Friends:

Have discovered some nice old saltwater blanks in my stash, a bit of dust on the bottle if you know what I mean.

In the years they have sat patiently waiting for me to pay attention to them they have taken an obvious set.

Is there any way to straighten them out?

I'd hate to relegate them to the scrap pile to be cannibalized.

Thanks in advance

They can be straightened, sort of, but often revert to the original set. The older phenolic resins were prone to heat setting when leaned against a wall in a hot attic or garage. You attempt to take the set out the same way, but in reverse.

Some will suspend the rod horizontally from two pegs and weight the middle of the set area from twine with a weight hanging below it. In a warm area, the same attic or garage, this can be effective over a period of a few days to weeks. Some will accelerate the process with hot steam from a kettle.

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

Without any prior experience or knowledge, I would certainly agree with Tom other than the fact it may require considerably more time to reverse the affects after so much prior time setting off-axis. I would not be surprised to learn a blank would require being overly repositioned and allowed to relax to its original state (which may have been less than perfect way back then anyway). All resins and epoxies are nothing more than plastics and susceptible to deformation, especially when heat is added to duration. The amount of repositioning required is anybody’s guess. I hope you keep us informed of your progress, even set-backs, as this is certainly an issue most of us have encountered but did not know with which how to deal. I wish I could be of more assistance.

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

Philip,
Actually I would not be too concerned about the set.

I would just build the rod with the bend pointing down. It is the natural bend in the rod, so I would just go with it.

Folks often say to build with the bend pointing up, due to the fact that they get more power from the blank. But, I go in the opposite direction. Since the rod has taken a set in a particular direction, I just build the rod so that the rod in use is the same direction as the existing set of the rod.

Best wishes.

Philip,
Roger has offered a valid, veteran suggestion; go for it as is. Without knowing how bad the set is, I would suggest you at least consider it. I also agree with Roger in so much as pointing the tip down/belly up even though we may be the only ones who do. My reasoning is simply to gain that last little bit of oomph for casting. We all know the fish are always 5 feet further than we can cast!

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

With the tip pointing up for spinning rod I always put the guides on the bottom (convex side), the weight of the guides will straighten the rod due to gravity. For a casting rod just the opposite with the guides on the top (concave side). This Increases dead lift power and stores and releases more energy when casting. Doing it the other way just accentuates the bend, and I personally don’t like the look, but that’s just me.
Norm