Fighting butt question

Never done a removable fighting butt before. 8wt. H&H IM6 blank with a Pac Bay A8 reel seat with removable butt. The piece of the fighting butt that fits into the seat has about a 1/4" wider mount that fits the width of the reel seat, and about a 1/2" long, narrower extension on top of that to go inside the seat. Every book I've seen shows the 1/2" extension glued inside the actual blank, but this doesn't fit into my blank. Is this normal with one of these kits, or do I need to return the fighting butt/rod blank and get one that fits? I question how sturdy a fighting butt is epoxied only on the 1/4" part that fits snug with the reel seat...

Any suggestions for me?

Thanks in advance!

[This message has been edited by ameyers41 (edited 10 March 2006).]

"A",
Do you have the rest of the seat and rod glued together yet? If so, and if I understand what you ask, I would turn down the insert until it fits into the blank. The bigger shoulder fits the seat, right?
....lee s.

I haven't started to assemble the rod yet Lee, so the reel seat hasn't been glued. But yes, the shoulder does fit the seat nicely. So, in your opinion, the rest of the fighting butt should fit into the blank? I will give that a try, however, I the part that doesn't fit is made of metal. Any suggestions on what I should use to turn that down? Will a coarse grit sandpaper work?

Thanks for the advice Lee.

I built a 9wt with the same seat and the insert did fit into the blank. You could glue the blank up 1" in the seat to make room for the fighting butt insert, this will still give you 3.25" of contact area between the seat and the blank. I don't think you could turn down the insert much unless its only a few thousants of an inch... FB.

Whether right or wrong, we did as Bob on a couple rods. We held the seat back just far enough that the plug would fit, just touching the blank. Only 1/2" difference, right?
Do you use a power turner or have a drill? Emery cloth should suffice for the wee bit of modification suspectedly needed.

I built an 8 wt using the same setup. The butt did not fit into the blank. I glued the reelseat and fighting butt together first. I reamed a cone into the end of the blank so the fighting butt would center easier when I glued the reelseat on.

Thanks everyone for your feedback. Sounds like I received the correct item, and it just isn't made to fit inside the blank.

I'd start building it today, but it's 50 degrees in Minnesota, so I have to take advantage and get out on the streams.

Thanks again.

I hope I don't throw a wrench into the equation but keep in mind (as I have built these type of rods before) to cut down the butt end of the blank so that you can place it in the proper size tube when the fighting butt is attached. I am working on a 8 wt. 4 piece now and will be doing the same to assure each blank is the same length for transporting. Cutting down the butt end (an inch or two) may also take away the problem you are having with the fighting butt.

Thanks Coach. I've thought about that because I ran into the problem you noted. Since this is my first rod, I don't know if I trust myself enough to start chopping the graphite. Once I put everything together without gluing, I found that if I screw the fighting butt off, it will fit into the case, so I think I'll just go with that for this rod.

I just started taping it up yesterday (I'm working SLOWLY):
I wrapped the 1/2 inch protruding end with masking tape (maybe 8 wraps) until it was the same diameter as the end of the blank. I then used tape to wrap that and part of the blank together, creating my second stack wrap for the reel seat to fit snugly. So, that should give my fighting butt a little more support than just expoxying the 1/4" that fits snugly in the reel seat itself, which was something I was concerned about the first time I put any weight on it. Has anyone else ever done this, or advise against it?

One other question I have is how important is it to find the spine of the 2 butt ends of a 4pc rod? Obviously, it doesn't flex much in those two pieces. The top two pieces were easy to find, but since the bottom two don't flex much, I was having a harder time. In addition, I was trying not to put too much pressure on it because I didn't want to crack the graphite, since I haven't wrapped the ferrules yet. Any suggestions?

[This message has been edited by ameyers41 (edited 15 March 2006).]

I think I understand what you are doing with the masking tape, using it to fill the space between the rod and the reel seat? I do this in three sections, One at the front and back, then another in the center. This fills up the void and allows for the use of less epoxy and more support (four could be used depending on the size of the reel seat and the width of the masking tape.

If you came up with that on your own, good job!

I've heard it both ways about the spine of the bottom of a 4 piece rod. I prefer to try and find it, but I use a spining machine and it is still tough. I did just receive an Orvis 8 wt / 4 piece and they spine all the sections at the factory which I thought was nice of them. Since it is my first Orvis blank I wondered if they do that for all their blanks, nice if they do (actually I will check their work and spine just to make sure).

Have fun and enjoy your new hobby. The best part comes later when you catch a fish with a rod you built and a fly you tied (if your into that).

Thanks again Coach. The masking tape bushings seem to be the consensus way to go to fill space. I just thought it might work with the issue of the fighting butt space too. I'll find out the first time I lean hard on it!

I'm looking forward to building more. Haven't gotten into the fly tying arena yet. I'm having a hard enough time finding time to do this. So far, this forum has been a HUGE help! It's the little things that books/videos may not be able to help you with.