Still a newbie here.....still have not built the first thing.
I happen to find some broken Berkley Series One bass rods in my storage room....3 of them. I am going to turn them into reamers.
I have just spent the better part of an hour and a half, cutting the guides ( 9 of them ) from the blanks with a somewhat less than sharp razor....probably a good thing too or I may have lost a thumb.....more than once.

being a beginner and green and fairly brain dead, I had a couple of Q's come up.

One of the rods was a 7'.....is there a way to "bust" the blank loose from the reel seat / handle....??
I have twisted about as hard as anyone could do....and it is solid.
So.....should I abandon the idea of removing the blank from the reel seat / handle and just cut it off at the top of the reel seat with my dremel tool....??? I plan wrap this blank with the reamer tape and epoxy an arbor into it for my Grizzly lathe.....(which I just ordered.)

The other 2 rods were shorter and I am going to leave the handles on.....epoxy some grit to them and use them as hand reamers.

Also.....the guides are in good shape.....but these rods are 15 or so years old. Are they (the guides) worth keeping, and....... is there a way to identify their composition....???

Oh.....I was impressed at the strength of the wraps and coating. Probably a good thing that I did this...just for my own educational purposes.....and I still have all my digits too.

thanks.......pb

unrelated to your rod building exploration, i just wanted to add that a sharp blade can be much safer than a dull one.. unles you're my mother , in which case either is equally dangerous. ;-)

us sharp blades always when cutting, whether rodbuilding or creating culinary classics in the kitchen.

eric
fresno, ca.

The guides you removed should be gold Fuji sic guides.They are fine guides even by todays standards.I'd clean them up and reuse them.Joel

Pete, You can cut rods into workable sections using a hacksaw with a fine or a small-toothed blade. Tape the areas you cut with masking tape to minimize splintering. I would recommend you cut the sections no shorter than 20 inches to allow for a handle made from tape or old handle material, and to give yourself enough length to facilitate rapid reaming.
Patrick Vernacchio

guys..........thanks for the response. I 'preciate it.

Joel........you hit the nail on the head......the guides are gold with a dark grey ring. I knew that Berkley had used SIC on the Series one's...at one time....I dont think that they still do however.
Anyway I think that they are SIC's and I will hold on to them. They show virtually no wear., and I have run a Q-tip around each looking for cracks or chips.....and there are none.

Patrick.......thanks for your ideas......I have a Dremmel that I have never used..... so, I will use that with a diamond cut-off wheel.

After another 30 days or so of tool buying....set-up.....studying.....etc.......I might be ready to build this first rod kit. LOL.

thanks again........pb