Well, after my unexpected success on my first rod, I got in a hurry to start the second. (yes, I know better but got excited)

I had planned on a split grip, no foregrip, cut down reel seat casting rod... in my haste, I epoxied the reel seat about an hour ago and realized I had forgot to cut down the seat.

I still want to cut it down as it looks funny being full length with no foregrip. My question is how can I cut it without getting into the blank?

I might just be able to go extremely slow with bare hands and a hacksaw bade against a cutting guide... but that is a little scary since I have NO margin for error and will not get a second chance if I screw up on this task.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Keith

What kind of epoxy did you use? If Rod Bond, you could very well still be able to pull it off, if it's only been an hour. You'd have a mess to clean up, but other than that, no worse for wear. In fact, if you've got the cutting tool handy, you could likely pull it off, trim the excess off the threads, sand the end square, then re-mount it (with new epoxy) before the old epoxy had hardened enough to be troublesome. You'd have to do it quickly, but I think you could. Worse case is that you spend some time cleaning off the blank, and cleaning out the seat really well, then you epoxy it again tomorrow.

With the epoxy still soft if you cann't pull it off, take a big pot. Fill with hot water bring to boil place handle in water for 30 seconds at a time until untill epoxy soft enough to pull handle off. Try to pull handle off after each 30 seconds.

You can cut them off if you are very careful. I have done about a half dozen of my bass rods that I have had for several years. Since I got into rodbuilding, I no longer have ANY rods with foregrips, nor ANY rods that aren't split grip. I use a dremel with a diamond cutting wheel and very carefully...I can't stress CAREFULLY enough, I cut around the circumfrence flush with the nut with the reel in the seat and tightened down. You have to be very careful not to cut too deep. Then I make a slit from the front of the ring I am going to remove to the back of it and insert a flat screwdriver into the slit and twist to break the drop piece apart so I can remove it. So far ...(Knock on my wooden head).... I haven't had any mishaps. Good luck if you decide to give it a try sometime....Just remember....be careful...

Steve Buchanan
Steve's Custom Rods

Once I realized what I had done, the epoxy was already set... I used the waterproof Locktite brand gel epoxy, set pretty quick.

Well, I did it... I took it really slow and tried to cut it to the point that it was like thread fibres holding the reel seat together and then used the nut and a shim to break itself on the cut line. It worked perfectly. I found one tiny nick about 1/2 the size of a pin head, but it just touched the finish. I put the rod over my knee and really laid into it, way harder than I will ever stress it with a fish and it's fine. I put a touch of epoxy around the "new end" of the seat, just to make myself feel better.

I have to admit it was scary!

Thanks for the reponses.

Keith