How to start on selecting rod components?

[Jeri]

A few recommendations from my side would be to remember that while learning the skills of rod building, practice is probably the greatest tool on the bench, not accepting 'that will do'.

Fuji have never let us down with any of their products, and a point worth considering is that they do most of the development work that others quickly copy. The question then comes as to how good the copies are? We are currently seeing a lot of repair work through our workshop, replacing cracked 'K' guide copies, most just from casual knocks or bumps, not excessive abuse.

Inserts in guides is often a misunderstood aspect. The harder the ceramic material, the better it will take the polishing process. While not ultimately important with nylon, it has a huge bearing on braids, especially in a high frequent casting situation, as microscopically rough ceramics will soon compromise the braid.

Expensive frame materials like titanium have a limited application, mostly on high performance spinning rods, where guide weight can seriously influence performance; while not so much on a heavy duty surf rod. Components to suit the application of the final rod, is perhaps the key here.

All the above aspects equally apply to blanks, high end manufacturers are fre3quently copied, and have taken to hiding a lot of their techniques and carbon layers within the confines of the blank, to avoid or hinder reverse engineering.

Rod component manufacturing is a very cut throat business, and some companies take all sorts of short cuts to shave costs.

[JasonGotaProblem]

I've always assumed that the titanium guides were used because titanium is hard to bend, in fact I bought my first ever Ti component, a rod tip, for that exact reason. but every mention of Ti guides I see tends to be centered on the weight. Are they that much lighter?

Wolfgang, welcome to the fishing rod section, where a juicy enough thread will live on long after OP gets the info they need.

[philaroman]

hard to shape -- not hard to bend; once it's shaped it bends & SPRINGS BACK
almost like spring steel that doesn't rust & weighs slightly more than aluminum
that's why I really like it for lighter, taller single-foot
MUCH less need to examine for corrosion, or tweak legs back into shape

[Jeri]

Guji brought out a high tensile titanium, after their straight titanium, much higher strength, and harder to bend.

[Breadfan]

hard to shape -- not hard to bend; once it's shaped it bends & SPRINGS BACK
almost like spring steel that doesn't rust & weighs slightly more than aluminum
that's why I really like it for lighter, taller single-foot
MUCH less need to examine for corrosion, or tweak legs back into shape

Ok, now that makes sense!

[Wolfram M]

I machine titanium parts regularly, and it's a bit "legendary" rather than practical. it's a pain in the butt to machine economically, you want all the cutting flutes on your milling cutters and flood coolant. Ti does NOT transfer heat out in the chip like most metals, rather, it will heat the tool until the cutting edges fail. Liquid Nitrogen as coolant is wonderful, but att any rate, coolant is practically required to keep from burning up tools.

Ti is very corrosion resistant, half the weight of stainless steel of the same dimensions but just as strong. Stronger than aluminum of the same dimensions, but 4/3rds the weight.

The cool bit is the fatigue life of titanium-it can be extremely high, which means that vibration and flexing do not degrade it over time nearly as much aluminum or steel.

I'm looking at an MHX S6010 blank for a bush ultralight rod-something that will fit across the back of the cab of the pickup, and won't hang in the trees when I have to pack it a quarter mile through brush to get to the creek. I'm thinking a 5" cork handle under the reel seat, then about 2 inches of handle above the reel seat, and approximately 56 to 60" overall length.

Fiberglass would probably be more durable than graphite, and running 6lb test line is most likely going to be the way to go.

[philaroman]

MHX S6010 looks like thinnest, most fragile graphite for 1-4 lb. line
too dainty for 6 lb.; not something you throw in the cab w/out a PVC tube
for what you're describing, I'd try their E-glass 2-6 lb.
(or even 4-10 lb., if you're going to get a longer blank & shorten from butt end)
https://www.mudhole.com/custom-rod-building-blanks/crb-custom-rod-building-blanks/CRB-Value-E-Glass-Rod-Blanks

...or, look for better glass elsewhere

[Wolfram M]

So, given that I'm looking for a short 56-60" OAL rod, for 6lb test line, for hand-packing along rough banks and through heavy brush, I'm thinking I've narrowed it down to:

E-glass/Fiberglass blank, medium action speed to not sling off live bait, and maybe need to cut down the butt-end of the rod.

I'll keep looking, and surely somewhere I can find something.

[philaroman]

sounds reasonable, except why short 1-pc. "for hand-packing along rough banks and through heavy brush"
when I go through that much trouble to get to the water, I WANT OPTIONS!!!
(to be better prepared to fish for what's there, rather than what I expected)
3'+ tube is SOOOOOOO much easier to transport & allows you to bring 2 rods, or MORE
ESPECIALLY if you DIY -- you can make 1 or 2 butt sections with MANY alternate/spare tip sections

[Jeri]

Given the very specific end use, to further add a a dimension to your search, would a 2 piece 'travel' type blank be an option, if you don't like the overall length then you can always trim from the bottom. This way a rod in a tube, would not have to be so robust for en-route environment, assemble when you arrive.

As said above, then there is the option of additional rods. Once travelled to the Zambezi by international flights with 2 fishing rods in my carry on, a 6 piece 9'rod, and a 5 piece 8', both worked superbly, and gave me options of a wide4 range of fishing styles when at the river.