Hello all, hope some of you are fishing now!

I know that this ferrule issue is an ongoing topic down through the years, and much good information has been shared. Expert advice of both non-aggressive temporary repair as well as some rather spooky mechanical manipulations with female ferrule compression devices.

My situation was produced over a few seasons of periodically cleaning my
Phillipson RF76 male ferrule with a polishing cloth, and the female ferrule with alcohol swab. That flannel cloth is used to mirror polish metal of various types using either Simichrome or Flitz, whichever I have on the bench at the moment. As most know, those compounds are super fine grit and I have experience using them on aluminium and steel. A couple of minutes of hand buffing a 3"-4" surface.will remove less than .002" measured with a micrometer.

Well apparently the small diameter and less surface area weren't considered, and the resounding pop on separation had become a mere "ph", ....turning the tip section before seated was easy. I read somewhere here about hammer tapping the end of the male ferrule to flare it slightly and liked that notion.

I used a heavy handled butter knife (smooth convex handle surface) to firmly tap the end as I constantly turned the male ferrule, starting with three rotations and a fit check. Barely tighter. Firmer taps, all around the end produced significantly tighter fit, and the "pop" began to return. Two more repeats and the fit is tight when inserted and pops as it should when parted.

I wish I had measured before and after, as I perceive by touch a very s l I g h t mushroom effect. It must be what I'd call inverted because it is hard to push in straight, and sort of bites, but removal is just a good firm vacuum pull.

What do y'all think? It should be semi permanent, back to depending on wear, right?
No more "polishing" my metal ferrules either, simple alcohol wipe inside and out!
Regards, Charlie

Thanks for the prompt response Tom, I gathered some of that in my cursory research. I guess i didn't consider it polshing since that wasn't the intent, of course my bad.
A few months is actually what I was thinking of as semi permanent, rather than the paraffin application which will be the go to as you offered.
I guess one could consider all of the malforming antics as bruising and likely to wear down too.
Thanks again for your advice.

Charlie

You can slightly resize ferrules with a special tool or by a little tapping when it can't hurt but might help. Best, of course, to avoid the situation to begin with as Tom described. Worst case scenario, it is easy enough to replace the ferrules with a new set.