I picked up a 4 piece TFO Pro rod last weekend and I’m concerned about how the four segments are fitting together. They don’t seem to “slide together or in” for lack of a better description as far together as it seems they should. After twisting and sliding the segments with as much force as I’m comfortable doing it still seems like the pieces should “go in” further. Sorry for the poor description and if it is totally confusing I can take some pics. Thanks!!!
Tom
The ferrules shold not “bottom out” when they are put together. They are made that way on purpose. This will keep them tight as times goes on and they “wear down” a little bit. I’d be careful about twisting any ferrule…especialy if it’s tight.
Just make sure that they fit good and snug. If you’re still unsure…just check them periodically while fishing.
Brian
What he said exactly!
They are called spigot ferrules and the gap is supposed to be there.
Some will recommend wax for ease in assembly & disassembly but wax can pick up grit and can cause premature wear so if you use it; you need to clean it off with rubbing alcohol periodically and reapply. I don’t use wax myself on spigot ferrules and don’t have problems but I don’t have a TFO rod either.
So take a minute to e-mail or call TFO and ask them what THEY recommend regarding ferrule maintenance for their rods.
Have fun with your new rod!
Thanks ya’ll. I figured this as all sections seemed to “fit together” about the same. One other quick question. I’m going to spool up my reel for the first time this weekend and was curious about attaching the backing to the reel. With baitcasters I have always attached to the reel via a small piece of electrical tape as opposed to an arbor knot and over the years have never had a problem or seen any downside. Anybody attaching their backing to the reel in this manner. This is a pretty common technique with baitcasters (as opposed to using an arbor knot) but not sure if there was a downside to attaching the backing in this manner to a fly reel. Thanks!!
Tom
I use an arbor knot on all of my baitcasters; what’s the advantage to tape?
It’s not like an Arbor Knot is the hardest knot to tie.
As far as a downside I guess if a fish spools you you’ll have a problem but I don’t know how strong an Arbor Knot is either and probably never will!
With a baitcaster I have never seen an advantage or disadvantage to either method. On a baitcaster once you have covered the line with a wrap or two it isn’t going anywhere. I’ll just tie an arbor knot but was curious if any had used electrical tape. I guess the reason (although meaningless I suppose) was that on a baitcaster I could get a little smoother wrap once I started “spooling” since there was no knot that you were spooling over.
Tom
Makes sense; thanks!
The arbor knot is an extremely secure knot, meaning it is very unlikely the knot will come undone. The final overhand knot works as a stopper to keep the “main knot” from slipping loose. Without this stopper knot, when you tried to tighten the knot around the arbor, the short end of the backing would pull through and the knot would come undone.
Unfortunately, the arbor knot is not a very strong knot - it is about 60% efficient, meaning it will break at about 60% of the force it would take to break the line were there no knot.
Most common knots are 40-80% efficient; the bimini twist is very close to 100% efficient.
Some others I found while verifying 60% for the arbor knot:
Trilene Knot - 90%
Surgeon’s Loop - 70%
Duncan Loop - 90% *This could be an alternative to the Arbor Knot, though the knot is a bit bulkier. The efficiency also varies with the number of turns used.
Blood Knot - 65%
Never say never!
Others may disagree but the benefits of waxing your ferrules out weigh any risks in my opinion. First off a lot of rods get broken trying to pry apart stuck ferrules. This can generally be avoided with a waxed ferrule. Secondly most ferrules are not a “100%” perfect fit on even the most expensive rods. Loose ferrules make that annoying clicking sound and, if loose enough, often come apart while casting. This extra movement causes wear on the ferrule which just makes the problem worse. “Clean wax” acts as a “lubricant” and “filler” reducing ferrule wear. Just make sure as Bamboozle pointed out that you periodically clean the old wax off and refresh it with clean regular “parafin” candle wax. Parafin wax does not pick up dirt like the “sticky waxes” used for thread, ski wax etc.
Guy
I agree with Guy. I never used to wax my ferrules because I was told it would hurt more than help (ie the dirt, etc). Then last year I had a ferrule loosen up a little without my realizing it. Let me tell you that the crunching sound graphite makes as it folds over is not one you ever want to hear! So I now believe in wax big time. However, I at first used a candle, but found that it had very tiny small hard particles in there sometimes that would scratch the finish. I now use the St. Croix wax in the little tin and haven’t had that happen.
When I bought my TFO pro, not to long ago, I to thought “wth”. I have a 3wt with spigot ferrules but they didn’t have as much of a gap as the TFO did. After trying to push them down I just resolved to the fact that that was the way they are meant to be. I put wax on the ferrules and they have never come undone while fishing.
An alternative to using wax is ferrule lube. I use U-40. http://www.u-40.com/ferrulelube.html I think Renzetti makes a lube as well.
This should help.