rkybob wrote: ↑10/18/23 15:59
Anybody still use Ivory (bar) soap before assembly?
I did, and the ferrules on one of my rods still got stuck...as in I couldn't get the mid/butt apart for two weeks. You can read about my travails in this thread:
viewtopic.php?t=43714
GerardH wrote: ↑10/18/23 17:05
I never have, I've always been in the dry-fit camp. If you have good ferrule fit, I don't see the need to use Ivory soap, paraffin wax, beeswax, or anything else on my ferrules. I clean my ferrules with DNA once or twice a season to remove oxidation and I keep a pair of rubber jar lid grippers in my vest and another pair in my reel bag for those cold or wet days.
One of my rods will not come apart if I use a dry fit. The mid/butt ferrule slides together with a precision fit that indicates high quality, but it won't come apart after an hour of casting. I even sent the rod back to the maker to get the ferrules lapped, but no improvement. Now, I have three waxes that I use on all my ferrules: Silver Trout Ultra Tight Ferrule Wax (UTFW), Silver Trout FerruLube, and beeswax. Depending on the tightness of the dry ferrule fit on the rod and the temperatures outside, I use one of those three waxes, and sometimes I'll use a little bit of two of them. I will never assemble the problem rod without wax, and if it ever gets stuck again, I'll saw it in half and send it back to the maker--that's how frustrating the stuck ferrule is.
I clean the ferrules with IPA a terry cloth towel and q-tips.