Makin a split grip, ran into a snag

[McCarter]

I am in the process of trying to turn a Shimano Clarus casting rod into a split grip so i can better fit in with all my buddys who have the fancy new style rods. 

If anyone is familiar with the Clarus line, you know that it has a large rubber piece on the butt end of the rod below the cork.  I thought this was a solid piece of rubber that was glued to the blank so i went to town on grinding it down and rounding it out.  well, i found out that it is actually 2 pieces.  A rubber sleeve that is glued to the blank, and a rubber cap that is glued to the sleeve.  I ground the cap right out with a dewalt hand grinder.  I didnt hit the blank at all.  There is a large hunk of glue that you can see in the picture.

My two questions are:

1)  How can i get rid of the giant hunk of dry glue?  Its hard as a nail and i dont want to grind it down for fear of damaging the blank.

2)  Any suggestions of what i could use to cap the end off when i am finished.  I dont want to remove all the cork and cap and re-cork it all. 

Any help would be appreciated.

McCarter himself

[thedude]

glue is probably rod epoxy - which is epoxy with some sort of filler in it. Best bet is probably scraping it out with a razor blade or using  dremel. A small round file will take it out as well. Don't be too worried about the blank at the very end - you'd be hard pressed to hurt the integrity of the rod.
If you can apply heat that might help loosen it up as well.

To cap it off, best bet would be to use a razor and remove all the foam. get a new cap
http://www.mudhole.com/Shop-Our-Catalog/EVA/EVA-Foam-Butt-Caps

try to make it fit. a small amount of 5 minute epoxy would be sufficient to hold it in place

you might want to try customtackle.com - call them cuz they might have the same thing and they will ship it usps for actual cost. no sense in paying 7$ to ship a 95c cap.

[Bender]

I like the tapered ones that they have:

Is the EVA lighter than cork?

[dartag]

try rubbing some HOOTERS wing grease on it. 

[thedude]

regular cork is probably lighter than eva. the rubberized cork commonly used on butts is probably heavier however.

[BryanP]

Jann's Netcraft has a number of different butt caps--rubberized cork, foam, or rubber/vinyl that will work great.  I'd just use a razor blade to cut the sleeve that's remaining and peel it away.  All that eopxy is from is when they glued on the cap.  And it'll easily come off when you get the rest of the sleeve off.

[Bender]

I'm bored since I took a day off of fishing and have been thinking about the split grips, is there a reason not to remove the foregrip on casting rods? I always either palm the reel or grab the handle just behind the reel.

[thedude]

the foregrip is pointless unless its just personal preference. I know some guys like jig fishing with the butt of the rod in their armpit and the other hand on the foregrip for instance. I personally prefer no foregrip mostly because it allows you to place your index finger directly on the blank while palming the reel... it will cut down the overall weight by a very small amount also.

they are easy to remove (see article). Replacing them would require removing some eyes however.