Looking for the safest way to remove old flex coat without damaging the blank

Use a hair dryer, or similar, heat finish until it softens. Cut thru on guide foot and you should be able to unwrap thread which should remove most of the flex coat. If it's an unpainted blank I use use acetone or alcohol to clean off the residue without harm to the blank. The hair dryer works real good to soften the epoxy, you can also use finger nail or plastic scraper to clean up. On certain blanks acetone is deadly on the finish and should be used with caution, alcohol is safer but not quite as effective. Main thing is to careful, don't use sharp object which will scar the finish.

Use a hair dryer, or similar, heat finish until it softens. Cut thru on guide foot and you should be able to unwrap thread which should remove most of the flex coat. If it's an unpainted blank I use acetone or alcohol to clean off the residue without harm to the blank. The hair dryer works real good to soften the epoxy, you can also use finger nail or plastic scraper to clean up. On certain blanks acetone is deadly on the finish and should be used with caution, alcohol is safer but not quite as effective. Main thing is to be careful, don't use sharp object which will scar the finish.

Dale,

I assume you're talking about the finish over the guide wraps and not that on the blank itself?

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Tom unfortunatly iy is the whole blank. It's and old shimano fighting stick boron graphite

Okay, that's not epoxy on there - it's a thin urethane finish. It's not uncommon for them to spot and flake over time or if kept in very moist conditions.

You can scrape all the old finish off with a razor blade held carefully at 90 degrees to the blank surface. Do not slice, shave or cut into the blank itself. Use the blade as a scraper and make long passes until you have removed all the old finish. Then recoat per the instructions in the online library here on blank refinishing. I'd opt to use Permagloss, applied in long single strokes with a foam brush. Make one or two passes, tip to butt, and let dry. Then do it again until you have the depth you want.

This is a total refinish job, but you can make the rod look like new.

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