The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

So I just bought this great rod on ebay, a really nice 4 piece Powell (from chico) with an awesome realseat, great cork, beutiful blank and a freeking gawd-aweful wrap job...clearly it was purchased as a kit and someone butchered it. Luckily I only paid $35. It has ugly purple undewrap and gold metalic overwrap holding the guides on it....and it was a hack job....the purple underwrap extends an inch past the overwrap...words can not describe it...

Anyway, once I remove all the wrap i will be left with areas of handened epoxy, what is the best way to get that all off and get it down to the blank...I know a razor will do alot of the work but is there a chemical I can use get it perfectly clean...

any help will be appreciated. It is my duty to make this rod the jewell it should be

Hey Brooks,

No, there is no chemical that will affect epoxy so you can remove it.

The safest way is to use a hairdryer to gently heat the epoxy and then work it off with your thumbnail. You could use a heat gun, but you would need to be extremely judicious in the application of that much heat, as you can seriously damage the graphite and the resins that hold it together.

A razor blade is a reasonable choice, however, as you mentioned, you need to be very cautious and not damage the blank. You might get into the finish a bit, but this is OK as long as you are putting the guides back in the exact same location.

Whichever way you choose, take your time and enjoy the process. If you have any other questions feel free to e-mail me directly at:

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Buzz