Product Description
FINAL INVENTORY! Sale prices on all Whole Sets and the very large Half Sets. Whole Sets are $20.00 off! Stock up! Most sizes are limited to five or fewer sets. Size #20/64 is Sold Out! Other sizes will follow shortly. Size #26/64 is Sold Out!
WHOLE SETS are now on sale. These NEVER go on sale, at least until a business is going out of business. Grab ’em at discount while we have them. Only after the whole sets are gone in a particular format will I discount the corresponding half sets (that’s across the board, in each size and style), and when the half sets are gone I’ll discount any remaining males/females. The exception on this page is that I’m already discounting some of the very large Half Sets. Time to move them out.
BULK DISCOUNT: You MUST email to arrange this purchase…we won’t do refunds on webstore purchases because PayPal hits us for funds going into and out of the account. We MUST create a PayPal invoice with the discount figured into the invoice. So what is this bulk discount? If you buy $1200.00 USD of IN-STOCK Restoration Step Down Ferrules, we’ll cut 20% off your invoice, but your order of THESE FERRULES (not other stuff) must crest $1200 at the current sale prices to receive the additional discount. This is a larger discount than we’ll offer on most other ferrule styles, simply because these are our second least popular ferrules, so they’re slow sellers. Act quick if you make reproduction rods, or just love the look of these retro ferrules! By the way, we’re not evil…if you opt to make a $1200+ purchase of These Ferrules through the webstore, and if we have the ferrules you ordered in stock so the actual order is over $1200, then we’ll include freebies equivalent to the 20% discount. In fact, the freebies, if you’re willing to gamble, will probably be worth more than the promised discount. We’re cleaning off our shelves.
Note: the last photo is an example of deep blue & clear coating on Payne Replicas.
These are Restoration Step Down Ferrules (Skirted Female & Skirted Male) for Montague, H-I, South Bend, etc. that have a 2/64 diameter difference between matching female & male joints.
Please note that since these are “close-but-not-quite” for many ferrule designs made over several decades, you will have to modify the ferrule stations on your cane rods to accommodate minor differences between the originals and these superb quality replacements.
As these ferrules have become more popular, we try to stock all sizes, with multiple sets in the more popular middle range of sizes. This said, we may still be out of stock on a given day. Plan ahead, order ahead, especially if you need multiple sets of the same size, or you’re the one fellow this year who plans on ordering ferrules up in the 25/64 or 26/64 end of the scale.
Lots more info below the first couple ‘cross-marketing’ product blurbs. If you dig down you’ll find a compare/contrast discussion of Step Down & Restoration Step Down Ferrules which gets at the notion of how large the actual step across the ferrule station is, or isn’t. There’s a bit on how to fit stepped ferrules using a story stick. Finally, there are a few words on how to discern whether you need a half set or a whole set of ferrules…or potentially both.
If you’re itching to know how big is the jump, really, on both Step Down and Restoration Step Down ferrules, this email I recently wrote should help to wrap your mind around the muddle that is the ‘step’ of various step down ferrules.
I grabbed a Nominal 15/64 Step Down and a Nominal 15/64 Restoration Step Down from the bins. I’ll break out the specs, which may help to clear things up. Truly, not trying to be salesy, it may be worth buying one set in a common size (13, 14, or 15) as a reference.
15/64 Step Down Ferrule
Female ID where it fits over the ferrule station: ~0.232″ (14.84/64)
Female ID where the male ferrule fits: ~0.231″ (14.78/64)
(this female is essentially a straight piece of tubing with a water seal soldered inside and a welt soldered on one end, with the other end tapered slightly then slit for tabs)
Male ID where it laps over the ferrule station at its MAX, or shoulder, ID: ~0.232″ (14.84/64)
(there will be a smaller ID inside tubing that forms the stepped down male slide, approximately equal to 13/64)
Male OD on the slide, which must be lapped down to fit into the female ID: ~0.234″ (14.97/64)
There are two ways of looking at this “step”….
