I just tried some Gudebrod red bronze metallic thread as a trim band and couldn't beleive how hard it was to keep from unraveling. I finally just taped tag end to blank and coated with CP, and let dry and cut after. Very slippery stuff. Any body have any tricks for trim bands. ED

Ed,
When I do trim bands with metallics, I leave all the tag ends hanging until the whole rod is ready to finish. I tighten them every so often while I'm putting the rest on, a final tightening before trimming and CPing/finishing.

The stuff is a little hard to work with in small bands. I like the idea of some CP right away. Sometimes I do two thread bands between double foot guides and it seems like just breathing on them can make them unravel.

Mick; I wasn't going to do CP on this rod, but had to. Have you tried the bronze. It's not like the gold it seems almost solid ,not the wrapped stuff. On long runs it should be fine. I couldn't get to hold on a 6 wrap trim band.Ed..

Ed, I just finished a rod with bronze metallic 5 turn trim bands on all the guide wraps. It took about a dozen tries to figure out a way to do them with having them slip off, or unravel.

What I finally settled on was starting the wrap as you would a normal wrap with a bit of extra tension on the thread. Hold onto the wrap by pinching it against the blank until the original tag end has been covered three times (original crossover + two more wraps). Now trim that original tag as close to the wrap as you can, continue about 1/8 of a turn and add your pull-through loop. Cover this with two more wraps, and finish like you normally would. Don't trim the tag end until you've snugged it against your main wrap. You could even leave it until you're ready to finish the rod.

Hope this helps, I don't know if it'll work for shorter wraps.

Shanon

Ed,
You didn't mention what kind of thread you were using to compliment the metalic. I have trouble with some of the Polyester , and Rayon threads stretching, and the trim bands coming off. Good old Gudebrod Nylon thread always holds very nice. I use it all the time, and normally use no more than 3 wraps of trim, usually less. It may take some practice but in the end it all pays off

Ed, I've used it a few times and it is a bit more difficult to work with on small bands. I do all my bands the same way. Start wrapping over a pull through loop, and leave the original tag end hanging out the whole wrap. This gives me two tag ends that I pull against each other to keep them very tight.

More than once though I've lost patience with a few of the smaller ones and put a drop of superglue on them.