The Benefits of Using Low Resin Carbon in Blank Manufacture

It is well accepted that rods lose some of their power through extensive use with resultant reduction in test curve. The rod will soften in time, this process occurring gradually with intensive use and becoming noticeable over a period of two or three years. However excess loading through the use of larger leads or PVA bags stresses the carbon filaments and disturbs the resin that bonds them together, the result being much faster deterioration of the rod's power and strength. Reducing the resin content, normally around 37%, we believe significantly prolongs the life of the blank thus maintaining the effective test curve. Examining a cross-section of normal carbon and low resin through an electron microscope with camera attached (see image to the right) clearly shows the density and uniformity of carbon filaments in our low resin carbon on the right compared to the more random pattern of the normal carbon on the left.

'Perdurable'
Blank Finish

Spine
of the Rod

Normal practice is for the blank to be hand ground following the curing process and then painted and or lacquered to hide any imperfections in the blank or grinding. Even a clear matt lacquer will hide blemishes. To show the quality of our carbons to the full we have developed the 'Perdurable' blank finish.
After curing our blanks they are laser ground to strict tolerances to produce a smooth polished finish with no flaws. We then apply only a silicon polish to produce a subtle sheen.Thus with this lifelong blank finish our rods will look the part for many years to come. We have re-built rods renewing the whippings and they leave us looking like brand new rods again.
The Perdurable blank finish is produced on all Hi-'S' rods, 'S'-Range rods, the new 'E'-Class range and the new Pike Tamer rods.

We take great pains to ensure our rods are whipped along the spine (backbone) of the rod. This is important since the rod aligns to this spine during casting and fish playing - if you feel the rod snatching during the cast or have a top section that twists around on the cast this is probably down to it being built off spine. On the long range rods this is vital since if built off spine the carbon fibres will try to align themselves to the spine during heavy casting and can 'unwrap' leading to rod breakage. Our production processes are very exact, but if we cannot build on the spine we will not compromise performance by making it look straight, prefering to dispose of these sections.