HELP- rod joint problems

[Scott Cushman]

Hi,
Bought  tenryu tuna spike. Great rod. However the join is incredibly stiff, in fact I pushed the joins together and couldnt pull them apart (even with the help of a friend) until I iced the join. Dont want to do that again. Its only able to enter about 1 cm before it gets very stiff. The only thing I can think of is to get some very fine sand paper and carefully sand off a thin film of graphite to improve the fit... I doubt lubricant will help as its a very tight fit, not dirt or residue. I cant really return as the postage back overseas will be some atronomical price.... for some reason shipping rods out of NZ is hideous, but you can get stuff posted in thats over 1.6meters...
Any ideas?
Thanks
Scott

[Mark Harris]

I would suggest very gentle light sanding will solve the issue.  If you are not confident to do this yourself, I am sure your local friendly rod builder or tackle store will be happy to oblige.

[Jon Li]

Scott ,

Use your lady's hair dryer and warm the handle without burning the EVA grip by wrapping it with aluminium foil , if this does not work , cool the ferrule at the same time using ice , this should work . Twisting the rod and the handle will pry open the stuck joint .

Do not sand the bare ferrule because in the future you will get too loose a connection and the rod will fly off after a few strong cast , my decade old LR86 had to be relaminated almost every a couple of years to give it enough thickness for good grip on the handle to prevent it from flying off .

Jon .

[Scott Cushman]

Thanks for the replies, to be honest, I dont like the idea of having to use heat/ice every time I need to break down the rod, its just not practical. I dont think I have many other options other than to very carefully & lighlty sand the male ferrule. My understanding is that they make them so that so over time (when the male joint wears) you can push it further in and continue to have a tight fit, as most rods have the male ferrule un varnished further up to accommodate this....

[Jon Li]

Hi Scott ,

Yes , new rods usually have around 1" or less uncoated blank showing above the mark where the end of the ferrule of the handle , over time both the inner wall of the handle and outer wall of the blank will experience wear off , after a few years of usage the uncoated blank is going to disapprear as the blank goes deeper into the handle .

The heat / ice treatment is for separating a completely stuck rod and I am not suggesting you do it everytime you use the rod .

Jon .

[Scott Cushman]

Hmmm, ok..., sorry misunderstood Jon..... will have another look and see if there's another solution...

[Kasey Leong]

Hi Scott,

Instead of sandpaper you can also try one of those dishwashing sponges - you know the ones with a green and yellow side where the green part is actually very abrasive. You can use that green side and give it a quick buff. Just if you want to be a bit more sensitive. Don't over - sand!

[Scott Cushman]

Hi thanks Kasey, may raid the kitchen cupboard and see what we've got. I got a super fine sand paper from the hardware store to day in anticipation but thought I would check to see what every one else said...
Cheers
Scott

[Mark Harris]

Over-sanding is the worst thing to do, hence my "very gentle" comment.

I like Kasey's idea.

If you do sand, use the really finest grade polishing type sand paper and test the joint regularly to make sure you are not over-sanding.

[Peter Childs]

Scott, be reeeaaaaal careful on the sanding, it removes material much quicker than you think - I've made that mistake before! 

Just a very light dusting 1 second at a time if you dare!

Better still, get one of those silicone filleting gloves, they stick like S#*t to a blanket!  I carry one just for splitting two piece rods.

[Mick Cunningham]

Wait maybe you should clean the female ferrule cos maybe there is a bit of dust/dirt/wax inside then clean it out first thing i would do
but use nice fresh chux then put some wax on the male ferrule try it again to see any better .. before you do anything to the male ferrule

[Aaron Concord]

Sanding can remove material that will weaken the join.

Use some ferrule wax.  That stops the join from 'binding' in 99% of cases.

Aaron.

[Scott Cushman]

I can add some wax, however I cant fit the ferrule in without FORCING it - i have owned plenty of 2 piece rods, 3 different popper rods etc but this is extremely tight and cannot be fitted without strong force.... I had to push it up against a wall to ge it in the first time, then it got stuck.....

[Aaron Concord]

Scott,

Sounds very odd that the join is THAT tight!
If it is really quite stiff to push together compared to your other popping sticks, then the only other choice is to take it to a rod builder who knows a great deal about these type of joins.
I'd be hesitant to start sanding it if you have never done it before.
Take it to someone who deals with these things daily.
This is the last step I'd take and only if I felt there was no other way..........it appears you might be at this stage already, so ask around and get a well known rod builder to sort it out if returning the rod is out of the question.

Cheers

Aaron.

[Scott Cushman]

Hey thanks Aaron, I did talk to a local rod builder and I will take it to him.
What he did say was this-
Use very fine sandpaper
DO NOT sand around the joint in a circular motion, with any kind of uneven pressure, humps and hools can occur and render the joint useless.
Sand up and down the blank gently and slowly rotate around to try and get an even finish.
Put masking tape on the rod blank at teh point where you wish to stop sanding occuring so you dont scratch it further up.