I just wanted to throw this out there because I was super impressed.
While on my UP trip this summer i had my favorite rod get crushed between the cleat and the gunwale… it bruised a small section of the blank by the second stripping guide. I heard it, and then saw it, then quickly decided to not use it because with my luck I would finally actually hook a fish, and the rod would break… So the cool part.
I got home and have been disassembling it to build on a new blank. So I figured I would try to break it. It took about as much pressure as I could give, reefing on it, to get it to break at the bruised spot. From there, I picked up a cinder block with the tip section and bounced it up and down and it still didn't break, I tried bowing it into a hoop but was not strong enough, and could not break it. And the butt section I tried to break near the handle and couldn't come close. I actually sawed half way through the blank and still had to wedge it into a corner and stand on it to get it to pop.
So if anyone is looking for a good rod, Im gonna go ahead and say unless there is a flaw which happens… or you do something stupid… this thing will never break!