I am planning on rebuilding a (poorly made) custom made heavy action saltwater rod that i bought used at a local tackle shop. i am just hoping for the voice of experience or some tips to help me out in this process.

Other than cutting off the guides, reel seat, and grips, the problem i have is that the person who built this rod put finish (it is really thick - it looks like epoxy!) over the entire rod after he wrapped the guides on. So after i cut off the guides, i am going to be left with some big sections of the blank that will have no thick finish on it. i figure my only option is to sand the entire blank down until i remove all the previous finish , and then put a coat or two of Permagloss on it - then put on the new components. The finish may be thick enough that i may be able to chip some of it off the the blank after i remove the guides.

Has anyone run into this? Any tips other than some sandpaper and elbow grease?

Thanks

If what your dealing with is truely epoxy finish, then you should be able to heat the remaining finish after removing the guide with a blow dryer and remove it by gently peeling it from the original rod finish. If it is epoxy, then it should be fairly easy to remove without damaging the original finish.

Regards......Doug@
TCRds

Yuck. Keep the components, pitch the blank in the trash, and make yourself a nice, new rod in half the time :).

Scott Kinney
The Longest Cast Fly Rods
[www.thelongestcast.com]

Also try scraping it off with a Dull knife. Don't cut into the blank. Go esy and it should come off well
Then a wash, light sand with about 400, permagloss or color then permagloss

If you think it is worth it

I coat about 90% of my heavy rods from tip to foregrip with flexcoat. To strip one it is easy to start at the tip, heat about 6" with a torch, cut the guide wraps with a razor and peal it off, scrape the area with a knife held 90 degrees to the blank untill all epoxy and paint is gone, now heat a second 6" and repeat untill you have scraped the entire blank all the way to the forgrip. This procedure works very well and the rod should be clean in less than an hour. Jesse

You coul'd always just trim the spaces where the guides were, then re-guide the rod using
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You could always trim out the spaces where the guides were, then re-guide the rod, using HI-BUILD epoxy to level every thing out.
Larry