I received a blank and when I got around to taking it out of the package I noticed that at the very butt end there are some cracks or splits like it got crushed in shipping. What I want to know is if I take a very thin walled blank and insert it into the end of this one and epoxy it in place will all be well? These cracks extend maybe about 4 inches up the blank and no more. I would just put this other scrap piece of blank in there for a length of about 5 inches to shore things up. Seems to me that it would work. Any reason not to do it?

As stated earlier I'm no pro but if I did that I'd only use for something I was building for myself, that way if it failed it's no big deal, pass that thing on to a customer and have it fail and lets say he shows a buddy or two and one pops off the butt cap and says hey man look at this here. Your credability just went south with the owner and all of his friends. Contact the shipper about damaged goods or write it off but like I said I ain't in the business. Neil

I am just assuming that since we're talking about the very butt end that its not a place that receives much flex anyway. I wouldn't think it would fail there unless somebody stepped on it or crushed it again.

Mick, I fairly regularly extend blanks by inserting a section into the butt. You just need to be careful, if it is really cracked I would cut the blank up to where the cracks end. Then find the extension piece, depending on what type of blank you are doing, I would use at least 4" of hold. Make sure it is glued very well and I also would either reinforce the butt of the actual blank with at good tight thread wrap or some strong glue. This type of repair should hold up for the life of the rod.

Todd

Contact the supplier first before you attempt to fix this, they may just replace it for you. I've done that type of repair before on smaller rods and have had them fail. I epoxied well past the end of the cracks, but still failed. These were small ice rods I did for myself, so there was more flex into the butt section, not sure how much flex your blank will take there.

Mick,

If you are sure the cracks do not extend any further than what you say, it will be just fine to use an inner sleeve to reinforce that area. On a blank intended for mostly light duty use - most freshwater or very light saltwater applications - choose a sleeve that is light and thin walled. It won't take much. Try to match taper as closely as possible and have the sleeve extend just about an inch or so past the most far reaching crack/split.

When you glue the sleeve in place, I would tightly wrap some heavy rubber bands around the outside of the reinforced area until the adhesive has cured. Then peel off the bands, clean up the outside of the blank and install your grip.

On blanks intended for heavier applications, I would use a sleeve with a bit heavier walls and add some reinforcing thread wraps to the exterior of the repaired area, as Todd mentioned.

If this is a really heavy-duty blank, such as for heavy boat or trolling where you may be using a gimbal or uni-butt ferrule, I'd return it for a solid replacement.

Tom Kirkman
RodMaker Magazine

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