I attempted to make a short three piece fly rod out of a four piece by dropping the butt section and putting the grip and seat on the second section.

Just as an FYI, it was an American Tackle Matrix 9' 6wt blank that I used. The finished product was 6'9" which was good but the line rating ended up being a 7 or maybe even an 8 while what I was looking for was a 6.

The rod's rating is heavier than I wanted so now I'm going to remove the seat and grip and build the rod as the original four piece 9' 6wt. I figure that I'm going to have to destroy the grip for sure and probably the reel seat as well if boiling doesn't loosen it but I thought I'd check in here to see if anyone had any tips on removing the grip and seat so that they can be re-used.

The grip was glued on with Rod Bond and the seat is attached with Rod Bond with masking tape spacers.

Any suggestions on cleaning up the blank after the components are removed would be appreciated as well.

This was my bad mistake, follow the link and go down to Ralph's post.

[www.rodbuilding.org]

How do you know it is a heavier weight blank? Have You CCd it? Taking the butt section off really changes the action of blanks, so this may be your problem.

Spencer, you're probably correct as far as messing up the action goes. I tried fishing it yesterday WITH a 7wt. line and it was horrible. This morning I did the boiling water thing and the reel seat came right off. I played around with the cork grip but I think that's hopeless so I'll have to cut that off. The rod will be rebuilt as a four piece.

Thanks for your input, it's much appreciated.

George