Has anyone ever tried heating just the top of the guide foot with a soldering iron to get the epoxy warm enough to cut easily with a razor blade? I feel like I can't control the heat well with an open flame or a heat gun, but I could really apply hear accuratly with a soldering iron.

Thanks in advance!

Brittan Battles
Battle Fin Custom Rods

If you get the foot too hot, you will probably damage the blank. A heat gun or hair dyer is the best way!

If you try to heat the foot with the iron, mostly likely you will melt the epoxy on to the iron first.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/2016 08:04PM by Phil Erickson.

You can easily cut the epoxy and thread without a razor blade. Shave it off on top of the foot. That's all there is to it.

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Brittan,
I just use heat on the top side of the guide initially. That will soften the epoxy enough on the top of the guide foot to shear off the epoxy. Then, I will warm the rest of the epoxy with the heat gun to be able to unwrap the thread and epoxy.

Be safe

There will be an article in the next issue of RodMaker detailing how to remove a guide. You don't need heat. It's easier than that.

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There will be an article in the next issue of RodMaker detailing how to remove a guide. You don't need heat. It's easier than that.

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The heat gun method works 99% of the time for me, having said that, I have ruined one blank with heat. I wasn't doing anything differently than I had when removing guides in the past and i never had a problem. I just feel like a heat gun doesn't allow you to control heat well enough to be precise with where the heat is directly applied. I am interested in other methods of removing guides without using heat. I'm doing a bunch of rebuilds in the near future and after ruining a blank, I have lost confidence in the heat gun method.

I would use a hair dryer and place by hand on the backside of the guide while the rod is turning. By this I mean the rod is in my rod lathe turning and is between the hair dryer and my hand. That way I can monitor the heat while applying. The hair dryer will not get as hot as a heat gun.

I've removed thousands of rod guides. Never used heat. I must be missing something. It's just so easy to do.

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The razor blade method, as Tom stated, works well for me. But I do not do very many rods like this.

Never use heat. Never use heat. double post in one :-)

Thanks for all of the replies!

I heat the finish it softens it and makes it easier to peal off

Just warm it Dont heat it till it is hot not good

Bill - willierods.com

Tom, Michael, and Gary get my vote on this one! Soldering iron sounds like a recipe for disaster.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/2016 02:44PM by Lynn Behler.

warm is good hot is not so good, if you use heat, never so hot you can;t hold it, but a sharp knife will do a lot for you , if you use an iron
just the top of the foot / guide to warm not "" MELT "" then a sharp knife it will work for you , remember every one says warm not melt
or no heat at all , it is a go slow , to finish up use a tung depressor or pop cycle stick to pop the small stuff off

William Sidney
AK

I take a 90 degree air sander with a 1 inch disc and sand down over the guide feet or a file to remove the finish and thread pop off the guide ,peel the thread and finish off then find the end of the thread and pull it out from under the remaining finish. I have stripped some rod ( penn ) were the finish wouldn't crack off and a little heat was needed to soften so it would peel off.

YES
heat was used to soften the finish so it would come off
And using the heat most likely gave a cleaner blank where the thread was ???

I would be afraid to use a sander on a guide foot -- your better then I

Bill - willierods.com

Bill it all depends on the size of the sander , this is a 1 inch unit , very small as I see it , in fact I have never have seen one that small

William Sidney
AK