[stream stalker]

I am wondering the same thing! How much heat must you apply to the foregrip to loosen the cork? What kind of heat source can be used?

[thedude]

no heat needed. the lighter in the pic is just sitting there because i'm messy and unorganized i use it to get bubbles out of the epoxy finish... all you need to get the cork off is a razor and some pliers... then a little sandpaper to remove the glue.

[stream stalker]

Well, I gave it a shot last night. I took an old, cheap rod and went to work. I decided to split the grip and remove the foregrip. Everything you said was correct. I cut the cork with the utility knife and removed the cork with pliers. Now, when I got that done I began sanding the blank. Only problem was the glue, I found, was impossible to sand off. It seems the glue on the blank was not uniform, but was in big globs on the blank. I sanded and sanded but could only get very little of the glue off the blank. Now the split grip area of the blank had more glue than the foregrip. So after sanding as much as I could, I decided to just finish the job. Now, I did not have rod makers epoxy. All I had was five minute Devcon Epoxy. I figured what the heck, I am going to try it. I had bought some cheap, kids paint brushes at Wal Mart and squirted my two part expoxy out, mixed it, and took my paint brush and applied the expoxy. You know what, it worked quite well. No bubbles and provided a very nice shiney cover to the blank. The whole thing turned out better than I thought it would. I figured the first time I tried this it would be a disaster..........but it wasn't. Thanks "the dude" for all your help. I just wonder on the next rod I do if the glue will be that bad again?

[Mattman]

Heating the old epoxy helps soften it. Then it can be scrapped off with a utility knife blade. I actually use a large #2 X-Acto.


Thanks to Loomis and those Recoil guides...I redo a number of the BCR rods. Stripping everything off right down to the naked blank and then doing a whole new rod. A little heat does wonders for softening grip epoxy, thread epoxy and rod finish. I use an alcohol torch.

[thedude]

Originally Posted by Mattman

Heating the old epoxy helps soften it. Then it can be scrapped off with a utility knife blade. I actually use a large #2 X-Acto.


Thanks to Loomis and those Recoil guides...I redo a number of the BCR rods. Stripping everything off right down to the naked blank and then doing a whole new rod. A little heat does wonders for softening grip epoxy, thread epoxy and rod finish. I use an alcohol torch.

i will have to try that - do you ever have a problem with overheating the blank? I've always read (hence why i ask) that you could over heat the compound in the blank that bonds the graphite and it could weaken the blank so i've always been too scared to put a flame too close to it. I guess it wouldn't be a big deal behind the grip since there's no stress behind the reel seat really.

Stream Stalker - i'm glad that it worked out for you with that epoxy!
You can also try a small light-wire wheel for a dremel to get that glue off, just be gentle with it.

[stream stalker]

maybe I could not remove the glue because I was not using tough enough sandpaper? I was using medium grade...........what do you use.

[feldermannLures]

after reading this thread, i decided to do this to an old Bass Pro rod i had laying around, turned out pretty nice, I'll post pics later. I went to Lowe's and picked up a heat gun for $24 to loosen up the epoxy from the grips, it worked great. After heating, the epoxy came right off and I was able to smooth it out using some fine sandpaper.

[bhorlings]

I get back into town from Mexico (all business... no fun) this weekend and will be doing it to at least one of my rods. I do not have the flex-coat yet though.

[Mattman]

An alcohol torch allows you to "puff" heat in a concentrated spot. You can slowly bring something up to temperature then. And the epoxy you are trying to remove will actually start to smolder and burn if you get it too hot. At the fist whisp of smoke, stop heating and your blank will still be just fine.




Sand paper just isn't the best thing to remove glue with. Probably one of the last things I'd reach for. Either the glue is too resiliant and the paper can't do its job because the glue gives too much and when it does come off it clogs your paper, or the glue is too hard and removes the grit from the paper.

Heat does a good job softening up for a scraper to do a good job. A scraper held at 90° to the rod blank will peel softened epoxy off rather well.

[HookUp]

Yo dude.

Another thing you could have done was bailed on the winding check and put in a tapered epoxy ramp.

Use 5-min and slowly build up in steps.

I got some detailed instructions around someplace if you like.

PM me and I'll remember.