Rod Refurbishing

[Caia326]

HI all, hoping to get a little guidance. I've built a few rods now for myself and my close friends but I've never refurbished one. I have some older store bought rods that have some cracking in the thread epoxy on the guides that I'd like to repair. What is the best way to go about this? Should I completely strip the guides off the rod and re-wrap them and re-coat them or is it possible just to remove the old thread epoxy and put new on it ?

[S Hovanec]

Strip the guides and rewrap.  Best way is to use a hair dryer to heat/soften the old finish a bit and slice the old wrap ON TOP OF THE GUIDE FOOT with a razor blade.  Pop the old guide off and peel off the rest of the wrap.

[Caia326]

Awesome, thanks for the reply S Hovanec!

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

Any residue can be cleaned off with some more gentle heat and a plastic knife or old credit card to scrape. 

[Caia326]

Thanks DVT. I have an actual heat gun, is it safer for the blank to use a hair dryer? DK they out out less heat?

[S Hovanec]

Put your hand behind the blank when you use it, if its too hot for your hand, it's too hot for the blank.

[Caia326]

Will do S Hovanec, I use the heat gun to help burst bubbles in fresh epoxy by moving it back and fourth really quickly and never letting it stay in one place, I assume the same is true when heating it up to remove it?

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

Hot to the touch is a good rule to follow. You're not melting the epoxy just trying to soften it up a little. 

[MickD]

If you decide to renovate the whole blank, do NOT use wrap epoxy for the coating, big mess.  Use Permagloss or equivalent, check for on-line videos for how to handle the material.