Single foot guides

[roz]

I'm building a rod which is 3kg to 5kg med taper 5' 6"", to take an eggbeater.

Are single foot guides the way to go?... does it actually matter?

Also, should I underbind if I do use single foot guides?

I do prefer the look of under binding aside from anything else, simply to add some colour, but in some cases it's not essential.

Roz.

[Stuart]

Yep, that's fine Roz. Don't care what people say about under binding, how it adds weight and so on. If you can weight that little then you should be working for NASSA. I under bind all my light weight rods including fly rods. So go for it Roz. By the way single foot guides are also fine.

Stu

[roz]

Phew...

Thank you God

[wheezer]

no probs using single foots, i use them on 6kg barra spin rods no worries. underbinding i guess is a personal thing. IMO totally unecessary from a structural point of view on just about all casting and spinning rods. If your rod breaks due to guide foot rubbing on it then either your blank is faulty/cheap and nasty or there was improper preperation of the guide foot. So i only underbind if someone specifically asks for it.

[Stuart]

Wheezer

On the contrary mate, the resin and carbon used in today’s blanks is quite corrosive in its self. Under binding stops the reaction between the two. Carbon by nature is extremely conductive and can give off a very low charge in saltwater conditions. Because you have metal touching on the blank it will eventually corrode/rust. How many rods have you seen with rusted guide feet? Once this occurs you have a fine abrasive rubbing between the blank and guide foot. I have stripped rods were no under binding was used, only to find that the abrasive nature of the rust has almost gone through the wall of the blank. I have been building rods for more years than what I care to remember, I have listened to all the debates and ideas on his very topic, yet no one has clearly understood what I have just described. There is way more to rod building than just opinions and theories. Cheap blanks rely have nothing to do with the topic, it’s what their made from not how much.

Stu

[DR]

i have to agree with Stuart. i have always underbound guides, even if it is only just enough for the guide foot to sit on..
call it paranoia but i always feel there is some kind of friction on the blank from a guide that is under load, & that, in my mind, can eventually cause the blank to fail.
ceases to amaze me the number of upmarket rods that have no underbindings.

it has been a while (long while) since i seriously built a rod, but to me the basics are still the same..

[wheezer]

to me not much point building a light graphite rod for casting then slowing its response down by underbinding all the guides. underbinds certainly have their purpose for some applications. as far as rusty guides, yes i've seen it. but with proper guide foot preparation, binding and epoxy (brand of epoxy makes huge difference to cracking) then rusty guide feet should not be an issue. i know its not in my builds...i have stripped down rods i have built years ago and have not seen any sign of blank damage from guide feet directly contacting blank

i have been building rods on and off since early teens so over 15 years..maybe not as long as some but enough to form my own opinions on how i like to build a rod...and thats what they are, my take on things..not gospel. i believe that alot of rods are built a certain way (eg. underbinds, foregrips and full length rear grips on light casting rods) because thats how rods have always been built so the old 'if it aint broke, don't change it' rule has been applied. but the beauty of building a custom rod is you can innovate, try new things etc. some stuff works, some doesn't...once again JMO

[Lucky_Phill]

I am building a similar rod to Roz, except mine is a 2 - 3kg . I'll take note of the above info, saves me asking, but I have read ( here we go, Phill's reading...... Yes Stui,,,, I do read ), that a Locking Wrap will assist the single foot guide from ' movement " or am I reading too much or worried ?

Phill

[Bearclaw]

Phil,
I've done a test with guides using the basic locking wrap, the Forhan locking wrap and none at all. All guides bent and rings popped, the only guide that came out was the guide with no locking wrap, the ones with locking wraps the blank failed before the guide came loose and then the wrap was basically intact with a section of blank attached. Even though the guide without a locking wrap failed early it still took more punishment than it would have got from any fish. I still use a locking wrap myself but IMO a well prepared guide foot which is wrapped correctly won't fail from any punishment a fish will dish out to it.

[Lucky_Phill]

Thanks Myles.

Any fish that I catch won' t be " punishing " enough to make an impression on the guides, anyway.

Phill

[Stuart]

Been doing a locking wrap on single foot guides for years, the yanks are a bit slow mate. Mr forhan or what ever his name is hasnt invented any thing new. Kind of like the Fuji laying claim to reversing the stripper guide on spin rods, been doing that for years before that come out as well.

Stu

[Bearclaw]

Hey Stu,
I wasn't saying he did, just trying to bring attention to the different ways of doing a locking wrap.

[Stuart]

Yah, I know mate.

Stu

[Bearclaw]

Stu, I suppose you would love a dollar for everytime someone has said you have put the guide on back to front.
My first fishing rod had it done back in the early 70's but I think that was a genuine mistake.

[Stuart]

Not wrong mate, if only we could charge 10 bucks that would be my early retierment for sure. Might be looking at selling Precision Rods soon. Getting a bit over the whole rod building thing, spent way to much money and time on developing exclusive things, to much time spent behind the lathe and to much of my life building rods. Will sell every thing as a going concern along with exclusive blanks and other things as well.

Stu