[Guest]

The other day, a friend asked if I had any idea how he could pull apart his two-piece rod without bending the guides. There's a simple remedy! I always keep a pair of those nitrile-coated gloves in the door pocket of my truck. They're super tacky and and can be had for $2 at Home Depot... Thought I'd pass it on in case you face that problem often!

 

[Out of Here]

Or, let the temperature change a bit and wax your ferrules first.

 

[casaboba]

I keep a wax birthday candle in my gear box. As previously mentioned, wax ferrules as needed.

 

[Lugan]

Emerging Rivers is right, but let me add some details:

First, don't wax the ferrules too heavily or the rod sections may come apart too easily -- like on a cast. Besides being embarrasing, your ferrules can become chipped or cracked at the moment they separate on a cast.

Second, temperature is key because matter expands as it warms. For example, if you assemble your rod in the morning and it's 40 degrees, but by the end of the day the temperature rises to 70, the ferrules will expand into each other and tighten further. So the trick is to dunk the rod in the water for a minute to get the rod temperature down. Dry it off and pull it apart. My personal success rate is 100% with this method.

 

[Don Barton]

I have heard of several solutions some of which are listed above. I read of the following solution which has worked for me with 100% success.

Hold your rod behind your back with hands on each side of your stuck connection.
Bend your legs keeping your knees fairly close together.
Move your arms down along side your lower thighs.
Spread your knees while saying the magic word "froggy" and your rod will be immediately unstuck.

The mystery is whether the success of this method lies in the magic word or the strength of your legs. Hmmmm.

 

[Old Man]

As for waxing up your ferrules. I used to use the wax or face oils around your nose. I used to rub my spinning rod ferrules along side of my nose. Works better than candle wax.

Some more useless info from an old man.

 

[Lugan]

I used to use the wax or face oils around your nose. I used to rub my spinning rod ferrules along side of my nose.

Didn't your rods break out in zits though?

 

[Kent Lufkin]

First, don't wax the ferrules too heavily or the rod sections may come apart too easily -- like on a cast. Besides being embarrasing, your ferrules can become chipped or cracked at the moment they separate on a cast.

Second, temperature is key because matter expands as it warms. For example, if you assemble your rod in the morning and it's 40 degrees, but by the end of the day the temperature rises to 70, the ferrules will expand into each other and tighten further. So the trick is to dunk the rod in the water for a minute to get the rod temperature down. Dry it off and pull it apart. My personal success rate is 100% with this method.

Lugan's advice above is worth rereading, especially his second point about lowering the rod temp by dunking it.

The opposite is also true, especially with metal ferrules on bamboo rods on a cold day: place the outer (female) portion of a stuck ferrule in your mouth to warm it (but not the inserted male portion). The metal ferrule (usually nickel silver with a high rate of thermal conductivity and coefficient of expansion) will quickly loosen and the sections will separate easily. The heroic feats of athletic strength that many use to separate plastic rod sections can often cause the glue bonding a bamboo blank to its ferrule to fail, leaving one holding an expensive fix in each hand.

K

 

[Fishful Thinking]

"place the outer (female) portion ... in your mouth to warm it (but not the inserted male portion)."

Please, gentlemen, place only the female portion in your mouth....

Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

[nb_ken]

I fished a couple of days at RF a while back and stayed at the Travel Lodge in town. After fishing all day in the snow, I broke my 4-pc rod into 2 pieces and headed back to the room. Figured I'd clean things up after dinner. You see where I'm going with this. After spending all day in the cold, and then an hour in the warm, those rod sections might as well have been welded together. Took them back out to the truck for 20 minutes and it was all good.

As for wax, be careful. It can cause as many problems as it solves. It will attract dirt and grit that will score the ferrules. Bad news. If you must use wax, go easy. Couple of strokes of wax paper is all you need.