I've never built a rod but I plan on doing it with in the next month. I've been reading several books & many of the back issues of RodMaker magazineI. I figured since I have a couple of old bass rods laying around I will strip them down to nothing & start from scratch using them as practice & learn from taking them apart. I have searched the archives on refinishing & things have come along fairly easy so far. I have removed the guides, thread wraps, & handles. What I have run into is the blank where the handle was is a bare blank (gray) & the rest of the rod is a glossy brown finish. I am assuming this is a painted blank. Now to my question, If I remove the paint down to the bare blank will it hurt the blank? If not would acetone be the best way to remove the paint & any left over bits of epoxy?

Thanks,
Tony

Acetone has been mentioned as not being too good for rods. I would try scraping the paint off with a blade or knife held at exactly 90 degrees to the finish. I picked up that tip here and tried it last week and it works like a harm and does not get into the fibers. When I had finished some last year I sanded them and all the blank soot makes me think I was sanding into the fibers. I won't ever use sandpaper on one again. Scraping worked faster and was easier on the blank I think.

Then you have to ask if you reallly want to strip the blank bare. Why not just build handle right back where the other one was? But if you do then you may want to recoat with something. I used clear gloss exterior spray urethane by Deft and it seems to have worked well.

Tony
Never sand a blank you well cut fibers!! You can deglaze or scuff a blank with 3M scotch Brite (gray in color). Yoy can get the pads a some hardware stores or at any auto paint store. If you are extremly careful you can scrape the finish off I use a dull single edge razor blade held at 90% to the blank
Bob