I have a factory rod that was my first fly rod ever and now I want to change all the hardware. I am not worried about removing the guides and re-wrapping. However...how does one proceed to remove the cork handle and reel seat? If it helps, the rod is a Sage DS II (discontinued model).

I apologize if this topic has been discussed many times before, but I cannot locate anything via search.

Thanks,

Tony

I am sure if you search under the topics you will find lots of information on this, but using a heat gun, or boiling water will usually work well for both seat and cork.

Matt White

If you do not wish to save the pieces, then I'd spiral cut the seat and "pop" it off. The cork can be shaved off and then sanded down to near blank level. The new grip can be installed over what little cork remains in place.

Just be careful not to cut into the blank during either operation.

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Hi, Tom.

When you say "spiral cut", so you mean cut through only the seat and not to the blank, completely around the seat at a number of points?

Thanks,

Tony

Sort of. Just cut into the seat all around the circumference and then insert a screwdriver into the opening and "pop" "pop" "pop" until it all breaks loose.

If you have a wood insert, cut and split the metal portion and remove. Then the wood can usually be split by tapping one end with a chisel.

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I boiled off four fly rod reel seats over the last week or so. Be careful, one of mine was somewhat stubborn and I let it boil a long time. While cleaning up the butt section of the blank I noticed that it deflected a millimeter or so to the side. It was a low end blank that I had built on so I wasn’t concerned enough to not go ahead with the re-install of a reel seat. Before re-installing I tested the strength of the butt section and it was still very sturdy.

Jeff