I've heard that it is possible to wrap guides too tight so that the guide feet can cause damage to graphite fibers and result in rod breakage. How do you know if you might be approaching this degree of tension on the thread? I'm concerned I may have wrapped one or two too tight, but I have no experience to tell me one way or the other.

Secondly, the feet on the last couple of guides at the tip of the rod are almost as wide as the rod. I am worried that they might wear through or cut through the thread after only a little use. Is this a likely problem?

Thanks for your help.

well if you are unable to adjust the guide after wraping and before epoxy they are to tight ... also you can file the sides of your guide feet some what so there not so wide and fit the smaller portion of you blank better just recoat with something to help cover file marks on my black frame guides i just touch up with a sharpie marker felt tip will also work .... remember the wrap adds loooks and holds the guide to a certian degree but the epoxy is the main fastening system ....hope this helps ...John T Burford aka Tightline Rod's

Hmmm.... I thought it was just the opposite. I thought the thread was the primary, and the epoxy was to protect the thread...

the thread is the primary holding factor: epoxy without the thread would be useless. Thread with only color preserver to keep it from unraveling will last at least one season ( I've done that!) . Of course the whole system is the best. As far as wrapping too tightly, I've read & have been told that this is possible and is a bad thing to do.? I think though that if you are able to pull the thread tag end back under your wrap with a loop that you are well within the tension limit. I have gotten the wraps so tight that I couldn't pull my loop & finish the wrap: That was too tight. You will, as a general rule, need to lighten the tension as you get nearer the tip, I don't understand the physics of this, but have observed that the thread is tighter as the diameter of the blank gets smaller.
Re: shaping your guide feet. Filing down & tapering the guide feet is an important part of getting a good wrap and a nicely finished appearance. I have found that a sanding disk with the rubber backing plate placed either in an electric drill or in a lathe is much easier and quicker than filing and results in a much better job. Avoid using grinding wheels! They take too much too quickly and heat the guide to the point of softening the metal.
When shaping the guide feet, have the blank close by and use it as a template for the width of the foot.
Much of rodbuilding, it seems, is an array of observations and passing on of "knowledge". A lot of this "knowledge" is rumor with little base in fact. If you read or hear something, don't neccesarily believe it just because someone else says it is so. I find that being skeptical in reading advice on the web is the only way to go. For every opinion you read, you'll get two that contradict, so just weigh them in your mind and try the methods which seem most reasonable first, then go down the list if your results aren't as you had hoped.
Tight lines (maybe not so tight thread)

These are all good suggestions. The guide feet can be filed, sanded, ground, etc., to get the shape/width you need. Just make sure to get a nice polish on them so you don't have any burrs or sharps that can cut into the blank. (See Volume 4 #3 issue of RodMaker for a complete article on prepping guide feet for wrapping.)

If you cannot move the guide with slight sideways pressure, then you have wrapped too tightly. If they shift around with almost no pressure, then you have wrapped too loosely.

The thread serves to hold the guide to the blank and the finish serves to protect the thread. The finish also serves another important function which we uncovered in our color preserver strength test, and that is to lock the guide in and prevent movement or shifting to either side. If you make sure to have the wrap tunnel filled with CP and/or finish, and have some degree of finish filleted at the junction of the wrap tunnel and guide leg upright, the pressure required to shift it or break it loose from sideways pressure is nearly tripled.

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Tom reminded me of something else - -for polishing the guide feet I use an "E-Z Lap" diamond hone designed for knife sharpening...you can rub it over the filed or sanded portions of the feet and remove all burrs and imperfections. I also have a ball of yarn; a real fluffy type used in tying egg patterns for Alaskan Rainbows ("Glo-Bug" yarn) that I drag the polished guide across to make sure all the burrs are gone. That being done, make sure your guide feet are straight and on double footed guides that the two feet are perfectly in line in both planes.

My experience with Fuji guides is that they are easy to work with: The metal is very hard so filing is somewhat difficult but the sanding method works well & you are not likely to take too much metal away and the feet are almost always perfectly aligned. Other brands of guides can be somewhat lacking in these respects.
Some guides come "pre-tapered" ie. ground at the factory. This doesn't mean that you don't need to work on them. The factory ground guides are usually poorly done with lots of grooves and burrs.

"Little" things such as proper guide preparation make the actual rod construction go easier as well as providing a better product for the user. The thread will climb onto the guide foot very easily and will stay straight while you wrap. The finish will level itself better and you will not get finish cracking around the tip of the guide foot. The rod will not only look better, the wraps will be more durable and the construction process will go more smoothly.