Standup Zone Forum
Stand Up Paddle => Gear Talk => Topic started by: APPST_Paddle on April 04, 2018, 05:31:03 AM
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I've asked a few people, but I just want to get a consensus to make sure I don't ruin a pretty expensive paddle. I want to cut down my Hippostick paddle 2 inches. The general thought is to use a hair dryer/boiling water to heat up the epoxy to pull the handle off. Cut, and re-epoxy with epoxy from the hardware store.
Any issues?
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Yes. Sometimes the handle won’t come off no matter what you do. It depends what glue was used, and how much of it. Most people seem to have no problem but I’ve never managed to get off a handle I’ve epoxied on. But I like to do a job well, so once it’s on it’s on. So I buy a new handle and cut the old one off. Tricky if you only want to remove a couple of inches though, with some handle designs.
So you’ll just have to try it and see.
I use hot glue now wherever possible...
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I use hot glue now wherever possible...
And if that's not possible, a 5 minute epoxy will usually come appart with heat.
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Yeah, epoxied in handles are tough to get out with just hair dryer heat, and I've made the mistake (once) of melting a handle with "low" heat on a heat gun. :o :-[ IOWs, just be careful...and a trick that it was PB who mentioned it, putting some tape on a portion of the rear vent of the hair dryer will cause it to "heat up" a little more than it normally would which helps quite a bit, but still is not as hot as the low heat gun setting to melt things.
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Here's a method I use, BUT if you only want to cut it down 2" it won't work. The handle inserts are usually 3 to 4 inches long. Heat is probably going to be your only option.
https://www.standupzone.com/forum/index.php/topic,24485.msg247194.html#msg247194
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there's a lot of youtube videos on how to cutting down the shaft, start with quickblade channel and other helpful sites.
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Here's how I did it (with the help of someone who had done it a lot before).
I very much doubt best will work on epoxy. Only hot glue. And too much heat you may melt the resin in the carbon and then you're stuffed. Boiling water is ok as it never gets above 100 degrees ;)
Cut the handle off preserving it's full length. This should be about 2"?
You then have the handle with the shaft still glued on.
Then with an angle grinder gentle grind the shaft from the handle. You don't have to do a perfect job.
Epoxy is brittle. You should be able to chip and snap the shaft and glue away so you can reuse the handle.
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Here's how I did it (with the help of someone who had done it a lot before).
I very much doubt best will work on epoxy. Only hot glue. And too much heat you may melt the resin in the carbon and then you're stuffed. Boiling water is ok as it never gets above 100 degrees ;)
Cut the handle off preserving it's full length. This should be about 2"?
You then have the handle with the shaft still glued on.
Then with an angle grinder gentle grind the shaft from the handle. You don't have to do a perfect job.
Epoxy is brittle. You should be able to chip and snap the shaft and glue away so you can reuse the handle.
Ha, dear lord, who wants to buy a 74" Hippostick?