I just may have to start paying rent, I post so many questions!!! Anyway here goes another…
When measuring out my guide placement on my 4 piece blank, I noticed a couple of guides are close to the female end of the sleeve type ferrule. I know you have to do some reinforcement wraps over the ferules, but my questions are these…
1: if the guide is close to the ferrule, can you use the reinforcing wraps to cover one side of the guide that is situated adjacent to the ferrule and do regular wraps on the other side, or would it be better to move the guide a little further up or down the blank away from the ferrule and do normal wraps.
2: what is a sufficient number or amount of wraps to reinforce each sleeve type ferrule? I’ve mostly read about an inch seems to work
Although I don’t care for the look and try to adjust my guides to avoid it, there is nothing wrong with placing a guide on a female ferrule and combining the ferrule wrap and the guide wrap. The important thing with ferrules is to get the wrap as close to the edge as you can without it slipping off. In the past, blank makers would roll a blank in one piece, cut it at the ferrules, and insert spigots in the male side. Few (Winston, Scott, Steffen come to mind) use this method any more (although it makes great casting rods), and I think the ones that do generally add some reinforcement at the ferrule points to strengthen these areas. Before they did that, it was important to do long ferrule wraps (the length of the male ferrule, at least) to support the blank. Now, with most blanks having reinforced tip over butt sleeve ferrules, you just want to keep the end from splitting, so very short wraps are ok (Sage does wraps about 3/8 inch long on the TXL series, and I’ve seen even shorter ones on custom rods). As always, follow the recommendation of the manufacturer if you are concerned with maintaining your warranty.
I like putting a guide on the ferrule if possible. It hides the separation of the two sections when assembled. When I wrote my Guide Spacing calculator I designed a way to calculate a spacing that placed a guide right on the ferrule so one wrap did duty as both guide and ferrule wrap.
The wraps I usually use for a ferrule wrap are the length of a normal guide wrap. I prefer the look of the wrap mixing in as a guide wrap rather than long enough to stick out like a sore thumb. Just my opinion.
I have been doing that for close to thirty years now.