John, your 5.5" foot Tad is looking good. I really like how the grip and seat turned out. I really like messing with these -- they are inexpensive and the possibilities are limited only by your imagination. This must be the week for "staggering" as I've seen three stagger-ferruled Tads in the last couple days.

Hello
Wow those look great I"m ashamed to show you guys mine now.
I promise I will get some photos up tomorrow.

I'm going to throw something out there and see what you folks think about this.
Just thinking out loud here so please cut me a little slack.

The last couple of years I have been wanting to purchase one of each of those blanks.
Here's why I'm thinking mixing and matching trimming and extending I bet you could make just about any rod from a 5' 4 wt to a 8'6" 7 wt and lots of others in between.
We have been focused on the shorties but with a little time and effort? who knows
The problem is I just can never get the time to do all the work needed to make it happen.
I don't want to derail this thread but I figured it was time I shared my thoughts.

Tight Lines and Thinking Out Loud Loops
Andy M

Jerry clower tells the story of Marcellus Ledbetter having the mustard all over his face from eating the mustard packed sardines and he sez to the storekeeper, marcellus has "flung a cravin on me". Well, Andy is smart enough to realize that a thread like this will "fling a cravin on us", so we'll have some new ideas about future projects. pretty shrewd Andy!-p-

Criscip, that is nice thread. I have to follow through with the polycrylic and I plan to coat it with Threadmaster, since I have the stuff.

I am hoping my build will come out to a 4/5 weight as well. I plan to test cast it after I coat all the guide wraps and before I do a label.

I don't know about a reel yet, I am thinking something small and light - that rules out the pridex! Maybe a Martin tuna can, maybe an older click-pawl. I have to see what I have after I sold-off all my used reels last year.

Criscip that is a great color on a black blank and the finish came out really nice.

I have 2 more coats of polycrylic to lay down and then I can test cast my 5'6"

Andy, that's a nice build, I like that wooden grip. By contrast I was looking to reduce weight wherever I could.

Hello
Sorry guys I dropped the ball I've been busy with the S10 we got some great stuff going on I hope to add more soon I plan to show how I pack rods for shipping.
Tight Lines and On The Bench Loops
Andy M

Hello Rick
Welcome aboard!
The Ferrule flags or bumps are as I'm sure you know a build up of the blank wall thickness intended to reinforce the blanks ferrule stations.
Assuming you are going to use either a Brass or Aluminum ferrule on these blanks?
Garcia Conolon made many models with a staggered ferrule designs so with that in mind the flags aren't necessarily in the center of the overall blank length.
The flags were also sized I believe with propitiatory Garcia Conolon ferrules as the intended union.
You may run into sizing issues with other manufactures ferrules I can't say for sure?
You may also find the the overall length of the flagged area will not correspond with the length of the ferrule you
have chosen to use.
You may also find it necessary to Dress /Sand the O.D. of the flagged area to get the fit you need.
It may also be necessary to build up portions of the flagged O.D. area with thread to achieve proper ferrule fit.
I'm sorry I couldn't give you more definitive answers to your question but I did the best I could without all the measurements and details.

Another option would be to cut out the flag all together and spigot ferrule the blank?

You can also do the same cut out the flags and ferrule the blanks with metal ferrules but you should epoxy in blank sections that double the wall thickness I.D. or in essence create new flags.
When I use this method I like to use solid fiberglass blank cut offs for the internal reinforcements.

I doubt you ruined the blank you should have no problems salvaging it.

Hope I have been some help?

Tight Lines and Flagged Loops
Andy M

John,
I like that butt a lot! and those sliding rings are nice looking too. Can't wait to see more.

Thanks Andy for all that info on the conolon blank I think the spigot ferrule idea is best for now. But do I use another piece of hollow fiberglass to insert inside the blank or do i use a solid piece of fiberglass rod to do that? And about how long should the ferrule go inside the blank of the rod? thanks rick

Thanks rockthief for the info, that sounds good to me.Now all I have to do is find some time to work on it. I guess i'll get the paying customers out of the way first.