I see that titanium is considered the gold standard (pun intended) for guides for salt water use. I'm finally getting around to some fly rod blanks that I've had for a while, and I'm looking for double foot guides for the lower ends. A size 16 (Fuji) is just shy of $30 in a titanium frame. If I must, I will do what I have to do. But is there a frame material considered second best that will do a decent job in the salt?

Stainless frame guides are fine in saltwater. Yes, eventually you will get some rust on the guides. But if you are diligent about rinsing your guides after trips and make sure you get excellent thread finish coverage when finishing your guide wraps, you will get decades of use out of stainless guides.

Try the REC Cerecoil.
Nickel Titanium alloy.
Won't discolor - ever
Herb

SeaGuide has good quality titanium frame guides for less.
Norm

Thank you all.

Norm...Unbelievable!! I was just going to ask about Seaguide guides. There is one called a TiXBG that looks pretty good. It can be had in a Silicon Nitride ring-RS. I don't really know anything about the ring material. Is it comparable to Silicon Carbide? And do you have any idea what the "RS" designation stands for? And finally, where is a good place to purchase them? Sorry, that's a lot of questions. :-)

SiC guides are slicker, harder, but also more fragile, though in all my years I have never had one fail. Try Rodbuilders Warehouse to the left for SeaGuide products. American Tackle also makes Ti guides as has others like Pac Bay, it's been a common material for many decades.

As far as I know, Torzite is supposedly a type of silicon nitride.
Norm

Admittedly I have no idea how these cope with salt water, but I have always liked them for my fly builds: ALPS Titanium LXN Zirc Rg-Polished TILXNZG. Recently I bought titanium frame Seaguide stripper guides as well as lite wire ones with the Adaman coating. All look very nice. I have used their spinning guides for some years now and no issues whatsoever.

Mike,

What sizes of stripping guides from Seaguide did you get, and for what weight rods? I like the way they look, and the prices are reasonable. But when I looked at the specs, their physical sizes...heights and lengths...seemed considerably bigger than I am used to seeing. I was looking at the 10,12, and 16 size rings. The 16 and 12 I would put on an 8 or 9 wt rod. Do the guides you ordered look big to you?

No, they are similar in size to the other ceramic double foot guides used on fly rods, nothing noticeably different in size. The ring sizes are the same. No problem using them on a fly rod.

Thank you Norm. Much appreciated.

I supposed the graphite guides offered by NFC will not corrode, but you pay for that privilege.

Norman Miller Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> No, they are similar in size to the other ceramic
> double foot guides used on fly rods, nothing
> noticeably different in size. The ring sizes are
> the same. No problem using them on a fly rod.

Exactly