Taking a rod back down to the blank

[Zach Matthews]

Is it possible to strip a fully built rod back to the blank, and if so, how is it possible?

Zach

[Bob Riggins]

Interesting question.

[greg mitchell]

Zach I have removed all the guides and wraps from a rod and then rebuilt it. I have never tried to remove the reelseat though.
Just removing the guides including epoxy and wraps was a lot of work. But the rewrapped rod did turn out well. What I did was heat the epoxy on the wraps with a hairdryer to soften it. Then slowly removed the epoxy with my fingernails. When the epoxy was all off I used a razor blade to carefully cut a little of the thread wrappings – once cut the rest came off easily. Removing the epoxy was a slow labor intensive process.
You might also ask the question on this website:
http://www.rodbuilding.org/list.php?2

I’ve built 3 or 4 rods and this site has a wealth of information.
Greg

[Brad Isles]

Zach,

I’m not sure if this would work for the reelseat, but if you know anybody who builds their own golf clubs they may have a “shaft extractor.” This is a contraption that holds the shaft in place, allowing you to heat up the head of the club with a heat gun (in this case, could be the reelseat). As the heat melts the epoxy you twist a bar that pulls on a catch that gets the top of the clubhead and slowly pulls it from the shaft. This makes for a clean removal of the head from the shaft and doesn’t cause a lot of fraying of the graphite.
It’s sort of like a torture device from the dark ages, but it might be worth a shot.

To get a visual, here’s the link to golfsmith:
http://www.golfsmith.com/cm/browse.php?N=1532545

(P.S. I echo the sentiments on the photoblog. It’s one of the first things I check every morning)

[Zach Matthews]

Hey WebEd, guys-

Thanks a lot, that shaft extractor looks like a really good idea.

Here’s the deal.

[Philip Smith]

I’ve rebuilt a few rods. I just cut the wraps off with a razor blade (carefully). Take the cork off with a box cutter (just chunk it off taking care not to cut all the way to the blank, then sand off the remainder with sandpaper…it doesn’t have to be completely clean, just so the new cork will go on). Then you can probably take off the old reel seat w/simple heat. Put a ziplock bag around the reel seat and put it down in boiling water periodically take pliers and try to gently twist the reel seat. If they used epoxy it should heat up and pop right off. Just don’t twist with too much torque or risk shattering the blank. It should come off easy once the epoxy gets hot enough. I’ve also taken off reel seats with a heat gun. Just turn it over the gun until the epoxy starts to bubble and then slide it off. If they used PU glue to install the reelseat you’re screwed. A daisy cutter couldn’t blow the reelseat off the blank.

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