Im thinkin about buying an old falcon rod my buddy is selling, some of the cork on the handle is missing and it has a broken reel seat. I was gonna send it to a repair guy. My guestion is it it hard to repair just a little cork on the handle and is a reel seat hard to fix?


Thanks

It can be a chore... I rebuilt a rod just for 'fun' a few years ago and it turned out ok, but given the amount of time it takes (or took me) it's better to either let someone who really knows how do it, or buy a new one. It's like a house, you can build one faster than you can rebuild one...

Doing the repair you are talking about is labor intensive. It requires almost redoing the entire rod to do it right. However their are a few short cuts if the base cork can be removed.

If your local,send me a PM--I've be repairing rods for over 10 years.

If its just the grip and reel seat it really isnt that hard..And you wouldnt have to redo the entire rod..All can be replaced going over the butt end of the blank depending on the reel seat being used.
Removing cork grips is as simple as taking a pair of pliers and chewing it off without hitting the graphite...Once you removed as much as you can ,take a heat gun and work it quickly over the area to loosen the epoxy...I usually you plastic knife or similar and scape the excess off,then sand down with fine grit and steel wool.
Reel seats can be tricky...You just have to be patient...I use a dremmel and make several horizonal slits along it on both sides..Then again with the heat gun to loosen,then crack and peel the seat off....If your lucky enough,since alot of manufactorers use cheap reel seat arbors like masking tape and cardboard..You might be able to heat it up enough to slide it off....Then scape and remove the arbors with the heat gun,and more sanding.

When adding a new reel seat,you'll need arbors to make it sit striaght and true...Masking tape does works well for this,The trick with masking tape is you have to completely encase it with epoxy and ensure a strong bond to the blank as well as the reel seat.

Rodbuilding.org is an excellent source for information on this subject,Thats just a brief breakdown of how I replace and redo seats and grips.
Good Luck