I've heard comments that for the majority of fresh water species, building on the spline isn't important because the thinner blanks don't generate sufficient torque under load to be noticeable.  What's your opinion?  

As long as I'm on the subject, when building a two piece rod, how do you find the spline?

3 hours ago, papajoe222 said:

I've heard comments that for the majority of fresh water species, building on the spline isn't important because the thinner blanks don't generate sufficient torque under load to be noticeable.  What's your opinion?  

As long as I'm on the subject, when building a two piece rod, how do you find the spline?

straightest axis ...

I don't even bother spining rods anymore.  I build on the straightest axis and notice no difference whatsoever.

Spine/spline is '80s theory. Tests have shown no benefit deadlift strength wise and in use the Rod is flexed on multiple plains both casting and retrieving. Build on the straightest axis as already suggested. 

Straightest axis for me.

I built 2 rods on the spine.  On both, the customers complained of "crooked" guides.  I ended up rebuilding them.  Those were the LAST 2 rods I've ever built on spine.  

1 hour ago, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

Spine/spline is '80s theory. Tests have shown no benefit deadlift strength wise and in use the Rod is flexed on multiple plains both casting and retrieving. Build on the straightest axis as already suggested. 

i just read that article from RodMaker magazine today !! 

http://www.rodbuilding.org/library/blankstrength.pdf

I agree with other posts, but if you do build on the spine and build a multiple piece rod, find the spines of each section and align them.

9 hours ago, S Hovanec said:

Straightest axis for me.

I built 2 rods on the spine.  On both, the customers complained of "crooked" guides.  I ended up rebuilding them.  Those were the LAST 2 rods I've ever built on spine.  

Was the "crooked" guides comment generated because the blank twisted under load?  I've seen that happen with light power casting rods.  Never knew it to be a real problem, but it does look strange.

No.  The crooked guides were as a result of the spine not being on the straightest axis.  When you looked down the rod, the guides curved to one side, following the curve of the blank.

I put the blank on the floor of my shop (clean area) and roll it back and forth real slow and watch the tip. I mark the spot where the tip is off the floor at the highest point of the little arc it will make. Then I build on that axis. It is usually the straightest. The last build I did was on a St. Croix SCIII blank and I did this test and I couldn't find the straightest axis the tip just stayed in place while I rolled it. then I went ahead and splined it just to give me a reference point the build on.

On 9/23/2016 at 11:44 PM, Big Bait Fishing said:

i just read that article from RodMaker magazine today !! 

http://www.rodbuilding.org/library/blankstrength.pdf

That is from a six year old issue.

and still relevant

Opinions are all over the place on this subject and honestly it just comes down to personal preference. I will say the guys in the office here are more of the old school variety and believe in building on the spine - this includes the guys who design the blanks.

The main reason is to reduce torque as the blank wants to turn with the flow of it’s pattern.
Now my opinion is that it's small/minimal increase in performance, kind of like the difference in weight from 316 Steel to Titanium guides. It's minimal and hard to really feel the difference but there is a bit of bump in performance.

If the spine is barely noticeable then there’s little benefit and build on the straight edge if you want.

But if a blank has a wicked/pronounced spine, which depends on the layout pattern when building the blank, then it’s best to build on the spine. This is when we consider strength, not just torque, becomes an issue..

On 9/26/2016 at 4:25 PM, .ghoti. said:

and still relevant

Oh sure, but my point was that not everything you read on the internet was written just yesterday.

"It's true, I saw it on the internet!"

   -A. Lincoln