Intermediate Wraps?

[firehole]

Here's a Gary Lacey Browntone 8' 4/2 5/6wt. with intermediates. The taper was taken directly by Gary from Banjo's F.E. Thomas Browntone 8' 4/2.

Dennis

[Flykuni3]

Yes, pre-war St. Geo., paid a good dollar but it's in amazing cond. dshx, I may be comin' up, rain and snow are back, but will wait till later as runoff will be considerable.

[piscator]

Hi, I did several Rods with Intermediates. I like to use 3 Intermediates evenly spread between the guide wraps tipped with the same color. That looks very symmetric and clean.

[BruceHandley]

Flykuni 3,
The H ser.# would be about 1917, as per Michael Sinclair.
Bruce

[Brian K. Shaffer]

I really like what intermediate wraps do :

Hold the sections from breaking further.

Function over fashion.

[jim royston]

Actually, intermediates nowadays are nothing more than fashion. Todays adhesives do not require them at all.

[Brian K. Shaffer]

Without them - wouldn't the break travel further ?
Stronger glues aside.

[J Gustavsson]

I think intermediates look very pretty on some rods. But I must say I'm very sceptic about them adding to the speed of a rod. I would suggest that when you add more weight to a rod, as you will with intermediates, you will rather slow down the rod by adding more swing weight for the rod to carry. No coincidence that people like Per Brandin, Wojnicki, etc are trying to make their rods as light as possible. Short guides, short wraps light tip tops, hollow building, composit ferrules you name it.. to add intermediates here would be totally counter productive
I actually added intermediates to a rod I wanted to speed up a bit after reading a thread about it on this forum. Actually I couldnt feel much difference but if any it slowed down the rod even further. Just my two cents..
However on my next build I will probably make full intermediates because I like the looks.

Skickat från min Redmi Note 5 via Tapatalk

[carl otto]

Probably the most thoughtful and beautiful intermediate wraps are those found on Gus Nevros's rods. His spacing and number of wraps decreases as you went towards the tip. The amount of thinking and care to pull this off make his rods stand apart from all others.

Carl

[Clicking Ferrules]

Another maker who does graduated intermediates is Calum Gladstone. I have one of his Moran Series rod, by far most beatiful rod i have ever seen.

https://www.gladstoneflyrods.com/

[Peales]

The Moran and Gladstone rods do seem to be perched at the very top, when it comes to finely crafted fly rods.

[Flykuni3]

1917, thanks Bruce, late thanks.

[kenwey4534]

The history of intermediate wraps harkens back to the days when rods were made using hide glue which was not waterproof. Then, intermediate wraps were used as “insurance” to prevent the sections, or strips, from coming apart. Today’s glues render intermediates to be mostly cosmetic on solid built fly rods for that purpose alone. Today, intermediates are sometimes used to stiffen rod sections a bit and compliment a rod design to achieve a desired action.

On hollowed rods, I sometimes will use intermediates to increase it’s resistance to “hoop” stress lending additional strength to the hollowed blank. A full dress bamboo fly rod is a thing of beauty to behold and is very distinctive on the stream.

[cappy]

I had a rod with intermediate wraps. At first I liked the look, then shortly after I grew to dislike it and sold the rod. Instead of seeing the rod for the rod, all I was seeing were the wraps.

[oddsnrods]

To answer the original question, they can go anywhere on a rod and originally served as 'insurance' to prevent strips coming apart as has been mentioned.

Personally, I like the appearance of intermediate wraps and in a curious way derive a sense of achievement tying them- plus individually applying several coats of finish to each with a very fine brush..

While not convinced that three turns (x 89) of Gossamer silk will contribute, in any way, to the strength of the rod, they certainly add a traditional appeal.

Malcolm