I am using Al Campbell’s tutorial “Graphite Rod Building” to build two rods. A 4 piece 7’ 2 wt and a 3piece 7’6 3 wt. I bought the blanks on ebay. In Mr. Campbell’s tutorial he explains how to find the spline. http://www.flyanglersonline.com/begin/graphite/part7.php I’m not feeling the “THUMP” he discusses. Is there another way? Or can someone explain it better? Thanks, Jim
I went through this a bit ago. One thing that helped was making sure that you are using a very hard surface and the other was putting some pretty serious pressure on the section.
Sometimes seeing is easier than reading:
Place one end of the section, it really does not matter which, on a hard surface and hold the other end up so the section is at about a 45* angle. Using the palm of the other hand, press down in the middle of the section and roll the blank. There is a spot it will kind of ‘jump’ to or naturally want to stop or settle. Mark that point. Sometimes you will find two places the blank wants to settle to. These will usually be 180* from each other. Choose the one you get the most bend out of.
This will be harder to find on butt sections as there is not as much flex, particularly on heavier rods, but it is there.
Tyro, Thanks for the utube link. That clears away some of the mud from my eyes. Also the bit about putting the sections together was helpful.
Kevin, You are correct about the hard surface. The fellow in Al’s tutorial was picured doing it on carpet. That’s what I did. Changing to a hardwood floor and a piece of glass made the difference and the thump was noticable. Jim
I had always managed to find the spine in all sections of a fly rod. I have couple of blanks that I had spined using my method and thought I would check that against the method for finding the spine in the butt section in the video. It does work. I learned something today. 
I’ve also heard of floating the blanks in a tub of water. The heavy side will rotate around to the bottom. Never tried it, so I wouldn’t know how much validity there is to it, maybe one of you can try it and see how they compare.
TT.
This is one the worst described things in rod building. I get the part where you find the place where it settles. Then everyone says “mark that spot” . . . . do you mark on the top or the bottom of the blank while it’s in that position. Then so the guides go on the same side as the mark? Or the opposite side? I know different builders put them on different, but what’s the most common?
Wayne, Mr. Campbell explained it the link below.
(“mark that spot” . . . . do you mark on the top or the bottom of the blank while it’s in that position. Then so the guides go on the same side as the mark? Or the opposite side?")
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/begin/graphite/part7.php
Mark the side that is readily available… The top, and that is the side your guides go on.
Just read Mr Campbell’s page. It’s one of the better explanations I have seen. Finally someone who can explain it so it’s easily understandable. I have two rod building books and they both leave me with questions after that part of the book.
I used to worry excessively about aligning guides on or opposite the rod’s spine (splines are something else, not rod related). Anyhow, as I began to use high quality blanks from Winston, Orvis, G. Loomis, etc, I found two things: First, it was getting harder and harder to find the damn spine; Second, the rod companies don’t worry about it, they just put the guides where they’ll pull the blank into its straightest alignment. As they began to use precision flag cutting equipment and blank rollers, blanks began to get better and better. Serious enough spine to affect casting is a defect–the better companies cull these blanks, or should, and their precision manufacturing methods should prevent these defects most of the time (even low end rod companies mostly use the same methods–one reason bargain rods are getting better). The same thing is true of bamboo. If your strips aren’t virtually the same as the rest, they should be tossed in the fire–that’s one reason most makers plane extras. So, if you’re using the accepted techniques for finding the spine and it’s not jumping out at you–literally–it might not be there.
CC