Anybody built on the Cashion blanks now being offered thru Mudhole. Look intriguing. Particualrly interested in the Crankbait rods but interested if anyone has any CCS data and/or experience with these blanks. Ridges cause issue with wrapping?

Some can easily wrap ridged blanks. I find them an unnecessary complication , PIA, and will not buy a ridged blank.

It seems to be a mixed opinion topic, personally I haven’t had a problem with it on my nfc blanks, try using size d thread

When one has dozens of spools of Size A thread, it's not a very inviting prospect to change thread sizes to accomodate ridges. I'll simply buy smooth blanks. There are plenty of them out there.

Simply put, if one buys a ridged blank - enjoy them, use sand paper and a bucket of water to sand off the ridges and the rest of the finish and go build a wonderful rod. It doesn't take much time to make a smooth blank from one which is not smooth.

Best wishes

It's not hard to wrap on an unhanded blank. Even with A thread.

And keep in mind that if you sand a blank you have voided any warranty.

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It's more difficult to slide nail knots into position, and even regular wraps, for me, are sometimes troublesome the the trhead following the ridge and my having to move it . With size A . It's a matter of opinion as to how the ridges affect one. I've heard others here state the same thing I'm stating.

I simply see no reason to accept any difficulties when there is no functional advantage to the ridges, and if having them saves the maker some time/money by not sanding them off, It would be nice to get a discount for putting up with them.

There have always been ridged blanks, nothing new, I'm in the "So What" gang.

Blanks that have not been sanded have two (possible) advantages. First is that their surface is uncompromised by sanding. The bulk of the strength-stiffness in a rod blank is in the extreme outer layers of material. Good equipment and quality control typically makes this a non-issue, but if the blank hasn't been sanded, you know that a poor sanding job hasn't damaged the blank. Second, they sell for a little less than they would otherwise as unhanded blanks result in less labor being required.

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@Tom over seen it said, and your comment would also imply, that sanded blanks are softer than the same blank unwanted. So there's that to consider, although I'm not sure how much of a difference could be measured.

Also, not every manufacturer passes on the labor savings to their consumer - same price sanded or unsanded.

Building rods in MA, Building the community around the world

Yes they are less powerful unless some slight additional material is designed in to serve as a bit of a sacrificial layer. Sometimes this the case.

Generally unsanded blanks are indeed less expensive so the mfg can hit the intended price point .

Anyone that sands such blanks may be voiding their warranty. Be careful in that regard.

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I wonder if anyone has any actual power numbers before and after sanding. I doubt if it can be reliably measured. NFC does not give a price break for unsanded blanks.

I’ve measured several unsanded and sanded (smooth mirror finish) NFC X-ray blanks and found no difference between them. I’ve had no problems with the regular unsanded X-ray blanks, the finish is kind of nice since it is different.
Norm

Last year I purchased a piscifun rod called the viper- marketed with that name because it is unsande and felt like snake skind. I was ignorant at the time as to why that was the marketing ploy, it just happened to meet my specs I was looking for.

Now that I'm a builder, I can see how the crazy long grip length can be shortened , because this piscifun 6'10 M Xf has like a 14 inch grip or something and makes it feel unwieldy. But I can fix that going forward with my builds. Because I build rods. I'm a rod builder now. In case you couldn't tell i think people building rods are pretty cool... just sayin.

@Norman and @Mick - this is why you two play well together haha, we appreciate you!

Building rods in MA, Building the community around the world

I'm assuming they're ridged due to being raw carbon?

They're ridged due to not having the resin sanded from the outside of the blank after the curing process.

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I have in hand a “polished” NFC SJ724 XRay and an unsanded NFC SJ724 Xray. The ridged version IS a hair stiffer than the polished version (noticeable). The first SJ703 ridged version I got I had to send back as it was significantly stiffer than the polished. Not sure which way to go next time as sometimes you’d want it a bit stiffer, and other times the opposite.

How do you measure stiffness?
Norm

The only way to know the difference is to do the measurements on the same blank. Measure it as it comes. Then sand it and measure again. I'll bet it's within normal test error, a few %.