Rod Blank Question

Hello.

Today I went out to the estate sales and was lucky enough to find 4 fiberglass fly rod blanks for two bucks a piece.Three of them are 9 feet tall and one is 7 feet tall.The 7 footer has a reel seat allready installed which I already plan on replacing.They are all pale yellow and when I first spotted them I thought they were bamboo.
These are all one piece so I suppose I am going to have to cut them in half and install ferrules but my question is how do I find out what the weight is on these rods?The nine footers have a nice medium-fast action and the 7 footer is about medium.The nine footers have 196 stamped on the bottom as the only marking on these rods.Also anybody have a clue as to the maker?
Any help would be appreciated.

Tight lines!

Daryl

Sounds like they are either Fenwick Grizzly blanks, or old Lami blanks. The 196 sounds similar to a Fen # on the blank side. Not sure though. I'd have to actually see them up close. You can cut and put ferrule on them. But, if you can, leave them in one piece. I have a 7'10" fenwick Grizzly blank at home I'm going to build into a small trout fly rod. I've had the rod for well over 20 years, and bought it out of a closeout bin at Schoff's.

Hey, if you decide to get rid of one of the 9' rods, let me know. I'd love to have one. I loved the old grizzly blanks and old true glass lami's. Hard to come by, but make great rods. Are the 9' rods really thick in butt section? A key to cutting if you decide to put in ferrule is not to cut in middle. Check your rod action by bending rod. Usually the tapers on these old glass rods actually dictated more of a butt section cut. That way you had full use of the true action of the rod. Most had a soft bend, and cutting in middle killed part of the action. I know they'll look funny apart, but you'll thank me when you're playing a fish.

But seriously, if you do decide to sell one or two of the 9', let me know. I'd love to have one. Just don't come across complete one's. I've found a few cheap, but they've been made and cut already. You can REALLY see how action is effected when you bend rod and see ferrule in way.

To find their matching line weight: assuming that you have different size lines on reels, strip off 30 feet-plus; clove-hitch the line (30' from the tip) at the blank tip; spiral-wrap the line down the blank; tape the reel to the blank at the bottom; false cast the line. Trying a few lines should let you know what fits.

Alright for starters ask around on this page, they caqn help you with your rod weight and give you some more idies on models. http://www.rodbuilding.org/list.php?f=2

Ok, Steelheader already asked you this, but if you are planning on getting rid of one or two of those 9' then email me and I would love to take one off of your hand. JRSly@hotmail.com

Sly

Thanks for the info everybody.I am planning on building a brush rod out of the shorter one for my oldest son but I haven't figured out what I will do with the longer ones yet but if I do sell them steelheader and you sly will have first chance at them.
Kinda funny cause the night before I found these I made a bid on ebay for a 6'2-3 wt blemished blank.I built my 6 wt out of a St.Croix sc111 kit I won on ebay for cheap.Building rods is fast becoming a new hobby for me.

Thanks,
Daryl