The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Ok gents, now try and help me out, I have a couple of split cane rods, I would like to re-furbish, but before I jump in the deep end and drown, I have decided to build a cheaper rod, from scratch, so I got a hollow glass blank from Olivers of Knebworth, but thought I might as well get one I could use, so chose an 11ft Avon two piece with separate butt. I went for the Honey brown, which is yellow so I could see the whipping easier, and what I need now is some idea of ring spacing and whether I should use high or low rings, I do appreciate the type of rings is down to preference but an opinion would help me make up my mind.
Just as an after thought, when Ted Oliver sent the order he included a copy of the old catalogue, with allsorts of info in, plus loads of photo's, if anyone wants me to scan and post it, I have time on my hands at the moment, just let me know.

I can`t help you with the ring spacing, but i will go for the high rings.

With the low rings the line sticks to the blank more then with high rings, this wil be a problem especialy when trotting.

Since Ted designed the taper of that rod, he's probably the best chap to advise you on ring spacings. I do have his e-mail address and 'phone number if you need them?

Incidentally, did you buy corks for the handle from him? He's is the most reasonably priced source of top quality cork shives out there.

Hm...if you start with ‘a ring per foot’, I've found that the spacing of the rings is best worked out with a simple excel that uses the distance between the butt ring and the tip to work out incremental spacing based on a multiple.

so Tip--1 = 4"
1--2 = 4" x 1.25 = 5"
2--3 = 5" x 1.25 = 6.25"


...and so on. If you add those spacing up (again using excel) you can diddle with the multiplier until the total spacing’s add up to the butt--tip distance…

You need to select the distance of the ‘tip---1’ and place the butt ring where you think the right spacing from the reel is...I guess both of those…based on experience and what the rod’s likely to be used for and with what reel.

It’s worth noting that more rings stiffen a rod, if you want to stiffen a rod slightly add 1-2 rings (over ‘1 per foot’), to soften remove 1-2 from the total.

I’ve been known to add an extra ring to the ‘top section’ to stiffen it a tad…

Either way, gaffer tape the rings in the calculated place and load the rod up and see how it looks…before all that whipping. You might even fish with it a bit, if you've a carp-pond with gullible pasties, to see how it feels.

And asking Ted Oliver can't hurt. he's a gent, I have a carp blank at home as a project for a rainy day.

I think I will email Ted, and see what he comes back with

If anyone wants a spreadsheet set up for rod ring spacing, PM me and I can email one already set up.

I was scanning the Olivers catalogue and found the following, list of ring spacing's.
11ft Avon 5-1/4''---6-1/4''---8-1/2''---10''---11-3/4''---13-1/4''---14''---15-1/2''

It has the details of almost every rod he made, the above works out at one per foot, excluding the handle, if you add the tip eye, so does this look right?

I clean forgot to tell you lot what and how this will be used , where I intend to use this, it is mainly Tench and small to medium carp, I usually float fish just off the end of the rod, so no real casting and no trotting, so which is best for an Avon, high or low?

For float fishing I would choose high bells! You might not be trotting with it now, but if you decide to and it's raining the line may well stick to the rod and hinder your fishing! Low bells have the potential to restrict your fishing, high bells do'nt as much!

There's a school of thought that high rings might provide too much sidestrain, but I'm not personally convinced and anyway I tend to hold the rod quite loosely and allow it to turn in my hand so its rings are angled towards the fish anyway.

Since I much prefer the behaviour of a saturated line when fishing I'm happy to always use high rings to avoid less sticking of the line to the rod, especially the tip ring as I get far less tangles there too with a stand off tip ring.

I guess if you were only ever going to ledger with a rod that weight used would prevent line foul ups like that, but I'm a committed float fisher.