Bill,
Now that I read your post I am Doubly convinced that it was my fault, well almost. The ferrules came with the rod, but I did have to make the rod totally round to accept the ferrules. With a proper fit, should I need to sand/cut the blank to accept the ferrule. If yes should the size be such that I only round the corners, and then fill the blank space with epoxy?

Would I fit a ferrule by finding the smallest size that fits over the rounded blank and then choose one size smaller?

I am somewhat (no make that almost completely) clueless on how to size the ferrule.

jed