I've just completed checking a bamboo blank using CCS and the result was a bit puzzling.
The blank should be a # 4, but a 1\3 of the flex is obtained at 976 grains. That would put it around ERN 2,7. (AA 62)
Are there any others rules to consider using CCS on bamboo blanks?

It is what it is. If you measured the length and the tape measure tells you it's 8 feet long, it does little good to say it's supposed to be 9 feet long. It is what it is. An ERN of 2.7 would indicate that your rod will likely cast a #4 line nicely at short distances. (ERN is a power figure, not a line number.)

Also remember, the CCS doesn't measure blanks - it measures action, power and speed. The material the blank is made from has no bearing on CCS measurements, just as it won't matter on the weight and length measurements.

Now what does and ERN of 2.7 mean? Simply that it is more powerful than a blank with a lower ERN figure and less powerful than a blank with a higher ERN figure.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/27/2015 08:26AM by Tom Kirkman.

Thanks for the fast answer.
Yes, I was suspecting that.... Well, I'll have to go down in line number or do shorter casts with a #4 line.
It will be a beautiful rod anyway, agate strip guide, wolfram snake guides and transparent sylk wraps with tung varnish.
Thanks again.

A 3 should work nicely on it

Bill - willierods.com

bill boettcher Wrote:
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> A 3 should work nicely on it
Will try different lines and lengths. Was hoping to find a sylk fly line somewhere, but no luck yet. I saw that Cortland have a line with "sylk feel". Maybe that could work as a substitute.
Anyone who's has any experience with that line?

do a google search for "silk fly line". There are a couple of options available at different price ranges.

Chris Richer
Iroquois ON

If you know anyone that fly fishes you might be able to try If they have the 3 and even a 2 wt line on it and see which feels better

Bill - willierods.com

I've fished a Cortland Sylk line in a five wt. and had a silk line also available, who made the silk line I have no idea. The Cortland Sylk line was a bit less stiff than the silk line, not as raspy through the guides as the silk line, it had a almost no memory compared to the silk line, wins hands down in cold weather compared to the silk line. The gentleman I was with said the Cortland line lasted longer than a silk line and was about $50, than, if I remember right.
If I missed something please ask.

Don't have the numbers in front of me for my Orvis model 99, but similar to your experience the CCS values I obtained were lower than expected.

Jeff

"The greatest barrier to discovery is not ignorance, it's the illusion of knowledge" - Daniel J. Boorstin

Keep in mind the CCS is an objective, verifiable system of relative measurement. The numbers that the manufacturers put on their rods are just a guess, a suggestion, etc., for the line weight they think might work well at some specific distance, which they rarely bother to mention. One is objective, the other purely subjective.

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As a bamboo fly rod maker, who makes his own blanks, I always take into account the distance cast. There are several on line software programs that allow for the change of many rod blank design features. These programs will modify a blank's taper to take into account these factors. This is why I build my own instead of buying premade bamboo blanks.

Tom,
You comment "The material the blank is made from has no bearing on CCS measurements, just as it won't matter on the weight and length measurements." is why CCS doesn't work well for people comparing different materials. It is fine for comparing "like" materials. It will measure action, but I think power and speed must be affected by the mass too, which CCS does not do. Just because two rods have the same CCS values, doesn't mean they will cast the same.

JMHO

Scott