Basic Guide Wrapping

I get quite a few emails with folk that have questions or are having problems with wrapping their guides. Hopefully this will help. I will spread it out over several posts as there is a lot of photos.

OK let me start by saying before you even start worrying about wrapping with thread the most important thing to keep the job as easy as possible is to properly prep your guide feet. By tapering the foot and by making the "toe" very slim the thread will have little chance of slipping off once your thread starts "walking" up the guide foot.

GUIDE PREP


You can see in this photo that at the end of the foot (where it transitions on to the blank) has very little step in it. To do this take a file and gently remove material until you get it to look like this. As you file lay it on something flat to check how much "step" it has left. This photo should help for visual reference. The time spent here is well worth it as it makes wrapping so much easier. Take your time go slow and have a light touch. No need to dig the file in hard just a nice smooth forward stroke. No need to go back and forth as the file will only cut on the forward stroke.

HOLDING THE GUIDE




Use a thin piece of masking tape to hold your guide down on the blank prior to wrapping. If it wont sit nice and flat take it off and touch the bottom of the guide with a file. You want it to sit flat. Now there is no need to wrap the tape all the way around the blank. This only makes it more difficult to get off while wrapping. You will see what I mean later!!

MAKING A SHOULDER



Next take a full width of masking tape and wrap it around the blank twice where you want your wrap to start. The length of the wrap is up to you as it will be your rod. By doing this you will create a shoulder for the thread to sit against to get a nice square edge. It also makes a dam if you like so you can pack the thread against it. I find that this is the easiest for beginners.






THE WRAPPING



Now the meat of it. OK my for wrapping setup the thread comes from behind the blank so bring the thead over the blank against the shoulder then wrap it in open turns to your right hand side 3 or 4 times. If you want you can put a temporary peice of tape on this tag to keep it tight or hold it with your left hand putting mild pressure by pulling towards you at all times. Dont let it go.



While still pulling with your left hand use your right index finger to gently nudge the thread over creating an "X". As you make this "X" rotate your blank so it traps the thread underneath. This is why it is important to not let it go with your left hand which is holding the tag end. If you do the blank will tend to spin within the wrap.



Make a few wraps and use your thumnail or in this case a tool to gently push the thread against your shoulder made of tape.



Make 4-5 turns again using your right index finger to guide the thread over your tag end and so it lays against each other and does not criss cross. If you look at the photo there are 5 wraps all laying next to each other. You can release the pressure with your left hand and cut the tag. The thread is trapped now and wont fly off.

Guide Wraps and Easy Trim Bands

Ok been picking away at this wrapping. The first thing I do is hoover(vacuum) my work area. I then take one of those magic dusters and go over the general area to minimize dust. Try to do whatever you can to keep the dust levels low to none. If its dry, which is rare here in Scotland, I will wear a nylon windbreak so there is no dust off of my shirt

I find some type of magnifier really helps to see what the thread is doing. This one has a daylight bulb in it. Overhead is 4 4" tube lights. most of my work area is painted white for maximum brightness. I also have a set of goggle magnifiers which fit to your face. I use this one the most though. Remember if your threadwork looks good magnified it will look even better when its not

I use a neptune thread tensioner. It doesn't use springs for tensioning. It is two magnets in which you put paper washers between to adjust the tension. The more washers the less tension there is. Its really smooth and especially good if wrapping with metallics. It doesnt get pinched between anything so there is no chance of fraying. The washers you see are my "guide wrap setting". I minus a few for ferrule wraps and threadwork such as chevrons, diamonds etc where you want your wrap just slightly tighter.
When a guide is wrapped you should be able to move it back and forth for alignment. If you can't its too tight

I wont bore you with a normal guide wrap procedure. But I will show you how I do all of my trim work whether it be thread or metallics.

Lay a 6" piece of your trim material over the blank. Place a darning needle(in this case), a wooden stick or your finger over the thread. Easy enough you say!!!

Now wrap your thread around your tool of choice. You will need to put one extra wrap of thread for the number of trim turns that you want. In this case I want 3 so I put 4 or its more like 3 1/2 turns and put the end throught the eye. Place your thumb on the loose wraps to they stay in the order you see. Pull the needle throgh and you will end up with a tag on each side. Now in order for it to "lock" on itself you will have to carefully remove one turn and you will see the two threads join in a sortof figure of eight in the middle. Dont pull it tight. Gently slide it up to your main wrap and pack it against the shoulder.

This is just loose before packing. Once it packed just pull each tag in the direction that they are lying (90 degrees to the blank). To lock them position one towards the tip and one towards the butt( parallel with the blank). Trim the tags, place a very small dab of CP or super glue right on the crossover point and bobs your uncle!!.
Oh one other thing. Place the knot or crossover on the side thats not seen by the angler. On a spinning and fly rod thats on the guide foot side, on a baitcasting it would be opposite the guide foot side.

Both trim wraps finished. I like doing it this way because your trim tags will never show under your main wraps especially if your not using CP.

Wrapping The Decal Borders

Ive started the wrapping today on this CTS. I took a break from the lathe work and cleaned up all the dust and tools that were laying around.

This is the wraps that will border my custom decal. Its Cobalt Blue regular nylon with white NCP inlay thread. I don't normally wrap with NCP as the wraps look quite "pastelish" if that's even a word!! But in this case its a dark blank and if I use white regular nylon the blue blank will bleed through even though I am going to use Chromaseal Colour Preserver.

Click on the photo and you will see no gaps, overlaps or bumps. I am happy that the thread spacing is uniform and has an overall "clean" look to it. I may tip each end with a metallic but I'm not sure at this point. I just need to cut the tags end with a razor blade and make sure everything is packed properly. The packing and burnishing is very important so that your wraps turn out a nice uniform colour once finished. If there is gaps it you will have darker shades in the wrap

You can see Rodmaker Magazine in the background. It a "how to" on an easy way to do these kind of thread inlays. The right hand page has numerous photos that show you every step. The left is written instruction. It could not be easier and I really cant stress enough how much time some of these articles can save you. There may not be something in every issue that will interest you but when there is it can be very helpful. I offer subscriptions on my site but if you need any additional info contact me scott@solwaycustomcomponents.com