Ive been using this test as Tom described in his book. I have a problem in knowing how much should I bend the rod in the first section . Bend the rod 10 degrees everything looks fine, bend it 30 degrees and you may see flat spots develope. Can you give me an approximate degree of bend in the first section? I can figure out the rest. thanks



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/15/2014 09:14PM by Bill Cohen.

This should help you understand of how to check this
[anglersresource.net]

Bill - willierods.com

This seems to address the fish-fighting aspect of rod-bend. Where does the casting performance enter into the equation. Especially - for me - fly rods??
Seems fly rod casting performance may dictate different spacing. I try to keep the stripper and 2nd guide close together to eliminate rod wrap. So my stripper is farther from the reel seat than usual.
Herb

What is "further than usual?" On fly rods the stripper must be far enough up the rod to allow one to reach up and grab the line behind the guide for both casting (hauling double & single) and retrieving flies when stripping streamers. If the stripper is too close it inhibits stripping good lengths of line.

A good method for judging the correct distance for an angler, is to have them hold the rod normally and then reach forward to grab the line, the stripper is then placed just ahead of that point. It of course varies with the length of the persons reach, thus no set measurement. However 27 inches from the reel works for most without either very long or short reaches. Putting this guide in place for a specific angler is another custom feature.

Phil,
I do not use that "formula" to determine position of striper. I know most do, however.
When casting one should either let line slip through fingers - or - have line come-up tight to the reel. In either case there is no need to "reach" for the line. But in the event that the caster loses control of the line he can simply move the rod backwards with the rod hand until the line can be reached.

My strippers on 9'0" saltwater rods are between 32" and 33" from rod's butt cap. This gives me the opportunity to have the 2 double footed guides closer together than "normal" and do away with a "tamer'.
Also - that distance provides a more efficient angle for the line to come out of a stripping basket or off a boats deck.
Herb

Im looking to stick with the method Tom described looking for a starting point in degrees

You may some additional information here:

[www.rodbuilding.org]

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Tom,
Fly rods are absent from all these primers.
Herb

Turn the rod upside down if you like. You can handle a fly rod much in the same way you'd do a casting rod.

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Herb, why would it matter if it was a fly rod?

In most cases one has already decided the location of the butt guide, choker guide, and therefore the reduction guides. So static testing is more about location of all the running guides. With that in mind I don't see that it matters what type of rod it is.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

Russ,
You are correct. Don't know why I got involved after building hundreds of fly rods. Always trying to learn something. Never know it all.

No guide spacing system is going to do everything for you. In most cases you're starting with a known butt guide location, a known first guide from the tiptop location, and with most of the NGC systems you have the choke guide set in place. But when you don't have something like the NGC 27X system of line path to set the rest of the guides, some sort of static stress distribution system is needed to get the rest of the way, or at least in the ballpark from where you can adjust as needed for what you're trying to do.

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If your guide spacing results in too large a distance from the stripping guide to the next one, you can readjust the spacing to cut that distance. Another solution is to add a line taming guide about 4" in front of the stripping guide and problem solved. If you use the "story pole" method of deflection and spacing, you can run into a large distance from stripper #1 to the next guide.

If we consider what the goal is for static deflection, it's trying to get the guides in the right location for various loads on the blank. A light load that only deflects the top 1/3 of the blank will highlight where the guides should be placed in that section. As you increase the load, the tip section drops out to be flat, and the deflection occurs in the mid section, then the butt. As you increase the load, you can adjust the guide spacing where the rod bends accordingly. When casting or fighting a fish, the rod load and deflection are changing all the time and guides should be placed to accommodate all the various loads the rod will be subjected to.

Tight lines.

Terry

Once I moved the stripper farther away from the butt I took off all my "tamers" as unnecessary.

Thanks Terry, that flat position of the first section of the rod then progressing to the next section was very informative.Just what I needed