Hey fellas. I just started getting in to rod building scene and was wondering who else does it in here? I see that dick and Fletchero have several post and many fine rods under their belt. I have recently rebuilt an old Lightning rod to just start practicing before I step up to my worm rod on a St. Croix II blank. I figured I would rather mess up a $25 rod than a $75 blank. Plus I learned that it doesn't take much to burn the tip off with a lighter while trying to remove the old tip, so now I am waiting on another tip to match the guides. But like I said this was a practice run. I am going to practice on another lightning rod I have before trying a start to finish job. Maybe I will have some pictures to post before long of a finished product. But I just wanted to see who all is building on here so I can put you on speed dial hahahaha.  8-)

Any tips for removing a tip guide without doing what I did the first time? My only conclusion is to keep the lighter more foward on the tip and apply a little pressure after heating until the glue gets hot enough to melt.

put the rod in your wrapping stand and hook the tip with something.  I usually use a 90 degree pick.  Put a fair amount of pressure on the tip and you head it and it will pop right off.  DO NOT TWIST!!!

Option B is to hook a rubber band to something and put a paperclip on it it, hook it to the tip and put pressure on the tip while heating and will will pop right off

Thanks bowtech. I will try that when I strip the other one. Another question though. When I removed the guides from the old rod, I had to sand the remaining epoxy off with 220 grit. It left a hazing of course from scuffing the surface. This made me put pretty long wraps on the new, smaller guides to cover the scuffed area. After breaking the tip, I was scared to put a lighter on the epoxy to try to get it off and I also tried acetone and denatured alcohol. Is a heat gun, like for paint removal a better solution for removing old epoxy? Or what is a recommendation for this?

Thanks bowtech. I will try that when I strip the other one. Another question though. When I removed the guides from the old rod, I had to sand the remaining epoxy off with 220 grit. It left a hazing of course from scuffing the surface. This made me put pretty long wraps on the new, smaller guides to cover the scuffed area. After breaking the tip, I was scared to put a lighter on the epoxy to try to get it off and I also tried acetone and denatured alcohol. Is a heat gun, like for paint removal a better solution for removing old epoxy? Or what is a recommendation for this?

A heat gun is to hot, try getting your hands on an adjustable output hair dryer, and make sure you always place your hand behind the blank when heating the old epoxy to remove. This way you can tell when it gets to hot for the blank. To hot on the hand to hot for the blank...

Blanks tend to turn to mush around 300 degrees f...

Good Luck & Tight Wraps..........

Hey Bubba, nice to see another fellow rod maker. its a great thing to build one. I've been at it for about 2yrs or so. Only advice I offer is what ya might need to start building ;D

Lot of great builders here that know the advice on building a rod.

I also Love to introduce it to people, that's a great joy 8-)

bubba, not a rod builder...just wanna comment on ur picture, what a hawg... im no expert, but i guess that ur bass is slightly over 25 pounds?  ;D ;D ;D ;D hahahaha

An alcohol lamp is a nice alternative to a lighter. I use the rubber band method to remove tips. To remove epoxy, try warming with a hair and scrape with the edge of an old credit card from the outer edge toward the middle. I can usually get enough off that I can touch up with 600 or 1500 grit and barely tell where the old wrap was on a matte finish.

As a matter of fact, I have an alcohol lamp in the shopping cart at mudhole.com right now. I am just looking around and picking up a few things. Thanks for the tip DVT, I will try a light grit on my next one. I have several old CastAway rods that are starting to show cracking and would like to change them out too. So maybe some of this will sink and help. At least I have it in black and white to refer too.

WI Heat - yeah it was there abouts...I didn't submit her because the #15er she hit got lodged in her mouth sideways and I just didn't feel right about it. I named her Spottie.

I have always used a lighter to remove tips.  The trick is to go really slow.  I generally hold the lighter about 2 inches under the tip, and only apply heat for about 3 seconds at a time.  I use my hand and a hot pad, or pliers to remove the tip, but like others said make sure not to twist.  My general rule of thumb is if the lighter flint gets too hot to relight it, I set the rod down and come back a few minutes later.  That way I know I haven't applied too much heat to the blank.

I have always used a lighter to remove tips. The trick is to go really slow. I generally hold the lighter about 2 inches under the tip, and only apply heat for about 3 seconds at a time. I use my hand and a hot pad, or pliers to remove the tip, but like others said make sure not to twist. My general rule of thumb is if the lighter flint gets too hot to relight it, I set the rod down and come back a few minutes later. That way I know I haven't applied too much heat to the blank.

This is pretty much what I do as well...

I know I am straying a bit from the current discussion. But some of the best I have seen on here are from ejtaylor822. He is in north carolina and does amazing work. I have never fished one of his rods, but he is quite possibly one the nicest guys you could ever deal with. And he loves simply sharing ideas and helping people out with builds they are doing.

Another, and I am not sure he is member of bass resource, is Matt Elrod in South Carolina. His background is fly rods but he does bass rods too. I am in the process of building a new spinning rod with him and will continue with other builds. Like Eddie Taylor, he is a super nice guy. Obviously more concerned with giving the right rod to the customer. His website is www.elrodcustomrods.com if you wanted to check him out.