I realize that the commonly accepted advice of lightly sanding a blank and the inside of a reel seat prior to glue up is good advice simply from the stand point of breaking up the surface of the component parts to get better glue adhesion.

I will say that for aobut 90% of the rods that I build - I simply don't sand anything and I have never had an issue with anything breaking loose.

So, I am just curious as to what others do, and if anyone has actually found a glue bond problem when a reel seat and or handle was glued in place with no prior blank and or reel seat sanding.

p.s.
I do insure that the blank has been well wiped down to insure that there is no wax or solvents on the blank before gluing. I just don't do any more than that with any sort of abrading material.

Roger

I always clean with ISO and then go for a water break free surface with a grey 3M pad. I can't afford to skip that step.

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

I always scuff the blank. On aluminum parts I use a rat tail file.

I did see a little video recently from Baston stating to use 100 grit sand paper. I thought that was a little extreme for a naked graphite blank.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

My first rod I didnt sand anything. This one I'm doing now I sanded the blank with 220 iirc then hit it with a 3m pad then put it all in place.

I scuff with a gray 3m pad. I don't sand at all.

David Dosser
Coshocton, OH

I sand and try to take any finish off only because i have herd stories of even high end rods where the glue sticks to the seat and the finish -- but the finish does not stick to the blank Therefor loose seat

Bill - willierods.com

There is a difference between sanding and scuffing. Scuffing take the shine off the finish and allows for good adhesion. Sanding removes lots of material by scratching, something we try not to do to a blank. Roger, what type of rods do you build? I am 99% salt water and some of the fish we deal with you want all the insurance you can get that it will gold together. I know of some high end vertical jigging blanks spinning reel seats when faced with a 100 lb tuna . that is not something I would want to risk. Spend 5 minutes and scuff it.

Freddwhy (Rapt-Ryte)

Okay Fred, but what about a case like Bill brought up? When I have a rod with a finish on it I'd like to cut through it where the reel seat and grips are going to be located.

The average bass fisherman has little to worry about. Take the gloss off and you are fine. Just wash it or wipe it down with solvent and you are still likely to be fine. The 100 pound tuna guys often have blanks that can handle being ground down to fit in a uni-butt without harm. I'm in-between. For me if it has no finish 400 grit and a light scuffing works. If it has a finish, 220 grit and just cutting through it works for me,

I strongly suspect all of us go to far greater lenghts than most factory rods. A lot of them do okay for a number of years. Nothing stinks as much as a loose reel seat.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

Hi guys,
I'm with Chuck on this but Bill brings up a good point as I've seen plenty of factory rods where the finish comes loose. For heavy duty rods might be best to just remove the finish, then get a water break free surface before gluing up. Russell I'm sure we go to more trouble than factory rods as for them time is money and they skip whatever they can and let the warranty deal with any problems. Saw a reelseat come loose on the first use of a budget game rod when a friend was hooked up to a very big bull dolphin fish. Wasn't pretty.

ESFNEM Col
Port Kembla, NSW
Australia