Re anybody have a 8 4 weight taper - tsmithwick

On Thursday, October 28, 2004, at 10:01 AM,  wrote:

>
> Have a friend that would like a 8' blank.  Are there any stiff 4 
> weight tapers out there?
> Lee Orr
> _______________________________________________
>
It occurred to me that Lee, and perhaps others who are relatively new 
to thinking about tapers may not really understand what this discussion 
is really about. So with apologies to those for whom this is old hat, 
and perhaps to Lee if I have misjudged this, here is the issue as I see 
it. Lee, what set off the discussion is that you asked for a STIFF 8 
foot  4 weight. There are plenty of longer slow tapers around that are 
good rods, but when you start going for a faster rod, you run smack 
into the problem that cane rod designers have always faced. Bamboo is a 
relatively heavy rod making material. In order to produce a long rod 
with a fast action, you need to have a thick, heavy butt section just 
to have the rod support it's own weight, before you even factor in the 
weight of the line being cast. To give you an example, I cast an 8 1/2' 
fast action 4 weight this summer that cast the line very well, but it 
felt like a 6 weight rod to my hand. It was sort of like driving a tack 
with a sledgehammer. It works, but it just does not feel like the right 
tool for the job.
There are two ways around the problem, one is to go with a narrower 
butt and learn to love the slower action, the other is to hollow build. 
I personally feel an 8 foot moderately fast action 4 weight is a doable 
thing, provided you hollow build the butt to keep the weight within 
reason.
If I were going to try this, I think I would start with the 8 foot F.E. 
Thomas taper at Frank Stetzer's site. I would leave the first two feet 
of the tip alone, then increase the rate of taper such that the butt 
end was about .015-.020 thicker. I would build it two piece with a 
light weight ferrule. I would use the Powell or Winston method to semi 
hollow build the butt section. Anybody else?

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