Okay, heres the story, I was working on my rod, removing finish with a razor and flame. I failed to notice that I had a towel with paint thinner on it right under my rod. Well, the towel caught fire, and burned my cork grip. I tried to sand it, but it turned my whole grip black. The grip still has its shape, but looks really bad.

I had to use the heat because I couldnt get the old epoxoy to peel off, and dont have a hairdryer.

So now, I have a black grip, and a 6 inch section of epoxoy partially removed, can it be saved?

Jeez, it seemes like everything that could go wrong did, I failed to get the reel seat hood fully hidden under the grip, the guides were not straight (so I re wrapped it) the first try at finishing the guides left me with a really uneven finish, the second try at finishing left me with an uncured finish, and now the rod could be ruined.

this is a sad day :(

Well, you learned a few things that you shouldn't do, so all is not lost. You won't repeat those mistakes again.

Epoxy will usually peel off but you have to develop the knack for it. Open flame and razor blades shouldn't be necessary (you did read the FAQs here on removing guide wraps I'm assuming). Volume 9 #2 RodMaker shows how to get a really level finish every time out.

Now you have the opportunity to rebuild the rod, or another, and do a better job. This is how most of us learned - by making mistakes and learning what not to do.

Do be careful with open flames and solvents. On the upside, you could have had a much worse situation occur than just a blackened grip.

..............

A definate learning experience thats for sure Nick.
Try a scotchbright pad and some simple green to
get the black off the grips. You may get lucky. My
advice is to take the rod out and fish it! Even if it is
not as pretty as you would like. You will get a feel
about your construction techniques and spacing
layout etc. and assuming you did well in those areas
this should give you confidence. If your not happy with
the performence you should be able to see where you
went wrong and learn from it for the next build.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained! We all have made
mistakes (some we would not want to admit) the mistakes
make us better though as long as we learn from them.

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..

Nick,
Maybe you could flock the grip to cover the ugly cork. Just a thought. Randy.

Try what Ray said. That handle may just look nice enough to be very different. Some people use a torch to get that blacked effect when painting cars. It may look good after cleaned and sealed. Maybe some tru oil.

I would start out with some cleaning solution, maybe the paint thinner that burnt:-) clean it as best as you can and then some fine sandpaper to get the rest off, it shouldn't have scorched it so deep that it is unusable.

Ray, I have fished it! First cast had an 8 inch bluegill. the rods construction was fine, but I wanted it to look good too. I think I will leave the grip, just clean it up a little, and seal it. Now, how should I remove "patches" of old very sticky flex coat?

Nick,
Unless the sticky epoxy is now dirty with dust and such stuck in it just
cover with another thin coat of flex-coat and all will be ok. It you want to
remove and replace try first a rag soaked with 99% isopropyl to remove
the un-set flex-coat then wipe down with clean water to remove any alcohol
residue and dry thouroughly before recoating. If the iso does not get it a
stronger solvent maybe nessisary or just peel all of it (set and unset)
off and re-wrap. I prefer not to use solvents unless absolutely needed!
There are a couple of very good articles in the FAQ and library sections here
you should read.

Good luck!

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..