Another name for the "feel" of a rod blank (and a rod) is its resonance. This numerical measurement is a whole LOT more informative about rod performance than "medium" or "fast" or even "extra fast". The vast majority of rod builders are perfectly capable of understanding this scientific measurement and its implications for selecting rod blanks - that is, s
Forum: rodboard

For you which is the most important attribute of a custom-built rod: its appearance or its performance? I can recall but one post on this site which provided physical facts about a rod's performance - with numbers - but then my memory isn't what it used to be. Before length and weight "any good custom rod builder" would wish to know the materials used to fabricate the rod. BTW: There a
Forum: rodboard

Many of the responses on this site confirm Tom's specifics - see previous post.
Forum: rodboard

I propose rod manufacturers use precisely the same means and terms - such as "frequency" - that are used in any enterprise which includes oscillations. Nobody would HAVE to pay attention to rod frequencies, but if you had a rod that "felt" good and you wanted a rod that felt and performed like that first rod - even if it was out of production - you could have a practical frame
Forum: rodboard

The right line is just as important as the right rod. Today line "weights" vary widely - beyond the bounds of the "official" weights of lines which match "weights" of rods. You can save grief and $ by borrowing lines or reels with lines of known "weights" and test-casting them. You might need a 6-weight line or heavier to cast a "5wt." rod today.
Forum: rodboard

For starters, when rod blanks are bent and released in a cast they oscillate (dynamic measurement) at different frequencies and of different lengths of time. The deeper the oscillations and the longer they persist the more friction is created and the less efficient and shorter (dynamic measurement) the cast is. Every choice is a trade-off. The longer/deeper a blank oscillates the more friction th
Forum: rodboard

Mike: A dynamic measurement quantifies movement, whether referring to fishing rods or pogo sticks. Users of both implements are more interested in their dynamics in use than in measurements taken while they are at rest. How long has it been since you saw a rod blank described as having a "parabolic action"? They are still being sold, and with all kinds of different guides. Would you l
Forum: rodboard

As a rod builder I have not purchased a rod in some time, but I still see lots of rod advertisements, and besides rod length and (less frequently) rod weight, these ads contain no useful information about the physical attributes of rods - or rod blanks. Adjectives about rods don't count but physical properties of rods do, for me at least. Howeverl, asking for measured, dynamic properties of rods
Forum: rodboard

Marketers of fishing rods or blanks would do anglers and rod builders a great favor by specifying the attributes of specific blanks with measurements and numbers which distinguish the physical attributes of a blank rather than suggest which species of fish you should fish for with this blank!!. Specifying the target species or fishing technique for a blank will sell more blanks but won't improve
Forum: rodboard

Fishing is an act of faith. The physical properties of blanks is not. Their physical properties do not depend upon the names marketers/advertisers give them.
Forum: rodboard

John: Yep. Hoop strength of blanks one example, and hoop strength can only be determined by bending a blank, which is an action, not a state of being. Damping of rod blank vibrations (another action) is an example. Tracking (linear behavior of a moving rod) is another example. You could dismiss each of these considerations as trivial and go for the rod which has the most "soulful action"
Forum: rodboard

"Rod blank deflection" usually refers to the distance which a specific weight, attached to the tip of a rod held in a horizontal position, deflects this tip from the horizontal. This is NOT a "performance fact", it's a physical fact - like length and weight - and just as important for comparative purposes. The amount of this deflection as a fraction of a rod's length reveals e
Forum: rodboard

The vibration frequency of a rod, a dynamic quality, can be measured and expressed as a NUMBER* - and the vibration frequency absolutely does influence the feel and casting performance of a blank. The stiffness - aka modulus of elasticity - of a blank can be measured and quantifies IN NUMBERS* the "feel" of a blank - all before the buyer plunks down his $. That's as plain as I can make
Forum: rodboard

It may be that the average rod-builder is not sophisticated enough to appreciate the measured physical behavior of rod blanks and rods, as Mark B. assumes. If so, fine. Such builders could ignore printed information of the physical behavior of rod blanks, but that should not stop blank makers from sharing the physical behavior of their blanks with more sophisticated builders. Others could simply
Forum: rodboard

I assume someone has actually tested and revealed the breaking strength of rods in the past and in the present, maybe even the makers of these rods - but they have not made their findings known. I assume that reputable rod makers actually test the breaking strength and harmonics of their new blanks, although their results aren't widely shared. I guess the average angler is more interested in the
Forum: rodboard

