Rod weights and Common Cents

[plecain]

Originally Posted by Diver Dan

It would be interesting to try a whole bunch of rods that are supposedly identical.

I've done that.
I tested 6 really cheap rods ($20 each).
The ERNs ranged from 4.2 to 4.6 across the lot. They're marked '5 wt'.

[Diver Dan]

I had a feeling that would be the case. Thanks. In fact I'm kind of amazed they were only off that far.

[Jackster]

This thread has me thinking, has anyone recorded CCS data on a rod from years gone by and then retested it after being used for a long while to determine any changes that took place in the rod over time and usage?

[Diver Dan]

Not that I know of, but I have thought about that. I know a lot of guys leave rods in cars. In the summer you can bake the snot out of stuff in a hot car. Heat can change the properties of the blank. I'm not sure if a car gets hot enough to do it, but I don't want to find out the hard way. It would be a great expreriment on a rod you don't care about.

I have also thought about if because of just straining a rod repeatedly over time. I have a spinning rod that I caught a ton of really big Sturgeon on. I have had that thing bent like a U for so many hours it's rediculous. I have wondered if it effects the graphite over time to repeatedly stress them like that.

I can see where a person could come up with more than one interesting experiment.

[plecain]

I have some real world experience with heat and carbon composites.

I've had a new race car wing get totally destroyed from just a couple minutes idling too near an exhaust pipe. At speed, there's plenty of airflow to keep things cool, but at speed=zero it failed.

Some of the new carbon layups are cured at only 140 deg. F. I don't know, though, what temp it takes to uncure them.

[Diver Dan]

It would be an interesting experiment to try. Bend a rod over the top of a car seat and then set it in the sun on a really hot day in someplace like Arizona where it gets hotter that Hades in the first place. Then go out and take it out after the car cooled at night and see if it puts a bend in it. Try the ERN test before and after.

[Jackster]

Originally Posted by Diver Dan

It would be an interesting experiment to try. Bend a rod over the top of a car seat and then set it in the sun on a really hot day in someplace like Arizona where it gets hotter that Hades in the first place. Then go out and take it out after the car cooled at night and see if it puts a bend in it. Try the ERN test before and after.

I'm more interested in seeing if some rods soften with use. Perhaps from bonds breaking between the fiber and resin or from fibers themselves breaking.

[plecain]

Originally Posted by Diver Dan

It would be an interesting experiment to try. Bend a rod over the top of a car seat and then set it in the sun on a really hot day in someplace like Arizona where it gets hotter that Hades in the first place. Then go out and take it out after the car cooled at night and see if it puts a bend in it. Try the ERN test before and after.

I think I might do that when it gets warmer around here.
I have one of those $20 rods where I broke (my fault) about 2" off the tip.

[baseman1]

I could see this happen. I have played alot of softball over the last xx number of years and have broken more bats when it was cold as the fibers broke down more and became brittle. When it was hotter out I would get more "pop" or flex out of the barrels. I think it being warmer out will help protect rods flexibility.

[charged]

One thing to keep in mind, if you test your rods, also find the grain wt of your lines, as I found that advertised line rantings are just as likely to vary as the numbers that are placed on blanks.

I've found that when both are tested, the results using these tests often coincide to what my preferences would forecast.