Help:
I have been useing Gluedbrod CP #811, straight out of the bottle. When I wrap guides, single foot fly, I put some CP on the" top" if the guide between the guide and the blank so that it will soak in to the tunnel around the guide foot. This does not happen very well.
When I put the epoxie on I also put a little bit on the same place to go into the tunnel and seal up the entrance which it does all to well. The epoxie soakes in and wets the thread from underneath and causes some of the thread to go transparent. Then I have to strip it all down and start again, lots of guide wrap practice!
I tried 2 and 3 coats of CP. I tried thinning the CP with a little alcohol. Both with little luck.
Please help as I am locked in a continious loop of wraping epoxieing and never getting a rod finished!!!
Cheers Ron

So you're only applying the CP to part of the wrap? I assume you don't want the guide foot to show. If you only apply it to part of the wrap anywhere that there isn't CP the thread will turn transluscent. You either need to coat the entire wrap with CP or not at all. And when you apply CP you really need to soak the threads, then wick off the excess.

Good luck.

Gerry:
I have been coating the entire wrap as well, but the problem occurs in the aera where the guide foot tunnel is as the epoxie gets in the tunnel and wets the thread from underneath the CP which I have put on top. Cheers Ron.

I build only fly rods and use only single foot guides and have not had that problem. But, I don't really have a tunnel on my wraps because I use the Forhan Locking Wrap. Not only does it basically eliminate the tunnel, but those guides are not going to pull out. You can find the instructions in the "Library." Give it try and I bet it solves your problem.

The Locking Wrap doesn't eliminate the tunnels, it basically closes them off. I think your problem is not putting on enough CP. You really need to flood the threads and let it soak in.

Also keep in mind that the area outlining the guide foot will be a little darker than the rest of the wrap - it has a different background than the rest of the wrap. It won't go totally transparent, but will be darker. This is true even with CP applied.

...........

Hi Ron,

From your post I wasn't sure how you were trying to fill the tunnel. I use a flyting bodkin and place a drop of the CP on the bodkin and carefully drop it into the tunnel while holding the rod section a vertical position. If the drop does not get "sucked" into the tunnel, I use the bodkin to poke the drop into the tunnal. This must be done carefully to avoid damaging the thread wrap. I repeat this with two or three more drops untiol the tunnel is filled. I also repeat this process on subsequent coats of CP. As Tom remarked, there may still be a slightly darker color around the tunnel area depending on the size of the tunnel. On flyrods I don't observe the darkening, but on large spinning surf rods with large two footed guides, the tunnel is rather large and the dark area is more noticeable.

If you don't have a bodkin, you can substitute with a toothpick or sewing needle. Best of luck.

Mike Blomme

Hi Ron,

From your post I wasn't sure how you were trying to fill the tunnel. I use a flyting bodkin and place a drop of the CP on the bodkin and carefully drop it into the tunnel while holding the rod section a vertical position. If the drop does not get "sucked" into the tunnel, I use the bodkin to poke the drop into the tunnel. This must be done carefully to avoid damaging the thread wrap. I repeat this with two or three more drops untiol the tunnel is filled. I also repeat this process on subsequent coats of CP. As Tom remarked, there may still be a slightly darker color around the tunnel area depending on the size of the tunnel. On flyrods I don't observe the darkening, but on large spinning surf rods with large two footed guides, the tunnel is rather large and the dark area is more noticeable.

If you don't have a bodkin, you can substitute with a toothpick or sewing needle. Best of luck.

Mike Blomme

Proper prep of the guide foot will certainly make those tunnels smaller, too, and allow the CP to work a bit better.

Putter

Just this weekend I had to strip and rewrap an entire rod because I was uncharacteristically stingy with the CP and my wraps turned out terribly blotchy. If you are using CP, there is no such thing as too much, imo.

When you think you have enough on, put on another good coat.

As Tom mentioned, the tunnels will usually be a bit darker than the rest of the wrap, depending on the color of thread, but if it's going transparent, I don't think you used a heavy enough coat.