Hi There Again;
The Recoil guides are manufactured by Ultimate Ni Technologies; REC being there licensed distributor. Recoil guides are made with Nitinol a Nickel Titanium alloy developed by the Naval Ordnance Laboratory in the early sixty’s and is about 55% Nickel with the balance being Titanium and trace amounts of other metals to making up its alloys. Nitinol being not only a super stainless alloy but also has some unique properties in that it has shape memory and super elasticity. After being hot worked in to a shape it can be bent and stretched. Just to have it return back to its original shape and size earning it the name memory wire (just like those eye glass frames that you can wrap around your fingers and they will spring back into shape, it's the same metal alloy).

But it’s not the same kind of titanium alloys used in making the frames for guides with rings. Nor is it one of the harder stainless alloys developed by the Naval Ordnance Laboratory, SS316 stainless steel being harder. So if line wear and grooving of the guides are a real concern, you may wish to use another guide! But gram for gram Nitinol is lighter, stronger and more flexible that alloys like SS316. Making Recoil guides a better choice for fly rods and light spinning rods where its strength, flexibility and lighter weight are put to better use.

But there have been some troubles with them. In the past to much was made of the fact that they do recoil. I think that the wire was made to thin to show this off and there was a breakage problem with the very light guide sets, REC calls them Recoil fresh water fly guides. Also the feet trying to move around under the wrapping and coating with the snake guides has been a problem to. Both problems are due to there flexibility along with its shape memory of the wire which stores energy then releases it on recoil. Most metal guides give up most of the energy applied to it as heat.

The other problem is there cost at about $2.80 each compared to the under a buck price of most other wire guides. This has stopped rod makers from using them except on there most costly rods. If you have had to repair or replace a number of high end rods due to breakage or the feet dancing around under the wrappings you would stop using them. But some rod makers like Loom’s have had good luck with the thicker wired RSFX’s.

But things are not all bad with the Recoil guides if you understand them. They’re a very good guide for fly rods and light spinning rods. It’s my option that if you stay with what REC calls the Recoil saltwater fly guides, RSNX's and RSFX’s you should be fine and the same with the spinning guides. Just take a little extra time with dressing the feet and wrapping them. Or just use the single footed RSFX’s guides with a Forhan Locking Wrap and the same on the spinning guides to.

The sizes on the Recoil snake guides are with in the norm according to there spec. list and what I have seen. But things do get a little off centered with the single foot guides. I was told by an insider that when the manufacture first started making guides and was looking for buyers that some one placed small order for what should be a size #1SF guide and claimed proprietary rights to it and is still sitting on it. When REC started to sell the Recoil guides they ran from size #2 through #6. People started to ask for a size #1 guide and some one else had the rights to that size and wouldn’t give it up. So the Recoil #1SF is sized about half way in between size #1 and a size #1/0 to get around this. I didn’t know if the story is true or not but the #1SF Recoils are in between a #1 and #1/0 in size any way. The Recoil SF size #2 through #6 is a little bigger than normal.


Best wishes and Good Rod Making;





Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 12/01/2006 09:04AM by Thomas Lyle.

Thanks for the history and info Thomas,

I have the Recoil spec sheet in .jeg format in my photo gallery here.

[www.rodbuilding.org]

I also have it in PDF format. If anybody wants it just email me.

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..

I gave them a try on my T&T Horizon II rod and like them a lot. I used the saltwater guides. Be careful when ordering the guides for 9wt rods make sure you are getting the saltwater larger diameter guides. I was sold the freshwater model and kept them rather than returning the guide. These guides flex better than the standard snake guide. Try them you'll like them. Bill

When they first came out I had a few come back broken, they always seemed to be the guide that the angler used to show their buddies their new play thing. They never just deflected them a little, they always gave them the full "stress test" to the blank. They figured if they could bend them and they bounced back than they most be indestructible.

I have to totallly agree with what has been said here so far.

I too have noticed the difference in sizing,with the 1's being a tad smaller than normal,and the other sizes being slightly larger than normal.

The heavy wire version has about the same wire thickness as your typical wire fly guide,but is still lighter and much more flexible(especially if comparing snake guides),so I think they also do offer performance advantages.I think the biggest problem with the light wire one is that too many people can't help but play with them once they have them on the rod,and help contribute to them moving under the wraps.Personally I don't think I will be using the light wire ones much any more as the heavy ones look better and still offer the same benefits.They don't flex quite as much as the light ones,but they do flex more than other guides,and they are lighter than other wire guides,so I think you get some benefits without the excessive flexing/moving of the feet under the wraps.

Recoils are GREAT guides for fly rods,especially lighter/freshwater models and the heavy wire model is not only much easier to work with(the foot is easier to prep and you can straighten the guides under the wrap if you need to),but is a bit quieter than the thin wire and better matches the look of the tip top's wire thickness as well.The difference in weight between the heavy and light version is virtually nothing,and the heavy version is still noticably lighter than a standard wire guide.

Of course,there are benefits of other wire guides as well.Chrome or TiGold plated guides look nicer,and guides like the Snake brand snake guides are much more consistant in shape and size,plus they are probably the only guide I've used that requires virtually no prep work.Like the Recoils,none of these guides are cheap,but then a set of them isn't exactly going to bankrupt one either.I think an extra buck or two a guide is well worth it for the extra performance of a Recoil,or the extra cosmetic appeal and no hassel/prep free design of a Snake brand guide.

As much as I like wire guides like the Recoils for fly rods,I think I would still stick with ceramics for a casting or spinning rod and would also opt for high quality ceramics(titanium frame Fugi SIC Concepts) for mid to heavy fly rods if possible.