After doing some reading, following this board and trying to educate myself in general, I've finally decided to dive into my first rod. With so many questions about everything I figured the best thing for me would be to just buy a kit and by time I was through, I'd be a little more able to ask intelligent questions. So, I bought a 9', 4 pc., 8# IM6 rod kit from Hook and Hackle, it arrived yesterday and, I already have some unanticipated questions that I haven't seen covered anywhere.

First off, the reel seat has the removable fighting butt. Because it's removable, the reel seat endcap recesses about an inch into the reel seat itself. This is fine except that will cause that section of the rod to be about an inch longer than the the others. Should I be cutting off an inch of the lower section to compensate for that? If memory serves, a fine tooth saw is the best method for doing this?

And, I know this is cosmetic but, the male ferrule for each section is cut-off blunt. I know that sanding blanks is considered taboo but do you generally round off these male ferules? My factory rods have always been rounded over and I just think it looks a whole lot nicer.

I think that's all for now (and I haven't done anything more than open the box!). Am I being too much of a pefectionist?

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Pat

You can cut the butt if you'd like, to get everything back to the length you want. Or not. Leaving it a tad longer than the tip section helps to protect the more fragile tip when in storage or transporting. But, you may have to buy a longer tube than the normal length for most 9 footers.

I am not quite sure what you mean by "both male ferrules". You should only have one. The very edge can be lightly rounded but do not overdo this.

Cutting a blank should be done with a very fine tooth saw, or even better, a cut off wheel in a drill or grinder. I will sometimes insert a wood dowel into the butt and cut against that. Seems to reduce splitting and slintering of the fibers when the cutting tool comes through.

And now a word about our sponspors - I won't tell anyone where they should buy their rod making stuff, but I happen to know that all of those listed here on this site always go the extra mile for their customers and help you out with these simple, yet sometimes perplexing questions. In other words, their service doesn't stop with just charging your credit card.

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Be sure you wrap two bands of masking tape on the section you intend to cut. Make a mark on the blank then on each side of the mark wrap about six or seven turns with 1/2 inch masking tape leaving just enough space for the saw blade to fit. This will insure that your cut will be straight and that the blank will not splinter. I presently use a hobby saw with very fine teeth and I saw around the blank to score it then saw through. I trim a lot of surf blanks this way and have yet had one splinter.