A customer wants me to strip the guides and finish off of a loomis blank and rewrap with micros. My question is I haven't ever stripped finish off of a blank and am wondering if you just put the blank on a lathe and sand it off? Any help would be appreciated.

Usually, sanding is a last resort. Here's my process, I'm sure others will chime in with suggestions.

Take the guides and thread off. If you cut the thread on top of the guide foot (not on the blank) you avoid damaging the blank. You'll be able to unwrap the thread and the finish will come with it. A little heat from a flame (just 20 or 3 seconds) will aid this tremendously.

You'll be left with finish on the ends, and ridges of finish under the guides. If you soak a paper towel with alcohol, and spin your wrapper quickly, alot of the finish will come off. Try to generate a little heat with the paper towel and the removal rate will improve. If the finish is stubborn, you may have to reapply the flame again (no more than 2-3 seconds) and scrape with a non-marring tool like your burnishing tool or a plastic knife. Some builders use a razor blade at 90 degrees (or an exacto knife). This will work if you are replacing the guides in the same place and can cover up any scratches you may create.

Clean it all again with the alcohol soaked paper towel and you are ready to wrap. Some finish is really stubborn, especially if it's old and brittle. Be persistent, it will come off.

Hope this helps.

Terry

Are you talking about taking the finish of the whole blank, or just on the guide wraps?

The most important fibers on a rod blank are the outermost ones. Therefore sanding is almost never a good idea for removing paint or finish from the blank. Cut or tear into those fibures and you compromise the strength of the blank substantially.

.............

Yes, he wants the entire blank stripped and left raw.

X2 on Terry's suggestions.

I use a heat gun and a razor blade to remove finish. P.S. Only use enough heat to soften the finish a bit. Be especially careful in the upper section of the rod, because a thin blank section is easy to overheat if not careful. Overheating the blank will ruin the blank, so work very carefully.

You can also use Citrus stripper to remove and clean up finish. Put it on, let is sit for 15 minutes and work away with a scraper, scraping toward the tip of the blank. Add additional stripper as needed. No heat required.

I always scrape the finish with the blade held at 90 degrees to the rod and scrape only from the butt to the tip. By scraping from the butt to the tip, you Will never catch a graphite fiber and pull it loose from the blank.
Since the blanks are wound with a taper, all of the fibers start and the butt of the rod. Some fibers extend to the tip and some only go part way to the tip. But, if you always scrape toward the tip of the rod, you will never catch the tip of a fiber.

After I have all of the finish removed, I will stand the blank in a pan and use wet and dry sandpaper in 600 grit for a perfect finish. Again, don't sand around the blank as would be the case of the blank were on a lathe, but only sand the length of the rod. Again, try to sand always toward the tip to insure that the paper does not catch a fiber tip. Remember, the finish should be about 99% gone when you do your final clean up with the 600 grit paper. You are not removing finish so much, as just giving the blank a final polish with the fine grit paper used wet on the blank.

Good wraps.

Roger

I use Citri Strip and a popcicle stick. After you remove the guides as mentioned earlier, apply some stripper to the blank. I usually do half the rod at a time. Let the stripper soak for 30-40 minutes and scrape off the finish. Re-apply stripper as required. You can "encourage" the finish removal with a grey scotchbrite pad but be gentle, and only as required. Resist the urge to bring a sharp metal object in contact with a customers graphite blank - just in case someone suggests a razor blade.

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

Roger - you beat me by three minutes. You're scaring me. You can grind fiber off a blank with a razor blade. If you are getting black on a paper towel... just guess what that is.

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

I've done half a dozen rods with Citri Strip. ABSOLUTELY no need for a razor blade to remove finish. If you thin or cut an outer fiber you just created a possible failure point.

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

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll give the citri strip a try. I actually work in a resin manufacturing plant and probably have a number of strippers I could get by with.

Be gentle with the strippers. Regular paint strippers are pretty caustic and can be too aggressive for our application. Citristrip is the best one as it's a weaker agent. You got great suggestions as I suspected. Unless you are going to re-finish the entire blank, I'd stay away from sandpaper but that is my personal preference. Roger probably does a great job.

terry

I have used Citri Strip for a couple blanks and it works Great!
No heavy fumes. Let sit for 30 minutes or so and go at it with a popsicle stick.

J Scott
Englewood, Fl

If this is for a paying customer, wouldn't it cost him less just to buy a new blank--at least if you are charging as much as your time and overhead is worth?

Steve,
Remember, you can't buy any Loomis blanks any more.
Roger

I have stripped off a 14" surf rod using a carpet knife help at a 90 degree angle. Takes time and effort, but works perfectly.

Here is a post I made on a fishing forum of my rod rebuild: [www.sealine.co.za]

I tried this Citristrip on an old blank and it did remove some of the finish. I was curious, and tried it on a MHX blank that I had not done any thing with ( raw blank ). I placed a small amout on the very tip of the blank and it seems as if the Citristrip actually removed the epoxy resin that the blank is comprised of. Im thinking that this is not a good product tu use on any blank. Can someone shed some light on this?