testing 1 2, testing 1....%#*&

[Goose]

I'm in wally world the other day and some dude who's clueless on rods breaks it at the third guide while bending it....lol. While at CMS today it happens again. I see this guy bending the crap out of an allstar, I thinkin that suxa is going to break, grabing the blank around the second guide he's doing a Ugly stick commerical. Sure as chit it happened around the third flex. The owner happened to be at the register he was not happy to say the least. There was an exchange of words and the dude and his son left pissed. Its kinda like dry fireing a bow in a busy archery shop,,sounds like a 22 went off and you could own an expensive bow.......feel wicked cheap! LMAO.

If I question a rods action or maybe it has no #'s I will just place the tip on the ground and apply gentle pressure....asking helps too.

Is there a better way?

[Mike P]

Ceiling poking works too, if the ceiling's low enough.Put the tip on a solid part of the ceiling at about a 45 degree angle and gently press upwards. You should see the curve the rod takes under a load without risking snapping it.

[SeaWolf]

ceiling or floor "poking" works, but be careful. anytime you bend a built rod or blank w/o putting any line thru the guides, you put stress on a certain area of the blank. typically, it's near the tip, but not always. you'll get mean looks from the custom rod builder or owner as well. the best thing to do is to politely ask the owner/builder/salesman if you can "feel" this rod and ask them if they have a reel they can put one it w/ line. put the line thru the guides, have the saleperson hold the line and bend the rod as if you were fighting a fish. this evenly distributes the forces thru the entire rod. you only need to bend a rod to 90 degrees. anymore than that and you are not using the maximum power of the blank. also, you are putting added stress on the blank. in other words, you are "high sticking". the story for another day...

best advice, ask the salesperson to put a reel w/ line on the rod.

if i had a dollar for everytime i saw a salesperson at a show or even a shop grab a built rod and hold the tip while a customer bends the rod. that's just like ceiling poking.

[chris L]

I had a friend do that at a fishing show in hartford . funny stuff ! he bends the rod saying you should be able to go tip to butt and before the shop owner could say dont do that SNAP . my buddy looks at the guy and says "defective I would not buy one of those rods" . I heard the shop guy say " you certainly are defective " as we were walking away .

[Billy 40]

I broke a blank while spining, and have this to offer to the already good advice given:

When flexing a graphite rod from teh tip, whether it be finding teh spine, lifting a fish into a boat (I know you're all surf sissies) - do not grab the middle of the blank. What happens is you shorten teh portion of the blank which flexes, and put a lot of stress where there should not be. I used to do this all teh time, never thought twice about it, until I snapped a rod I as spining. Actually I had teh spine, I wanted to see how the blank felt if I cust 2" off the tip. I moved my hand 2", flexed it to 90 degrees, with my othe nad holding the middle of the blank - SNAP. Just like that it broke. Dumb Me.

[Saltheart]

For getting a feel for a blank and even for spining it , you only need to go to 30 to 45 degrees . People who overbend trhe rods are not trying to get a feel , they are trying to see if it will break. Well it makes sense that if you are stressing a rod to see if it will break you will sometimes break one.

Anyway , most people don't have the faintest idea what they are doing when the stress a blank. They are just doing it cause they saw someone else do it.