I'm a total newbie to the rod buiding addiction, in fact I am still in the knowledge gathering stage.
Now to my question; I have quite a number of butt sections from broken rods. Most are in excellent to new condition, I would like to know how to remove the cork so that it can be reused.
I did a search on removing cork, but the results I received were destructive due to the fact the cork was not going to be reused.
Any help would be muchly appreciated.

Regards
Dave

Fishing is Life the rest is just Details

You will be hard pressed to remove it intact. Old rod handles don't lend themselves to being reused very easily.

.......

Welcome to the obsession!!!!! The cork is epoxied on and I doubt that there would be any way to get it off without destroying it. Preformed grips aren't very expensive so it really wouldn't be worth the trouble even if you could do it in my opinion.

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!

I figured as much.
At least the fugi reel seats should still be usable. So it's not a total loss.



Regards
Dave

Fishing is Life the rest is just Details




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/2006 09:56PM by Dave Orr.

I wouldn't bet on those either! You might get them off but it will take some work!

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!

Ok........Here is the opinion of an established "Kitchen Sink" rodbuilder. Use them! Either order a blank that fits over the section of blank that remains and make the attachment with a thread wrap and epoxy, ir of you actually have the entire butt section of the rod just buy an appropriate blank and remake it as a two piece rod. You can also ream out the handle to accept a new blank but this is a MAJOR chore.

It all depends on how much time you have on your hands and how much you consider your time is worth. I constantly purchase rods from garage sales and even rescure them from the dump as I repair them and give them away to a variety of charities so I have done a bit of this.

You can email me direct if you like and send pics of the sections in question. I will give you some advice if I can.



Derek L. McMaster
Rohnert Park, CA

Born to Fish, FORCED to Work

With a little ingenuity and a lot of elbow grease you can re-use the entire
handle as a unit or cut it apart and reuse the parts but like Derek has
said, it all depends on what your time is worth to you and what the end
results your after. It's a LOT of work for very little gain IMHO.

If you start with a new blank and guides it would pound foolish to not
use new cork and a new reel seat and easier and faster to boot!

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

I don't plan to build a stack of nice new rods using reclaimed handles, but I thought I could use them to build up a few ice fishing rods at minimal expense. I figure practicing on some rods that really don't cost anything (just thread, epoxy & finish) I won't kick myself if they don't look great. After all they are just practice right.
So after I got a couple of responses to this thead I did a little experimenting. Nothing ventured, nothing gained; right?
I thought of using heat to break the expoxies bond.......it worked sort of. I set my oven at 225 degrees and put one of my handles in for 10 to 15 minutes. When I removed it I was able to twist off the fore grip quite easily, the reel seat also came off quite easily. How ever the longer rear grips are more difficult due to the larger surface area that is glued to the blank. I will try leaving the rear grip in longer to see if that works, if not the alternative is to ream it out or slide it over a smaller blank. On one of the real seats I removed the arbor material stayed in the seat......solution; put the reel seat on the work bench (threaded section up) insert a nut driver that just fits into the seat, give it a couple of taps with a hammer to break the epoxy bond free and remove. Works very well.
So it can be done, with the only real time consuming part being the rear grip.


Regards
Dave

Fishing is Life the rest is just Details

Yep!
And sounds like your having fun to boot! Learning even more too I'm sure.
You will find some will just about fall apart and others, well, will just @#$%&
you off!
Enjoy! Thats what its all about.

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

Dave,taking apart a factory rod is a learning experience to (usually)how you dont want to do things.Did the adhesive stay with the blank or the grip and arbor when it was removed?Also when you drove out the arbor was there adhesive on the inside of the seat or did it release??All could be attributed to a poor surface prep(not a water break free surface)not allowing for a good bond.Take note of the surface of the blank and the inside of the reel seat to see if they where prepped properly.If it came apart that easy I doubt it.See the library above to learn wahat a water break free surface is and how to achieve it if you dont already know.

Freddwhy (Rapt-Ryte)

Dave, if you are going to use them for ice fishing rods, you may even want to consider using them as is. If the blanks in the handles are not solid, shim your ice blank to fit inside these "pre-built" handle assemblies. By the time you get the grips and reelseats off, you are going to have to use arbors and do a lot of shimming anyways to take up the gaps in the cork and strenthen it.

Yes, don't try to remove the components from the blank.

Cut off the handle assembly either right at the end of the foregrip or at the end of the reel seat.
Shim the new blank to fit snug inside the old handle assembly.
Rod Bond away and either add an extra ring on the fore grip or just add a new fore grip and it hides the mating transition.

Finish and go auger some holes when the ice is thick enough.

Terry

Terry Turner Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------


Finish and go auger some holes when the ice is
thick enough.



No problem with ice thickness here in the North West Territories.........it's currently a balmy -26 brrrrrrrrrrrrrr



Regards
Dave

Fishing is Life the rest is just Details