A buddy of mine sent a kit to me to build for him. It came with everything - blank, handle, reel seat, guides, thread, glue and epoxy. It's a Lefty Kreh signature. My question is on the ferrule wraps. It's a common tip over butt. However, the male part is sanded/unfinished. and when I put sections together there is over 1" of unfinished rod blank showing at each ferrule. I normally wouldn't put a wrap on the male end, but I think it looks a little sloppy with so much unfinished blank showing. If I wrap, how much space should I leave to give ample space for wear over time? I was thinking 1/4 to 1/2". Does anyone own one of these rods factory built? Is it wrapped on the male ferrule end?

Spit the difference and go 3/8th. I think you'll find that the ferrule wears-in quickly and you're apt to see it close up by 1/8th to 3/16th inch pretty quickly. After that the fit will change, but not too much and not as rapidly.

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None of the TFO rods I have seen including a Pro III have had a spigot style ferrule second wrap. Not the first rods to not paint the male ferrule area.

The TFO TiCrX has the same type of ferrule. At first it looks like a spigot type, but the male section is just long and unsanded. I will measure mine tomorrow and see how far the wrap is down the male side, but pretty far.

Spencer Phipps Wrote:
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> None of the TFO rods I have seen including a Pro
> III have had a spigot style ferrule second wrap.
> Not the first rods to not paint the male ferrule
> area.

Looking at the Pro II rods on the TFO website, it just shows a close-up of the female ferrule side. There is an alignment dot on it. Where does TFO place the alignment dot on the male side, just directly on the blank with no epoxy over it?

ETA Thank you everyone for the input. I don't post very often, but enjoy reading and learning from everyone. I think I'm going to take Tom's suggestion and leave a 3/8" gap. That will give a nice finished look to the rod.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/18/2024 09:47AM by Herb Leedy.

That’s the way that TFO does it. I have a TiCroX I’ve had for 10 years or so that is the same. I happened to watch a video of how TFO makes rods in Korea, and their paint process makes it obvious why their rods come out the way they do.

[m.youtube.com]

David says above “long and unsanded” but I think he meant to say “unpainted”. It is sanded and the unpainted ferrule works very well. The aesthetics is up to you, but you don’t really need to do anything if you don’t want to.

Drew

Yes, I meant unpainted.

You clearly can see the TiCrX ferrule and the cosmetic male wrap in this @#$%& listing.

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