I'm working on re-building an old 50-80 class rod that someone coated the entire blank with epoxy and now it's cracking and falling off and what not. I use a butane torch to soften up the epoxy and scrape it off with a plasic picnic knife. But.....how much heat is too much heat? I haven't scorched the blank, discolored it, melted it or anything like that, but is there internal damage being done to the fiber glass blank? Also....what are the hazards of using heat with a graphite blank (next project). thanks,

Matt

First I would use a blue flame. Then I would place my hand in front of the flam and when it started to burn my hand, I would then move the flam back tell I felt just heat with out burning my hand, that is the distancce I would have the flame from my rod. You must keep the flam moving and just do small areas at a time. What is the rod made of glass or graphite?
Good Wraps Bob

It's glass. The next one i am going to do will be graphite. I just finished a glass one that came out fine, but i just wanted to make sure i wasn't putting too much heat on the blank......didn't want to hang up a fish and have the rod snap because i put too much heat on it. Thanks for the reply.

Matt

I find that most of the time I do not need heat. Just a dull knife to scrap the clear off. Then a light sanding

Thanks bill, i'll give it a try

matt when i rebuild rods i usually light sand them down and wipe on a coat of epoxy

Epoxy is not the proper product for refinishing rod blanks. Check the online library article for the right process and the right finish.