so I'm refinishing a glass fenwick from the 70s and I'm afraid I'm gonna have to cut off the current reel seat because it is not centered on the blank (unless anyone knows any other way to get it off) meaning I'll need a new reelseat. For those not familiar with vintage glass rods they have all metal downlocking reel seats which I can't seem to find anywhere. Does anyone know where I can find one?
I may have one but for now it's in storage Ifs I can get there in the next week or more then Ill let you know. sorry it can't be easier than that maybe. I j ust don't have the controll of my time like I should. Or m memmory If I could only be positive about o ne thing or another
You should be able to wrap the reel seat in a plastic biggie and place the butt of the rod in boiling water for about 5 minutes resulting in the epoxy failing and you being able to pull the seat off the rod. Give it a try before cutting.
thanks FF23 I'll try that I'm just worried about also ruining the epoxy in the blank Bob that'd be awesome, no hurries at all too busy fishing to build many rods these days
Just submerge the seat and you won't harm epoxy on any other part of the blank. I used this method to replace a seat on an old bamboo rod and it worked flawlessly. Just submerge it for a few minutes at a time and keep testing the epoxy on the seat to see if it has parted. Should work good.
I cann't seem to remember any thing about those but that last time i was in the st'orage we moved them in a small tote and a few corks that I had bought at the same time this was a close out many years ago an Ive used many over the early year s but none lately I'll get up there soon. That would be a kick. I still use my lamiglass I made as one of the original rods from them.
I bought a few of these from Ricks Rods a couple years ago. Downlocking, color is close to Fenwick's color (in the ballpark) but it has a rubber butt end cap. $5.00 ea. http://www.ricksrods.com/rrimages/components/pacbay/varmac.htm
I spotted a bunch of old down locking reel seats on Ebay today. They were new old stock from the 1960s and 1970s. I think they look kind of funky. I prefer the newer style up-locking seats. Just search for reel seats on Ebay. See if you can find the melting point of epoxy on the Internet. I forget what the actual temperature needs to be. The last time I pulled a reel seat, it took longer than 5 minutes of boiling to do the job. Maybe I waited half an hour or so. Be sure not to get the cork in the water if you want to save it. I usually cut the cork off the rod as well. I think that cutting the reel seat off is an easier way to go. I use a dremel and a cutting disc to remove reel seats off of older rods. I'm not preserving or restoring rods for collectors. I am making fishing tools or fixing fishing tools for me to use. I believe in the addage, "function before fashion".
well I figure I'll just finish the rod with a slightly off centered reel seat, I mean the rod is ugly as hell anyway, might as well finish it and fish it!