1) There is, from one perspective, no actual step because the maximum ID of both the male and female ferrule where they fit onto the bamboo at the ferrule station is almost 15/64 and you’d need to build your blank to be just a hair larger than this spec at BOTH the butt of the tip section and the tip of the butt section so you can turn each down to fit snugly into the ferrules at their max ID. Under this view, the ‘step’ of the Step Down Ferrule is more of an aesthetic step down and less of a functional one when crafting the bare blank.
2) There is another camp that looks at two portions of the male ferrule and say it steps down from a max OD on the skirt of ~0.272″ (17.4/64) down to a minimum OD on the male slide of ~0.234″ (14.97/64) and maybe they’d call that a 2/64 jump, but it’s NOT a 2/64 jump across the ferrule station, just a jump of that size relative to the max/min OD on the male ferrule.
These Step Down ferrules are commonly said to have a 1/64 drop, but the more I sit here typing and thinking about the specs of the various parts, I think I’m leaning toward saying they have no drop. This seems sort of counter-intuitive when you look at the parts and clearly see the stepped male, but if you hold the male and female ferrule so that you’re looking into the tabbed end of each – the bore where each ferrule fits over the ferrule station – you’ll see that the two bores are visually identical.
15/64 Restoration Step Down Ferrule
Female MAX ID at the skirt where it fits over the ferrule station: ~0.264″ (16.89/64)
Female ID where the male ferrule fits: ~0.231″ (14.78/64)
Male ID where it laps over the ferrule station at its MAX, or shoulder, ID: ~0.232″ (14.84/64)
Male OD on the slide, which must be lapped down to fit into the female ID: ~0.234″ (14.97/64)
This has the true 2/64 jump across the ferrule station. Look at the Max ID on the female (16.89/64) vs. the Max ID on the male ferrule (14.84/64) and you can see that’s almost a perfect 2/64 leap across the juncture. In other words, when you build the blank, you’d want the butt end of the tip section to be a bit over 15/64, then that would be turned down, in stepped fashion, to fit into the male ferrule…and you’d want the tip end of the butt section built out to 17/64 so you could turn that down, again in stepped fashion, to fit the female ferrule. It’s this jump that makes me say that Restoration Step Down Ferrules have the 2/64 jump.
If you look at the bore of these two parts, male and female, your eye will instantly register the fact that there is a discernible leap up from the bore of the male to the bore of the female.
I really hope all this helps. If it does, let me know and I’ll probably post it onto the website pages. If not, then I’m not sure how better to explain it and I’m back to suggesting you buy a set or two (i.e., one of each type in the same nominal size) so you can look at the construction and see how one sort has essentially no jump while the other has a rather large jump.
Fitting Step Down Ferrules
And how on earth do you fit Step Down Ferrules to your blank? Clearly, you need a stepped ferrule station for any stepped part (males only on Standard Step Down Ferrules; males & females on Restoration Step Down Ferrules), but how do you determine the OD and the length of each stepped portion? Recently a novice rodmaker requested help determining the specs required for his ferrule station and my response – adapted here to generalize the response – will help you, no matter what size ferrules you ordered.
