get the same results.

El,
Welcome to the real world of custom rod building! One can never trust a guide foot, or feet, to be flat and parallel to the blank; one of the many reasons why we are custom rod builders. Each guide foot (feet) need to be closely examined and tweaked if necessary to avoid the scenario which you showed. A little extra time devoted to prior inspection and tweaking of the guide foot (feet) can save a lot of frustration while wrapping.

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

some years ago, I purchased this, which solves the problem:

[www.harborfreight.com]

This vice has handled everything from nuts, bolts, lumber, steel, shocks, suspension, and even rod guides.

However, if you are only going to use it in the rod shop, perhaps something smaller like this one?

[www.harborfreight.com]

Or, just use a flat hard surface like an anvil, or the flat portion of a vise to flatten the foot of the guide.
Simply hold the guide foot on the hard flat surface with a pair of needle nose pliers. Then, with the guide itself pointing straight up with the guide foot resting on the hard vise or anvil or other similar surface, just strike the top side of the guide foot with a heavy object like a hammer, or the end of a heavy steel rod, and the foot will instantly be flat and will lie flat on the rod blank.

In addition, I will always have the final step in guide prepping, by sliding the guide foot across a flat Arkansas fine grit stone - to insure that the guide foot is perfectly flat with nothing sticking up, nor hanging down from the underside of the foot to insure that the guide foot will be a perfect fit on the rod blank.

Bend the feet as flat as you can. Then get a cheap set of chainsaw files. Lock the end of one (roughly the diameter of the blank where any particular guide will be wrapped) and slide the foot along the file until it is flat and rounded (underside) to fit the blank.

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

Unless the guide has a major bend you can temporarily tie it down with whatever you find most effective near the tip of the foot, then wrap it. And you will probably not notice any issue with it. OK, what is major? Major is a bend that still looks bad after trying my strategy.

But we tend to obsess over what are actually minor issues, and a lot of the guides we are using today are so small that little diversions from "flat" just don't matter functionally, and the guides are so small that the discrepancy can hardly be noticed once wrapped.

Holding it at the foot then wrapping will often work just fine.

But as you mention, this is not an issue with Fuji guides. I have seldom given this issue any thought, and I use Fuji exclusively.

You can shim up the other end a bit, Wrap up over the foot for a way, remove the shim ang continue the wrap. I do this often even with Fuji KLH strippers.

A hammer on the guide when the guide has been placed on a flat surface will eliminate the issue.
Take the newly flattened guide foot and finish the rod wraps.

Good luck

Thanks for all of the feedback yall! Since I have no tools aside from the absolute basics I will be going with a hammer if I find flattening is necessary - I may invest in a vice as it would also be useful for hook sharpening and guide filing. I also discovered last night that 6 size 6 CRB guides all had either something like a burr or some kind of crook/beak in the tip of the guide and/or on the side of the guide that I had to file down, I have more CRBs to go through and have low expectations.

@TOM I do have small round file that came with the set I got for the guide filing, I will give that rounding a try - I definitely like the idea.

I have no real work bench or space for one so I'm relegated to a fold out table in the basement, I am trying to compile useful portable tools so I'll probably get a clamp-able vice.

Most importantly I will no longer be purchasing CRB guides because I really don't need the hassle of the extra work and time it takes to deal with them. I will likely be using Fuji for casting going forward, and AT for spinning, but may try ALPS and Seaguide just to see what they're about since they seem quality as well.

Good idea.

Kinda' like makin' horseshoes. Huh Roger? Lol.

I've never met a guide foot that hasn't needed some filing or shaping to make the task easier, especially those for used for the thinnest section of the rod. A vice is a great tool to have, but if you do not want to invest in that, some good needle nose pliers will work, or two of them.

You can shape the foot cheaply with sand paper or emery cloth, but that takes a lot more time than a fine file or grinding wheel/stone.

[www.harborfreight.com]

You can buy small grinding stones to fit into an electric drill, or a Dremmel tool, and they work quite well and quickly. If you are using a black colored guide and you grind away the color to the stainless steel below, you can use a black magic marker to recolor the ground area if you are using a wrap where the color disparity could show through.

Clearly, at times, life and rod building can be a grind.

david taylor Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ...you can use a black magic
> marker to recolor the ground area if you are using
> a wrap where the color disparity could show
> through.

This is something I've done countless times...
But...If you use a color preserver with a solvent...it will blead that marker back into the thread.