I always carry a couple of 2" X 2" pieces of rubber inner tube in my vest. The ones I have now came from an old bicycle tube. They allow me to get a good non-slip grip on the stuck segments above and below the ferrule. Never fails to work for me.

 

Thanks drag free

I'll give that a try, I was afraid of breaking somthing....

 

Hi Dave,

Another suggestion. Place the rod behind your knees with your legs together; your hands should be on the outside of your knees with the ferrule between them. Carefully push your legs apart until the two sections separate. This position provides a straight force along the long axis of the rod and gives you better control over the amount of force applied.

Good luck,

steve

 

My dad me a method a long time ago. It takes two people. Each person has one hand on either side of the joint to assure they are not pulling at an angle.

 

Dave: You said, ". . . I was afraid of breaking something."

Well, you do have to be careful not to grasp the rod where the guides are, and be sure to keep the rod straight. Also, you'll need to give the stuck section a slight twist in order to free it. I've had stuck sections plenty of times over the years (especially on smaller diameter rods that were moist when I put them together) and I've never damaged any rod using the rubber grips and this procedure.

You mentioned that your rod came apart while you were using it. Some rod manufacturers provide a supply of ferrule wax with the rod. St. Croix comes to mind. I've been told you can also use candle wax (it's the paraffin that is the important ingredient, I guess). Rubbing some of this on the male sections before putting the rod together not only lubricates the joint, but also helps to keep it from coming loose while fishing. You might give it a try and see if it works for you.

 

I had exactly the same problem this summer with my old Sage 6wt, and was afraid of breaking it. I took it to the local fly shop, where we all ------ with it, to no avail. All the solutions listed above failed, as it was jammed tighter than Dick's hatband.

Because of the small diameter, It's hard to get a good grip, and you can't put it in a vise, use pliers, or slam it in the car door.

I finally used the red neck solution, duct tape. I needed more torque to twist the pieces apart, so wrapped some plastic (like a bread bag ) around each section close to the ferrule, to build up the size, and to keep the glue from the tape from sticking to the finish. You could skip that step.

Then, wrap the gray tape around the rod on both sides until it's about the size and shape of an egg. This provide a non slip grip that increases your leverage dramatically. Then you twist and shout. Give it shot, and let us know how it goes.

 

have you ever seen the 'shelf' liners they sell for RV's???? kind of a rubbery stuff with a punched out waffle pattern. (home depot has this by the roll) i have several smallish pieces tucked here and there for just this sort of 'grip enhance' project. a whole roll cost a coupleofbucks!

 

If you still haven't seperated your sections yet then give this a shot, get a couple of frozen meat packages out of your freezer and place the stuck ferrule in between the two frozen packages. Give it around 10 minutes and then remove the rod from the "sandwich" and seperate the two rod sections. This is the way we do it in the shop when customers come in with the same problem and since we have frozen herring in our freezer that is what we used.

 

Hey All,

I would like to say thank you all very much for your ideas and input...


Thanks again, Dave