Classing Rod Blanks

[Mattg68]

A few years ago I bought a Penn 320 GTi & attached to it was a very 'well worn' rod. After sanding back the flaking varnish a couple of weeks ago I decided to give it a new lease of life with all new gear but I was curious as to the method of classing the blank. Because it had no markings on it when purchased I can only guesstimate (compared to my other rods) as to the line class but was wanting to know if I can be more accurate for when I label the finished product.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Matt

[Mattg68]

Matt,

I think your on your own with this one mate.

Matt

[finga]

No mate, your not on your own here.
I asked the same question a couple of weeks ago and it seems they are classed by guesstimating.
Compare to known rated rod and go from there.

[Mattg68]

Thanks Finga, I thought that might have been the case.

I've got a fair idea of what it would be, I was curious though as to wether there was an 'old anglers method' of classing.

Thanks again.

Matt

[dfox]

As i understand it many rods are incorrectly rated.
In reality to class a rod you could place it in a rod holder with a reel attached and heavy line. Lock the drag and begin placing wieghts to the end of the line.
The rod should therefore bend as it loads up, it will reach a point that the rod is fully loaded. If for example the rod reached a good working curve with 8kg's of wieght on it and at 10kg's it didnt bend much more, then we could assume that the rod would be rated 8-10kg's.
This is my understanding of line class ratings. To be more accurate the rod should not be placed in a holder but a device that clamps the rod in the same way as if it were being held by the user, angles of the rod adjusted and using scales to figure out its load ratings. The other obvious thing to remember is a blank will load up different to a finished rod... foxy

[DR]

one formula to work out line class for a rod is...
put a reel on rod..attach the line to a set of scales, load it up until it reaches it's optimum working curve.. take note of what the load on the scales is..
for instance, say it pulls 3kg..

the formula is.. load x5 divided x2

so. you get 3 x 5 =15 divide by 2 = 7.5kg rod..it's old . but still gets a reasonable result
do not know what the, if any, modern way is..

[Mattg68]

thanks guys for the tips, that'll prove most helpful.

Matt