A client of mine wants me to rebuild the rod he was taught to fish with and still uses.
It's an old Shakespeare 4 1/2 ft boat rod he uses on Catfish in the Miss river. I though it was a tuna stick, it weighs pounds!

The guides are worn down and need replacing, what is closest to this guide?
best i can find is a boat guide from Pac Bay.

The reel seat is wrecked. I could get it brazed and re plated or silver soldered. Not sure either would hold up. Anyone ever do this and how did it hold?
He likes that it still says shakespeare on the seat so replacing it is not on, plus he does not want the wood grips refinished so how i would get the seat off is another problem too.
Solid glass by the looks of it so cutting right through then joining with a piece of scrap is not going to work unless i bore out the glass and use maybe 1/4 stainless steel. Believe me that would probably make the thing lighter!
here is the tip top
[www.rodbuilding.org]
This is the guide -there are two #12, he wants to go three.
[www.rodbuilding.org]

here is the reel seat
[www.rodbuilding.org]

Anyone still stock those old seats and guides?
Ideas on how to get a new seat in there?
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

I bought a tackle box full of old guides and parts a few years ago. There may be some of those guides in there but I 'm not sure on the size. I'll look when I get home.

Thanks Gary.

Hi Lou
I have a reel seat. Send me a e-mail.
Barry

Lou, Your not showing the complete butt in the picture but, if its what I think it is you can remove the reelseat by heating it with a heat gun.Just keep the heat moving all over the seat until its uniformly heated.Using gloves or rags, grab the foregrip with one hand and the butt with the other and twist in opposite directions. Note: Sometimes the reelseat is pinned to the butt/ foregrip .Look for this before you start heating. Remove the pin with a small punch(they don't call em pin punches for nothing)you may have to file or grind off a head before you can press it out. Heat is your friend in this case.But don't over do it.Wear eye protection and gloves, BE SAFE! Once you get the seat off, let me know what size it is, I may have one in stock.

Dennis J. Danku
(Sayreville,NJ)

Barry, your email address is hidden.
Looks like its a 22 mm diameter on the outside of the reel seat.
Dennis: The whole rod length of the butt is shown here
[www.rodbuilding.org]

I Rotated the rod through 360 and examined the reel seat and grips completely. Not seeing a pin.
Measuring with a caliper the seat is a 22mm diameter (external)and 5.6 inches long. .1 of that could be crud i will only know when it out.
Hope heat does not scorch the wood, i will have to try in the morning when i can properly vent my garage- just in case!
Thanks for the suggestions and tips!

Lou, Judging by the photo and yardstick the reelseat alone is 5". The 1/2" above that is the ferrule mounted to foregrip. A few drops of KROIL in that section left overnight will do wonders in separating it from the butt. Once you get them apart I will need ID measurements of the seat and if you want the ferrule I can send that too. Is VARMAC ok?

Dennis J. Danku
(Sayreville,NJ)

Dennis,
i tried your suggested KROIL trick and the rod is now apart at that ferule.
Thanks, the owner did not know it was a two piece and you can imagine 40 plus years of crud from cat-fishing the Mississippi river!
The fore male ferrule is looking good to me, almost new in fact.
its down to trying to find the female section,the reel seat itself preferably with the Shakespeare label on it.
Internal its a 20MM.

maybe I forgot to hit the post button.
I've got 2 size 12 and 1 size 10
maybe a tip top but I need to know the tube size.
send me you address and I 'll send them off.

Gary, email is sent.
Dennis, email sent to you too.
Thanks again.