cork handle replacement

[fritz]

has any one ever tried to replace the cork handle without removing the reel seat or butt end guides? I suspect the lesser of two evils would be to remove the guides. My reel seat is nickel silver with a hardwood insert.

[brhoff]

While not a rod builder, I have removed a couple of reel seats...not too hard, let 'em soak in very hot/simmering water till the glue softens.

Couple of issues, you might not want to subject your nice seat to those conditions, modern glues may not break down from the heat so readily and maybe most importantly, the grip "should be" properly fit from the top down to the seat.

See, you'd want the fat end (bottom) of the grip to go through the skinny, top end of the section first...other way around and you'll have a pretty decent gap on the top of the grip as the top would have to be reamed wide enough to accept the very butt of the rod....you can ramp it up with masking tape and add a nice winding check. All in all, you'll run a risk of having a rocking grip.

Hopefully, it is a multipiece road and only a guide or two would have to be removed to effect the change. Of course, you want to re-do them all if you want a perfect match.

[ET custom flyrods]

Please do not take offense to this because none is intended. Sounds like your worried about keeping a real seat and looking for a shortcut to replace a grip. As the previous poster mentioned , the proper way to replace the grip is to first cut it off. That leaves you with guides to remove above it as the grip is installed from the top down so little or no gaps are incuured provided you taper the bore of the grip properly. One other thing to remember is that you may have to remove the reel seat anyway to properly recess your existing reel seat into the new grip. There are a number of shortcuts (which I wont mention here) to circumvent proper installation and achieve installation of a new grip, but my suggestion is bite the bullet and do it right because in the long run you wont be happy with any of the shortcuts.

[bugman]

right... better to do it rite the first time than have to redo again later..

[ET custom flyrods]

Wrong........read my post above. Guides must come off ,and the grip slid from the top down to the reel seat.