Surprising discovery

[The Rooster]

I have a rod that I got at Dick's Sporting Goods a couple years ago and even though it was cheap compared to the Shimano Compres I've been buying since then, I still like it a lot and actually thought it was of a lot better quality than I paid for when I got it. 

But in looking at it closely just a while ago I can see that the rear cork grip was applied in layers that were NOT slid up over the blank, but rather had one side of the cork O cut so it's like a C and then slid onto the rod blank.  They lined up all the cuts to form one continuous line and then filled in any remaining open places with wood filler. 

So far this has not been a problem, I never noticed it until now, but over time I can see this starting to split open as the wood filler lets go or washes out as it tends to do over time. 

Why would a company make a rod this way instead of slipping the cork rings over the end instead??

[Chris]

Cut corners to lower costs. It also could be a "seconds" rod that didn't make the grade and was sold to Dicks at a discount or clearance item. Some companies care about price and volume and not quality for a store brand. I had a rod I bought from Dicks that the guides (2 of them) fell out of its wraps. Easy fix for me because I build rods but for someone else would be money down the drain or a refund.

[Boogey Man]

Is it a Dicks brand rod? I forget the name. My guess would be it's just a cheaper made rod.

[Raul]

Look at it this way, from a hide you can make X number of full size soles, so the left over of the hide after cutting the full size soles is still valuable and from that you can make X number of half size soles, after cutting the half size soles you still got material left, that is cut to make heels.

The same principle is applied to cork sheaths, you can make X number of rings, then form the leftover you can make X number of half rings ( or C 's as you called them ) and from what 's left you can make compressed cork.

[dave]

No waste. Just like butchering a pig. :

[b.Lee]

No waste. Just like butchering a pig. :

How true it is... but from how you describe how they made it, it seems like more work no?

[KYntucky Warmouth]

Is it a Dicks brand rod? I forget the name. My guess would be it's just a cheaper made rod.

Quest?

[Boogey Man]

Is it a Dicks brand rod? I forget the name. My guess would be it's just a cheaper made rod.

Quest?

Yeah, I think that's it.

[SWMIBASSER]

Must have been a bad group of chinese kids putting it together. That was the punishment.

That sounds like WAY more work than doing it the right way.

[The Rooster]

Yeah it's a Quest rod, model LS-7. It's been a good one too. I paid $25 for it on sale, original price was $40. But it's always felt as though it was nicer than that. Has Fuji aluminum oxide line guides and a Fuji ESC reel seat, same seat as on my Shimano Compre rods. It also has IM7 graphite that's very light and sensitive for the money I paid. I'd compare it's quality honestly to the Shimano Clarus, that is until I saw the handle today. There's a line down one side of the cork grip that almost looks like I used a knife to split the plastic from when it was new, even though I do not do this precisely for this reason, cork damage. Plus I can see it was filled in with wood filler so I know it was made that way.

It's still a good rod for what little I paid for it. Guides are all the double footed guides for the first 4 and the next 5 are single footed, just the same as my Compre rods are. It's very comparible to higher rods in terms of parts used, but apparently the handle was where they chose to cut corners severely.

No big deal, I didn't plan to purchase rods of this level anymore anyway, not since using a Compre, even though there was a significant price difference, I'm now willing to pay the Compre price to get that difference in quality as well. I just thought it was strange to see how that handle was made was all.