The ferrule between the butt and middle sections had been badly stuck for a long time. Nothing worked, 2 people, sitting and using the legs-open scissor trick, nor trying after leaving it out over a very cold February night. This is a pretty stout ferrule with 3 inches of overlap. This preparation made it easy to safely deliver perhaps 90 pounds of tension force. It was so easy it probably popped with less force that that. This is the two rod sections after they were pulled apart. The rope loops on the butt section were looped over an anchor object. Then the mid section was pulled with both hands.
Key Points:
- The Rubber Gloves increased the friction for the two handed grip on the middle section.
- The 6 Ridges of Wrapped Masking Tape increased the diameter or the gripped rod and the ridges made for a very secure grip.
- The 2 ends of 8 feet of nylon rope were nail knotted (same as snell knot or bobber stop knot) around the butt section rod blank and butted up against the cork handle. Now the rope can be looped around an immovable object. But...
- But first I looped the center of this large loop back around the Reel Seat to make two loops to be looped over the anchor object. This made two points of attachment on the rod butt. They can share the force equally if...
- The anchor object is a smooth steel bar,like the steel lever bar to screw tight a bench vise. The 2 loops of rope will slide too equalize the force in all four rope strands.
The first, but least necessary thing I did was to make a couple hundred tight wraps of Nylon fly tying thread around the male rod blank right up against the end of the female ferrule. This compressed the male ferrule slightly and made some reduction to the grip of the tight female ferrule. The ferrule overlap was a full 3 inches long so that bit of relief was minuscule.
With the rod butt roped to a bench vise, I set a padded chair to catch the end of the butt section when it fell free. I sat myself down in another chair past the end of the mid section leaned forward and used two hands to grip the ridges of masking tape near the ferrule and pulled back. It popped open easily on the second pull.
Too pull smaller rod sections apart, the same setup could be scaled down. Use thinner rope or twine. Use a thick band of built up tape wraps for the two nail knots to butt up against as they hold the blank. If an additional place to attach rope to the blank were desired, a separate rope loop with a metal S hook in it could be secured by a nail knot. The 6 built up bands of masking tape on the other rod section made for a solid two handed grip.