I am thinking of putting a new handle and reelseat on a commercially built rod I have. I hate the cork they used and dislike the realseat.

Does the boil it method work? also does this damage the blank. I really like the action of the blank but never use this rod cause I hate the feel.

Does anyone have any suggestions about the best way to remove the handle and seat..

Sometimes it works, sometimes not. On a new commercial I bet it will work. So what if it does not work if you hate the cork and seat anyway. I jut take a dremel or a belt grinder and cut the seat down one side and pry it open with a screwdriver. I use a sharp pocket knife on old cork.

Yeah, if you don't need to try to salvage the old parts, just hog them off there with a stump grinder or such as the Dremel tool mentioned above if the boiling water tech doesn't work.

As for the cork, the new handle will have to be reamed to fit over the butt, so just sand down the existing handle to the diameter of the butt to be the insert to perfectly fit the new cork right up to the existing winding check.