I was wondering, is there a tried and true or standard method of removing rod blanks from wooden handles -- particularly those of the 'vintage' variety as found on old ice rods, early trolling rods, 'stubbies', etc -- that results in a minimum of damage to both blank and handle? I would appreciate it if someone with experience in this area could fill me in on the basics. Cheers!

Rob,
Fill us in with a bit more information. If you want to remove a wooden handle, and then save it, why not simply leave it on the rod and refinish it? I have encountered difficulty attempting to remove some metal reel seats from vintage rods, even though I could apply quite a bit of localized heat to the seat. I ended up just leaving in place. Heat will generally aid in softening most epoxies to enable removal of a component, but a wood handle will certainly not take as much heat as a metal seat. Depending on the actual vintage, your rod may have been assembled with pre-epoxy type glues with which I am unfamiliar. More information and/or good luck!

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

Depending on how old the rod is, it can be as simple as just heating the real seat, assuming it has a metal type seat. Many of these older rods were put together with an older type hot melt glue and before you'll burn the wood the glue will let go. But heat the metal seat, not the wood.

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With a wood handle, I do not envision how you can save both! The handle may be carefully cut off to save the blank, or the blank drilled out to save the handle.

I've used a blow dryer or a heat gun on low and rotated while pulling off each piece. Didn't do any damage but I would go slow as you dont want to have your blank get hot and split into pieces and splinter in the handle.

Rob,
Easy to do one or the other, but almost impossible to do both.

If you want to save the blank, just split the wood handle and peel it off of the blank.

If you want to save the grip, cut the blank flush with the end of the grip. Then, drill the blank out of the inside of the wood handle.

Good luck

With the handle being wood,there is no way that heating it will reach the adhesive on the blank! The wood makes for pretty good insulation. On metal parts heat will usually work.

I've been hearing a lot of good common sense from various angles here....