I read where you can put the reelaest in boiling water, and it would come off the rod. My ? is, would that boiling water hurt the graphite? and what other way can i do this?

Depends what epoxy you use to adhere seat to bushing. I used West System and boiling did nothing. I took a torch to seat and used a pair water-pump pliers. Epoxy held but bushing "ruptured". Yes - graphite can be damaged.

If you don't wish to save seat, use a Dremel with a cut-off disk to cut a grove parallel to length of seat and pry open.
Herb

Herb, it is a St.Croix, an Legend Extreme, that I am redoing cause of a lot of wear and tear, I already took the cork grip off, and the glue they used was pretty hard even the dremel tool that I used had a hard time with the glue, so I guess I'll try the boiling water first and if not then I'll have to cut it off.

Lorenzo, I have removed a few and a heat gun used carefully has always worked. Torch was a bad idea for me as I burnt the wood spacer and had to refinish it. Cork has to be cut and sanded off.
John

JLS Custom Rods
Cassadaga, NY

Lorenzo,
Whenever I am rebuilding a rod and am replacing the handle and reel seat, I will first use a pair of common slip joint pliers to chew away the cork. The inner jaws of the pliers are very coarse and will nicely chew away the cork down to the glue.
Then, for the reel seat, I will use a dremel tool or similar high speed grinder with an abrasive wheel on it to cut the reel seat lengthwise on 2 sides of the seat. Be careful when cutting through the reel seat that you only cut the reel seat, and not into the blank.
I then, use a heat gun, to soften the glue around the reel seat. I insert a screwdriver into the cut made by the dremel or abrasive tool and split the reel seat off of the rod blank.
Then, using the heat gun - not a torch, I will use heat to soften the glue. I find that with a torch, it is too easy to overheat the blank and damage the blank itself. But the heat gun, used in the right way, will apply enough heat to soften the glue that has been left on the rod. Then, I use a razor blade that is kept at 90 degrees to the blank, and scrape the softened glue off of the blank. Both in the handle area, as well as the reel seat area.

When, all has been removed, I will wipe down with xylene, and the blank will be ready for the new handle and reel seat.

Just use - enough heat, - on the glue without being excessive, which can cause blank damage. The use of heat in the butt section of the blank, is not quite so worrisome as it is in the tip section of the rod. i.e. the thicker butt section, can tolerate a larger heat range without graphite and blank resin damage. But still be cautious about the over use of heat.

Good luck
Roger

Roger i finally got the reel seat off using the dremel with a cutting blade, and sanding wheel thing for the dremel, tried the hair drier thing didn't work, but the dremel did, thanks for the suggestion.

Lorenzeo,
When I talk about using heat to soften the epoxy finish, I am not speaking of a hair dryer, I am speaking of a heat gun that is used for industrial purposes softening paint etc.
IT would be similar to this one:

[www.northerntool.com]

or:

[www.harborfreight.com]

Roger