The CR6c blank brings a coating trusted in the firearms industry to fishing rods for the first time, developed and applied in-house at Cashion's Sanford, North Carolina factory.
SANFORD, N.C. Cashion Rods releases the CR6c, the first carbon fiber fishing rod blank finished in Cerakote. The CR6c debuts on the new ELITE pro Series and was engineered, tested, and put into production entirely at Cashion's facility in Sanford.
Cerakote is a thin-film ceramic coating best known in the firearms industry, where it protects metal against abrasion, corrosion, and daily wear. Applying it to a carbon fiber rod blank meant solving problems that don't exist on a rifle barrel. A rod blank flexes deeply on every cast and every hookset, and its sensitivity depends on how cleanly vibration travels through the carbon. Any coating has to bend with the blank without cracking, cure without compromising the epoxy that holds the fibers together, and stay light enough to keep the rod crisp.
"If American manufacturing is going to come back, it has to earn its way back," said Dr. Matthew Cashion, Founder and CEO. "We'll never win on the cost of labor, so we have to win on what we know. That means material science, better processes, and a team willing to try what nobody in this industry has tried. The CR6c is what that looks like in practice. It came out of a development workshop and a production floor in the same building in Sanford, North Carolina, and that's the kind of manufacturing I want to see more of in this country."
The CR6c pairs Cerakote with Cashion's Energy Dispersion Jacket (EDJ), a layer that absorbs and spreads impact across the blank. Together they replace the heavy clear coats most rod blanks rely on for protection, keeping the raw carbon look while cutting weight.
"Rods live a hard life," said Reid McKinstry, Operations Manager. "They bang against gunwales, rattle around rod lockers, and get dragged across truck beds and docks. Most of that damage starts at the surface, and Cerakote is one of the toughest surface protections out there. The EDJ underneath handles the impacts. So the angler gets a blank that shrugs off the scuffs and dings that normally chip a clear coat, and because Cerakote goes on so thin, we're not adding weight or dulling the feel to get there. The carbon still does its job, and the finish protects it while it does."
The CR6c is a major reason the ELITE pro Series runs 16% lighter than Cashion's ICON series.
Cashion is one of the few rod companies that rolls its own blanks in the United States, using high-performance carbon fiber pre-preg sourced domestically. Keeping design, chemistry, and production under one roof is what made the CR6c possible. The development team could adjust formulation and application on the same floor where blanks are rolled, test the results, and repeat.
The CR6c blank is available for all blank and OEM customers now and is featured across the ELITE pro Series at cashionrods.com and through authorized Cashion dealers.
About Cashion Rods
Cashion Fishing Rods was founded in 2010 by Dr. Matthew Cashion, who holds a Ph.D. in chemistry with a concentration in polymer science from Virginia Tech. Cashion designs and manufactures carbon fiber blanks and finished rods at its facility in Sanford, North Carolina, making it one of the few rod companies in the industry that rolls its own blanks domestically. The company builds freshwater, inshore saltwater, and kayak rods, and is grounded in Christian values of humility, honesty, integrity, respect, kindness, and community responsibility. Learn more at cashionrods.com.