On Tapered leaders.....what does the 5x , 4x, 3x,,etcetc mean ???


many thanks

Dave

AS far as i know its an american way of grading breaking strains on leader, the higher the number the lower the breaking strain, ian

In basic terms it refers to the diameter of the head (thinnest part) of the leader. The higher the "x" number, the thinner the diameter, so for example a 6x has a smaller diameter than a 5x and so on.

There is no absolute correlation between the "x" size and breaking strength and there is no "standard" i.e. a 5x will always be 3.2 pound breaking strength. The "x" rating only takes into account the diameter.

This system goes back to the days of gut leaders, and is somewhat outmoded except that it serves as a kind of shorthand rather than saying I changed down to 2.35 pound tippet, I can just say I changed to 6x.

Grouse

Sorry, but just wanted to point out that this is NOT correct. The X rating shows the diameter, it does NOT indicate breaking strain.

There is a rough correlation, but this isn't absolute. Breaking strain varies significantly among manufacturers and the type of material the leader is made of even though the "x" rating is exactly the same.

Grouse

Thank you grouse and Ian....appreciated

regards

Dave

There is a little bit of information and a chart on this page.

Fly fishing equipment & skills - Google Books

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Sandy
Carried it in full, then carry it out empty.

Grouse - I know its nowt to do with breaking strain (although inevitably there is a rough correlation of sorts) but I thought it also had something orginally to do with hook size? I just go on actually diameter these days anyway.

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The X meanes "times" , or streached out to 6 times the original length for 6X and 5 times for 5X etc. It was applied in the old days, to cat gut or animal gut tippets, when the gut was pulled through a hole in a metal plate, and streached out. Nowadays, it denotes diameter, and not neccessarily breaking strain, as previously said. It comes from a goldsmith thingy, where they pull a piece of wire through the holes, to decrease the diameter, to make a longer and thinner length. Goldsmiths still use the X rating today, when streaching out a piece of gold wire for the making of a chain.

Never heard of that. Certainly not saying it isn't/wasn't the case that there was a link at some point, but I haven't heard it explained.

Grouse