Being new to the craft, I am sitting here watching my second rod dry with the final coat of epoxy, I am wondering about thread options. I used Gudebrod threads for my first two rods. The normal nylon thead worked very well and I was quite pleased. I wasn't overly thrilled with the HT metalic thread I chose for trim. It looks very nice in thin (3-5 wrap) accents, but I wasn't impressed if the accent was 1/4 inch or more. It is very diffficult to hide the thread tails since the two part thread does not allow burnishing much at all without damaging the thread. I was looking at some thread made of rayon in the local fabric store. These threads come in some vibrant colors without the metalic strip. Any thoughts on the use of this type of thread? it appears similar in diameter to "A" thread and I wouldn't expect strength to be an issue with a decent wrap.

Any thoughts on the subject would be greatly appreciated,

Try the Rice metallic thread. I switched over from Gudebrod after my second rod and found it's alot nicer to work with.

which type of sulky threads should be used for wraps rayon, poly, or cotton? is the 40wt the same as size A thread?

The Sulky 40 is smaller diameter than A. I haven't got my hands on any 30 to see what it is like, but I would also recommend the sulky metallics. Great thread. The 40 rayon is pretty finicky to deal with sometimes.

HI,
I recently switched to sulky and madeira threads, there are many more colors available then gudebrod, rice or fishhawk. Before I did any real wrapping with them I experimented on a spare blank. It turns out that the 40wt is a good thread because it is a sewing machine thread, however you need to use a couple of coats of 811 or flex coat thread sealer before you expoxy, I got no bleed through by using this. Madeira polyneon is the choice of thread, sulky comes in colors and metallics. There are many web sites available for embrodery threads, and I would recommend a color chart, because there are over 300 different colors available, yeah they require a bit more work, but if you want vibrant colors, this is something to look at. Good luck

Thanks for the tip Bruce, I will look into the Rice metallics. It sounds like several people also like the Sulky thread. I have a few old rod blanks around so it sounds like maybe a little more experimenting would be a good thing before starting my next rod.

Dave-