I have only wrapped 7 rods and have done them all spiral wrap from butt to tip. Is there an advantage to wrapping from tip to butt.? Thanks for all the help and insight. Bass Wishes!

Hi Kirk I wrap from tip to butt. I think that it helps me pack the threads tighter, but that could just be fooling myself too. My set up is backwards of most wrappers though. I have the butt of the rod to my right and the tip to the left. I think what ever works for you will be fine.

You mean guide wraps, or butt wraps? You talking physically wrapping the thread from teh tip of the rod to teh butt, or wrapping the tip guides before teh butt guides?

I wrap butt wraps tip to butt, so I do not have to worry about coming down off teh foregrip, as well as not worrying about messing up the grip.

I wrap my guides from teh blank up the ramp of eth guide foot, so I wrap thread both directions here. I do not think you want to wrap from teh center of teh ring down the ramp onto the blank, as the thread will probably slip down teh ramp and will be harder to keep tight.

I wrap the butt guide first, the tip top last. I really should start from teh tip though, as some guide underwraps I do are punishing on teh skinny diamter of a tip, but fairly easy on the thicker part of teh blank.

There ain't no rules to any of this.

Kirk, I think your question refers to starting with the guide closest to the butt or closest to the tip. I've done it both ways and I can't see where it makes any difference. There is one advantage in starting with the butt guide if you don't wrap rods on a regular basis. Before I was building as much as I do now, I found that starting with the larger butt section allowed my fingers to get back into the swing of things before getting to the small tip area. Other than that, I can't think of any advantage either way.

Jeff Hunter

Geez Doc, I thought that I was the only one who wraps totally backwards :) I started really really reading Custom Rod Thread Art and realized that I am not doing this the way most are. Now I find out that I am not the only one LOL

Actually I learned this way from Jean Harrington of Harnell Rods and Stayed with it. Tried the other way once and the outcome was hillarious. Just one more quirk of Doc Ski. It is fun to be different Scott. Maybe we are lefties in the rod making world.

I meant the guide wraps. I just wondered if there was a logic behind wrapping butt guide first and then up the rod or tip guides first and then down the rod. I had never seen this question addressed. Yes, I begin on the blank and wrap up the guide foot towards the guide. The rods butt is to my left and the thread comes from the front and goes over the top of the blank. I turn the blank away from me with my left hand. Thanks for the replys and sorry for any confusion due to the wording of the question. Bass Wishes!

Kirk, I wrap to the same method you use. I always wrap left to right. This means once I wrap the lower side of the guide foot, I turn the rod around and wrap the upper side. Again left to right. I've tried different styles but always come back to the one I first learnt with. Can't teach an Old Dog new tricks I suppose. This method works for me but I don't think any method is right or wrong, just different.

Regards
Mark Fisher

I wrap with the butt to my right and attempt to wrap all the guides I can given my really basic setup. I can't accomodate a large permanent bench which makes balancing the rod on the holding jigs and aligning the thread holding all that more interesting on longer rods.

I have wrapped L to R, R to L, Middle out to each end. For some reason it doesn't much matter which way for me. I find it easier, because I am right handed, to wrap with the ring on the guide on my left side. The thing that gets me some times is if I am used to doing it one way for a large portion of the rod and flip it, I have to remember to reverse the tag end pull through loop. I've finished a guide, packed it nice and tight, when to pull the tag end though and the loop is in the middle of the wrap with the cutt ends dangling out of the end of the wrap....that makes it all that more fun!!! (at least, thats what I tell myself)

Domenic Federico
Infinity Rod Creations
Wickliffe, Ohio

I wrap everything butt to tip. I start with the butt guide because most of my guide wraps involve two colors along with inlays. It's easier for me to proportion from large to small, rather than the opposite. I save the butt wrap for last because that is the fun part. I have rods for myself laying around that have completed grips, butt wraps and weaves but no guides. I really dislike guide wrapping so I use the butt wrap as an incentive. Pathetic, I know.

I wrap tip to butt mainly as I wrap I measure each guide from the tip to make sure it is in the space it should and did not move.
Again left to right. left foot on double foot and then flip the rod.

Domenic maybe this will help. Only 3' long can be as long as you need.
[www.rodbuilding.org]

Like Doc and a few others, I wrap from but to tip with the but on my right side.
However, I just got an Amtak power rod wrapper and it has the motor on the
left side so unless I can reverse the direction of the chuck rotation i will be
wrapping with the butt to my left now. I'm sure it won't be hard to get used to
but we will see.

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..

I'm with Mick regarding the guide wraps. I like the larger ones but hate those skinny ones up towards the tip, particularly on ultra light spin rods or fly rods.

Neither,

When I spine my blank, my marking is black marker on a ring of masking tape (one mark on each section). I mount and then wrap the guide closest to the spine marking and make sure it's right on the spine marking. Next I do the guide on the other side or the mark. From there I'm aligning each guide to the one closest to it and make sure all guides are aligned before epoxy coating.

Unlike many others, I mount my tip tip last.

Jeff Shafer