To be sure about line/leader strength a cheap spring scale, or just a #30 weight can be used to test strength. The most common result of this test, especially with braid, is your knot will fail - which is a bad thing but a good thing to know - and fix.
Forum: rodboard

Neither rod blank makers nor rod blank retailers provide rod blank deflection information to buyers. It's not clear why manufacturers and retailers do not provide any rod deflection information. Maybe rod blank makers consider rod blank deflection to be unimportant? At any rate, if you wish to know a particular rod blank's deflection information you will first have to buy or borrow that blank an
Forum: rodboard

Mike: Where did you find the terms "static length" and "static weight" and what do they mean? Sounds like hogwash to me - sorta like the "soulful action" a rod company used to advertise. Rods, like cars, are bought because of their dynamic (moving) qualities - the exception being the rods and cars built for display, not fishing or transportation. You know the ones -
Forum: rodboard

Improvement in fishing rods is a matter of faith, not fact. Do today's rods cast farther or more accurately than the rods of the past? Who knows, since the actual physical performance of rods remains unadvertised, unpublished, unknown? Hoop strength? Tracking? Adspeak has not changed much in 50 or 60 years. It's still a matter of adjectives and and emotions, not measurements and facts.
Forum: rodboard

As long as consumers value grand promises over measured results the products available to them will not improve. I try unsuccessfully to name a specific advance in rod building components over the last 25 years - an advance based upon measured results, not paid testimonials, no-numbers claims, or plain old vague bushwa.
Forum: rodboard

It seems more and more rods are designed for, constructed for, or named for individual species, like "bass rods", or specific fishing techniques, like "jigging rods", or specific lures, like "buzz bait rods". Is there a single source that describes the distinguishing physical characteristics of these species specific or technique-specific or lure-specific rod types s
Forum: rodboard

Terry K. - Please define the "it" is in your post, because whatever "it" is seems to be the bone of contention. I have no idea what the "it" is. Apparently "it" is a thing or a group of things rather than an idea? If you know what the "it" you refer actually IS, please educate an "ignorant troll" and explain how the crucial "it&quo
Forum: rodboard

I appreciate the suggestion I run my own tests on rod blanks. Of course I could determine the Intrinsic Power, Action Angle, and Frequency of thousands of blanks, but that would require me to buy and pay for all these blanks, wouldn't it? Say . . . all you folks who suggest I run my own tests on hundreds of blanks I buy myself wouldn't happen to be rod-blank manufacturers or advertisers - would y
Forum: rodboard

What is the anticipated, or better yet - observed - benefit to adding weight to a fly rod? More distance, or more accuracy? Or do people who strap weights to fly rods expect to reduce effort by moving more weight around? This would crush physical scientists and their silly "laws!"
Forum: rodboard

I am interested in the Intrinsic Power, Action Angle, and Frequency of a variety of blanks, but I can't find any chart or source which reveals this information about rod blanks.Please suggest a site providing this information. I'm not interested in static information about blanks , since casting is a dynamic, not a static activity.
Forum: rodboard

Buying a really light rod and a really light reel will allow you to attach a lot more lead weight around the reel seat to achieve a balanced outfit.
Forum: rodboard

If casting distance (or accuracy) are not valid measurements of a rod's practical utility then what in blazes ARE valid criteria for evaluating rod blanks? Don't say "hoop strength" or "recovery rate" or "damping". Nobody publishes data on the dynamic (not static) attributes of a rod blank - but the dynamic behavior of a rod blank is why savvy casting anglers BUY the
Forum: rodboard

Instead of adding weight to the rod why not add weight to the caster's forearm? #6 lead shot in a canvas bag attached to the caster's forearm with velcro straps will have the same result as lead-filled rod grips, and allow the caster to quickly and easily add (or subtract) weight to and from his arm.
Forum: rodboard

Perhaps if, instead of cementing a butt-cap into the rod handle, rod makers could use a screw-in butt cap - leaving access to the hollow rod butt. That would allow rod builders to easily increase or decrease the weight of the rod butt with lead weights until the rod balanced nicely, add more weight if using heavier plugs, heavier lures, or heavier sinkers - or use helium if the rod is too butt-he
Forum: rodboard

Taylor: Before trying to purchase a solution to your casting-endurance difficulties, do you double-haul when you cast? The awkward stresses a shoulder-rotation overhead cast puts on the ball joint in your shoulder can easily be eliminated by learning how to double haul, which increases line speed (casting distance) while pretty-much eliminating stress on your shoulder. Or you could buy more rods
Forum: rodboard