The ferrule station OD should be slightly less than your ferrule’s ID where it laps onto the blank. If, for example, you measure the OD of the male slide from a nominal 12/64 Standard Step Down ferrule set, you’ll find that your slides are, within the proverbial gnat’s ass, 12/64 or ~0.189”. Finding the ID of the stepped portion of ANY CSE-made ferrule is easy. They use tubing with a nominal 1/64th wall thickness. To get the ID, just subtract 2/64 from the OD. If you’re new to this and scratching your head wondering why to subtract 2/64 when the wall thickness is only half that amount, remember that the wall thickness is present twice in any measurement taken across the diameter of circle, i.e., the tubing wall forms both ‘sides’ of the ferrule’s slide as you are measuring it. If you’re working in thousandths, subtract about 0.031” from the OD (1/64 is ~0.0156”). When you generate a ferrule station spec with any of this math, it’s best to start slightly oversized when turning a part down, then test the fit as you remove incrementally smaller bits of material while closing in on the spec that actually fits YOUR ferrule. Rely more on the experience of test fitting than on theoretically ideal math. Remember, you can’t add original material back on once you’ve removed too much. The ferrule should slide on/off the station snugly, but with only your fingers – no need for a ferrule puller. You need to be sure there’s room for the adhesive. Don’t forget to add the burp line (very narrow, extremely shallow groove) to allow trapped air to squeeze out as you mount the ferrule. Also, be darn sure to clean the inside of the ferrules with solvents and q-tips until they’re spotless before you slide them on/off the bamboo at the ferrule station…sort of a white glove inspection, if you’ve ever suffered through that sort of thing. The number one cause of popped ferrules is failure to clean the insides thoroughly before mounting them onto the blank. Despite looking clean, there’s usually some turning lubricant and/or soldering flux hiding in the deeper recesses and this manufacturing gunk will wreck an adhesive bond.
For figuring out the length of the two sections of the male ferrule ID, use a toothpick or very skinny dowel and make a story stick. First mark the full depth…toothpick tip seated inside the ferrule out to the tips of the ferrule tabs…then pull the toothpick out of the ferrule, keeping it pressed to the inner wall…and you’ll feel it ‘click’ where the smaller diameter tubing ends….mark the toothpick again. Your two marks will indicate total ferrule station depth and the depths of both the smaller and larger diameter portions. The actual measurements will vary, but roughly speaking the smaller diameter portion of the ferrule station will be about 2/3 of the total length indicated by your story stick. To mark the rod, turn your story stick end for end…the long (2/3) portion should start at the butt end of the tip section of the rod, and mark the blank at the tick mark separating the 2/3 and the 1/3, and mark the blank again at the tip of the toothpick which will be about the spot your ferrule tabs will end. This total marked distance is shorter than the actual ferrule’s outside length by the thickness of the nickel silver plug, or water seal, in the end of the tubing on males, or inside the female dividing the span between the portion that laps over the bamboo at the ferrule station and the portion that receives the male slide. Really hope this makes sense…it should if you fiddle with the story stick. At least for me, doing things helps make sense of written instructions.
As FYI, if you look at the end of the male ferrule slide with a magnifying glass (or your naked eye if your vision really good), you’ll actually see the wall thickness of the tubing which is the thin ring surrounding the water seal that has been soldered into the end of the tubing and turned flush.
Whole or Half Set? Here’s the quick explanation:
If you have a two piece blank with only one tip, you need a half set. The female ferrule mounts on the butt section; the male on the tip section. If you have a two piece blank with two tips, that’s when you need a whole set so you have the female for the butt, and one male for each of the tips. Bamboo rods are most often made with a spare tip, so somehow a “whole” set wound up designating the complete set needed for the more common two piece, two tip rod. The half set then winds up being what you need for a one tip rod…or any other place you need just a single female and a single male, e.g., at the lower joint on a three piece rod where you need a half set between the butt and the mid sections.
Another way of thinking of this…
If you have a 2/1 rod (two rod sections, one tip) you need a half set.
If you have a 2/2 rod (two rod sections, two tips) you need a whole set.
If you have a 3/1 rod (three rod sections, one tip), you need two half sets…one half set each for the butt/mid joint and for the mid/tip joint.
If you have a 3/2 rod (three rod sections, two tips), then you need a half set for the butt/mid joint and a whole set for the mid/tip joint.
This pattern extends for 4/1 rods, 4/2 rods, and so on.
If you haven’t found our Ferrule Advice ramble yet, you might want to scoot over there and read through everything, especially if you’re new to ferrules and ferruling. https://www.goldenwitch.com/2017/10/25/ferrule-advice/
