Just finished stripping the guides off a friend's flyrod. He damaged a couple of guides and I figured I would re-do them all since the epoxy was quite yellowed. I got them all off by cutting the epoxy above the guide foot and getting hold of a thread to unravel the whole wrap. The remaining epoxy residue is near impossible to get off the blank. I about wore both thumbnails down to bloody nubs trying to pick it off (of course they were all double foot snakes). I only have half of the job done. Is there an easier way to get the remainder off than picking at it?

Heat it with a heat gun first, then scrape off wit a plastic scraper or use razor blade vertically while scraping; just be careful not to scratch blank.

David Dosser
Coshocton, OH

Kurt,
David is right on. Use a heat gun with caution to not over heat the blank. But heat will soften the epoxy and make it easy to remove.
Start on the guide side of the rod. Use a straight edged razor blade to cut through the heat softened epoxy on the guide side of the blank, cutting the thread with the guide as a backing. By cutting against the guide foot, you don't have to worry about nicking the blank.
Then, again with the epoxy softened by heat, hold the razor blade at right angles to the blank and scrape off the remaining epoxy.
If done in this fashion, it takes about one minute per guide to strip and clean the rod.

Good luck
Roger

A little Citrus Strip on a rough cloth , with a little 'elbow-thumb-fingernail' grease works on some rods well. Let a dab of the Citrus Strip soak in for a couple minutes. Try it on a small section of the rod first to be sure it doesn't react too strong with the rod finish.

Steve Cox Wrote:
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> A little Citrus Strip on a rough cloth , with a
> little 'elbow-thumb-fingernail' grease works on
> some rods well. Let a dab of the Citrus Strip soak
> in for a couple minutes. Try it on a small
> section of the rod first to be sure it doesn't
> react too strong with the rod finish.

I use Citristrip to take finish off down to raw graphite. Be prepared for that.

_________________________________________
"Angling is extremely time consuming.
That's sort of the whole point." - Thomas McGuane

Kurt

I have used a little heat, and an old butter knife with good success! A plastic picnic knife might be useful too.

Rog

A lil heat and a old credit card

I usually use the sand paper roll on a dremel tool. The trick is to "grind" down the TOP of the guide foot ONLY, the foot of the guide provides protection for the blank. Once that has been done it will be very easy to remove the rest of the epoxy. Start with the largest guide first to get the feel of it, and then work your way up the rod. Any stubborn epoxy pieces that are still sticking to the rod blank can be removed by a picnic knife, or a shaving blade laid flat on the blank. One other point, make sure the dremel tool is on the lowest speed you can place it on.