I was bored yesterday so I decided to play around and try different things on a broken rod I have laying around. One of the things I did was attempt to take off the reel seat without damaging it so it can be used again should I choose to do so. I've read about a couple of methods: boiling water being one, and the oven being the other. I decided try the boiling water first. First, I cut the blank off about two inches forward of the foregrip so I could lay it across the pan of boiling water. After I got the water boiling, I waited 20 minutes. The grip and seat wouldn't budge. After waiting another 30 minutes, they still wouldn't budge so I scrapped that idea and pre-heated the oven to 375. Note, if you attempt this, you will most assuredly get an inquisitive question from your wife (assuming you have one) about what you're making. My answer was "Baked Garcia". I digress. Anyway, 10 minutes later and the grip and reel seat came off clean as a whistle.

So, if you're contemplating this for any reason, I'd skip the boiling water and go straight to the oven. The boiling water method may have worked eventually, but I didn't feel like waiting longer on the chance it might work.

p.s. Just as any other time you bake something, your nose is a great barometer as to when to check on your dish.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/26/2023 06:11PM by Daryl Ferguson.

Thanks for the cooking tip!

A lot depends on the type of epoxy used. I have had success with the boil method and never tried the bake.

What was the reel seat made of?

It was just a standard graphite seat

Daryl,
Your finds make sense.

Water boils at 212 degrees at sea level.

So you discovered that the point where the glue on the rod and reel seat softened at a temperature higher than 212.

If would be interesting to see a graph of epoxy softening and the temperature at which changes happen.

I saved a fuji seat once I thought was worth saving off a broken rod, I simply cut the rod off at the ends of the seat and drilled the rest out, i still have this seat



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/2023 05:46AM by Josh Bryan.

Thanks for the tip!! Someone will surely follow with an air fryer recipe now.
Steve

I've tried a few different methods with a few different manufacturers seats.....none of them taste all that good!

Hmm - may have to try this with the InstaPot! Seat should be nice and tender, and much faster than the oven.

I second the instapot, I'd eat a brick cooked in an instapot haha

Can others chime in on successful parts removal techniques?

Building rods in MA, Building the community around the world

I'm surprised that 375 didn't destroy the carbon fiber seat!

I have removed countless reel seats with the boiling water method, however they have all been metal. The metal transfers the heat better to the adhesive.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/2023 05:47PM by Phil Erickson.

Phil, I’m sure it would if it were left in the oven long enough. I took it out after 10 minutes. The boiling water may have worked eventually, after 50 minutes, I was unwilling to invest any more time into it.

I wouldn't recommend using the pot used for making food in your instapot for this. Same with the oven, I bought a goodwill toaster oven for a few bucks for powder coating, etc.

The instapot thing was a joke....

I've removed a reel seat that I was able to save, from a spinning rod that I built, that I ended up breaking. It was a Forecast skeleton reel seat using the woven graphite insert, and a polyurethane arbor to mount it to the blank. I used a heat gun and channel locks that I padded the jaws on.

While I was able to save the seat and use it on another build, I won't bother to do anything like that again. It was just too much work.

If the seat will come off easily, or if it was an expensive seat or a seat that is no longer available, then I can see at least giving it a try. Otherwise, based on how much of a pain it was to take the one off that I did, I'd just spend the money on a new seat.

I’ve never used a non-metal reel seat that was expensive enough that I would bake it loose, clean it up, and then hope for it to last on another rod. The compressed carbon ones are under $20 with the higher end nylon options, like the Fuji PTS, barely breaking $10.

I have successfully removed and reused a bunch of reel seats over the years. If you are removing a reel seat from a broken rod which is not repairable, there are several ways to remove the seat. You can remove the grip and cut the blank above and below the seat and then it drill out, easy and works well. Alternatively, If you cut the the blank an inch or two above and below the seat, use a pair a pliers and squeeze the blank ends until they crack into multiple splinters. These blank splinters can be removed using a metal tube or a flat head screw driver to pry away the splinters and the arbors. Boiling the grip does help in the removal process. Many commercial rods use either masking tape or cardboard arbors and these can be soften and removed using a goo solvent such as goof off. You can also remove the grip from an intact rod buy removing the grip above and below the seat. Then slip a piece of PVC tubing longer than rear part of the blank until it is against the rear end of the seat. While holding the blank above the reel seat hit the end of the PVC pipe with a hammer, in many cases the seat will move forward enabling it to be removed. Heating the seat with a heat gun facilitates this process. I have to admit there have been a few times where I could not remove the seat using the PVC method. However, I have always been successful when I cut off the reel seat.
Norm

I only did it as an experiment. But, as I stated earlier, there was no mess to clean up. It came off clean. So, if we’re in a pinch for whatever reason and had a junk rod laying around, I’d do it again. But, yes, under normal circumstances, it’s hardly worth the effort because, as you guys stated, reel seats are cheap.

Daryl Ferguson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'd skip the boiling water and go straight to the
> oven. The boiling water method may have worked
> eventually, but I didn't feel like waiting longer
> on the chance it might work.

Daryl...just curious how the reel seat was attached?
I have found that boiling water will loosen seats with masking tape arbors.
But, as you found, a little more heat may be needed.
On the flip side, dry ice works too.

There were no arbors. It was attached straight on the blank.