Charlie,
Here’s what you missed. To compare apples to apples here, we have to get the rod to flex the ‘same’. Pick it, but it needs to be the same, however you want to measure it. Mostly, it would be when the ‘angle’ of the tip of the blank to the butt of the rod is the ‘same’ for each blank (30, 45, 60, 90 degrees, doesn’t matter, as long as you measure it to the same point on EACH blank). THEN, you examine how much of the rod is flexed as a percentage of the whole length.
In your example, say that the 9’ rod flexes to 90 degrees (or whichever) in the top 1/2 of the blank. If you cut 2’ from the ‘tip’ end, the rod is now 7’ long. When you begin to ‘flex’ it, the portion that flexes the easiest (the thinner and lighter tip section ) has been removed. It will take more ‘weight’ to flex the remaining portion, but the ‘curve’, or ‘bend’ will be ‘wider’ or have a larger radius than the thinner portion you removed. To reach the corresponding 90 degree angle, it will take MORE than the 4 1/2 feet required by the 9’ rod. AND, since the rod is now only 7’ long, the rod becomes not just slower, but likely extremely slow.
Remember that action refers to the pattern of how a rod flexes under load.
The ‘Weight’ of the rod refers to how much energy is required to flex the rod.
In your example, you are not making the rod ‘faster’, you are making it ‘heavier’ or ‘stiffer’ (requires more ‘weight’ to properly load for a fly rod, or will cast more effiently with more wieght for a conventional rod).
If you aren’t getting my explanation, take a trip to the board at [url=http://www.rodbuilding.org.:1eb02]www.rodbuilding.org.[/url:1eb02] There are experts there that can explain it far better than I can.
Good Luck!
Buddy
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[This message has been edited by Buddy Sanders (edited 21 February 2005).]