Ronnie Manz has a 209e tapered Schroeder. I met Ron in 1994 or 1995, and his Schroeder was then in very good used shape; it was only a few (at the most five or
six maybe) years old at the time, and Ron had fished it often. I last saw Ronnie over a year ago, and his rod by then had developed quite the patina of use, to
say the least. Ron had fished it A LOT in the intervening years - the varnish was worn off the angles (Don's finish work was always very good), the tip he
was using had a little set... and it cast just like another 209e from Don, in unfished condition, that I compared it to. The rods felt the same (the same,
identical) although no scientific tests were undertaken for data-driven objective validation of my subjective feeling.
Why do we believe that rods die a little every time they're flexed? By way of comparison, classic sailing ship masts and spars seem to me to flex infinitely more often but less dramatically; I don't recall (say) Bernard Moitessier or Eric and Susan Hitchcock writing about their concerns of mast and spar fatigue. Some are solid (Joshua's mast was a telephone pole, iirc), and some are compound glued.
Your thoughts?
Tarka
Why do we believe that rods die a little every time they're flexed? By way of comparison, classic sailing ship masts and spars seem to me to flex infinitely more often but less dramatically; I don't recall (say) Bernard Moitessier or Eric and Susan Hitchcock writing about their concerns of mast and spar fatigue. Some are solid (Joshua's mast was a telephone pole, iirc), and some are compound glued.
Your thoughts?
Tarka
