I have a rod on the dryer, used lt blue Gubebrod sz A, color 037 100yd spool

That thread....when the epoxy soaked into it just went modely. Dangdest thing I ever saw. Some of the thread is lighter, some clear, some bluer looking, some darker looking spots, some lighter looking spots and in EVERY wrap! Some of the individual threads look like they didn't soak with finish, others do, some areas look unsoaked as well.

Never seen anything like it and yes, it was a NEW spool of thread. The finish is great, it's just that the thread went nuts on me.

Bummed :(

DR

Had the same reaction many years ago and figured it was caused by a batch of color preserver that had been left out on the shipping dock where it froze.

The only time I've seen this happen is when the builder took a long time to get the finish applied. It tended to start to gel and was a little too thick to penetrate evenly. The thread ended up doing a little dark in spots, not so dark in others.

I can't say if this is what happened to you, but it's something to look at.

More information - are you using NCP or regular nylon? Brand of finish (not likely to be the problem, however)?


............

Regular Nylon Thread-NO CP was used, and never is.

Mixed Threadmaster for 3 min and applyed instantly

It's not the finish, I've been through several rods with this same batch.

The spots aren't that dark, just darker here and there and lighter here and there. The same applys to individual threads in the butt wrap.

DR



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 09/14/2006 06:08PM by Duane Richards (DR).

Well, you'll have to narrow things down one at a time. I'd make a few sample wraps with that thread and a few more with other colors. Then apply the same finish batch to all and see if they all do it, or just that blue.

It isn't inconceivable that the dye in that thread-lot had a problem.

............

I'll go make one later tonight and do several pastel colors and see what happens.

DR

One other thing that could do it would be if something got on the thread itself. Where ever it might have gotten on there the finish is not penetrating the same. So the coloration would be different. Will be interesting to see what your test wraps do. If they all do the same, or none do it, then it could be something on your hands that you transferred to the thread during wrapping. Doubt this is very common but my bet is on this.

I've had this happen with lighter greys, even when I took extra care to pack the bejeezus out of it all. I still chalked it up to each of my 4 turn bands loosening a bit after packing and/or my tension was a bit off, which didn't allow correct packing to begin with, or retain the pack, only because I couldn't figure out any other reason,especially when later wraps of the same spool came out okay.

There are times when lighter colors give me fits. I'd love to know what you find out.

Sounds like the thread was contaminated with something at some point, perhaps even before you received it (maybe the person who shipped it has just eaten fried chicken wings). I speak from personal experience, LOL.

You might want to remove a few more layers of thread from the spool before doing the tests.

Stan

Hi Guys,
I wished I hadn't seen this.post . I'm just about to finish a butt wrap that has the same color. Hope I don't have the same problem. Will be looking at this post quite frequently to see if anybody has any solutions. Thanks

While I can't rule out contamination, I think it is a long shot. Reason being, a while ago I deliberately contaminated several lengths of wraps with various "normal" oils (one of which being chicken grease as I'm a fried chicken addict) to try and duplicate unexplained darkening of wraps that one individual asked about, and that I had happen to me on a multicolored diamond wrap. Under magnification, the packing looks great, but there are uniform blotches, light and dark. I will say though that trying to get finish over chicken fat is a sonuvagun.

After finishing, pretty much the only reason I knew which areas were contaminated, were because I knew exactly where to look based on blank markings and sketches. The differences, while they could be noticed, were not anywhere near as drastic as I had expected, which was a great surprise to me. I even tried blood, which interestingly enough, on grey thread turned yellow after finishing. If anything, the one constant seemed to be that contaminated areas were slightly lighter than clean areas, but again, not terribly drastic. The best pic I got was from nose grease. [www.rodbuilding.org] With or without CP, the contaminated area was lighter than the rest. On CP and non-CP sides, especially in the non-contaminated areas, you can see traces of dark areas among single threads that are due to packing. It shows how persnickity packing can be with lighter thread.

The lighter the color, the tighter you gotta pack, and more often, IMO.

Mick, if I remember correctly on that test didn't you cover everything with CP? Sounds like he is using NCP thread and no CP.

Sorry, received a message to log in when I thought I was, and posted above again, unknowingly????


Hive



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/15/2006 07:03AM by Robert Hively.

I experienced a similar event using a light gray thread some time back. Now, I have been fashioning rods since '83 and that was the first time I had a problem similar to the one described here.

This particular thread also was difficult to soak through along the edges of the guide feet (these are single foot Fujis), which is another novel result, even when using old heavy NCP thread. But, again, the rod did not look that bad and the buyer loved it. But I knew the variances were not planned and decided to do another to see what might happen.

In the second case, I used the "lighter" formula polyurethane and the changes reoccurred; the areas along the guides were similarly resistant to soaking. The wraps were fine, but not what I had in mind, so I have returned to using only the darker shades.

One thing, though, I have applied the rust and brown colored wrap and got a very subtle but similar variation, looking under magnifier, but these results were quite pleasing and present an overall metallic appearance in certain light that catches the eye. Same phenom happening? I do not know, but it produced a pleasant result. Maybe it is the way the light is refracted???

Therefore, I have resolved to stay with the dark blues, browns, greens, rust, and orange.

I just finished a green St C. SC IV 9 foot fly rod, using dark green only (the buyer is color blind) and I inspected a few minutes ago, and will do so again in the sun later, to see if there are variations I missed or the metallic sheen appears, which I hope it does, and will advise if there are variations. Under incandescent illumination, the rod is quite pretty.

Looking forward to more information on this phenom.

Thanks. Always ready to learn, even as I wind down my rodmaking to do more fishing.

Hive

Consider- if they are distinct SPOTS on the wrap that cross multiple strands on only one side of the rod- as if something touched it- it's not the thread on the spool that is contaminated. That would indicate that something happened *after* the rod was wrapped. Fingers with silicone or bacon grease, something in the air, whatever.

If the thread itself was contaminated on the spool, or even as you wrapped, you would see a more or less random, uneven mottling evenly spaced across the entire wrap or following the thread continuously around the rod.

I've had a similar reaction with light blue threads - my blotches were different than yours, I first went to apply epoxy on teh guide foot setion of teh wrap, then came back later to coat teh whole foot. This was a long itme ago, lol - I assumed when teh epoxy was freshly mixed and thin, it woudl penetrate around the guide foot and into the tunnel better. As Tom first mentioned, teh epoxy thickened and when I came back to coat teh whole guide, it didn't penetrate teh same and I had a distinct color difference between teh first application & teh second.

Doesn't sound liek that's what happened to you though.

Overnight the rod in question looks somewhat better. This thread feature if we can call it that, is kinda pleasing as well. It does have the light refraction spoken of above and it also has wrapping areas that are evenly spaced on the wraps, just as if it came off the spool that way.

I did a test wrap last night and it has the SAME look as the rod. I also did it in lemon yellow with the same finish. The lemon is perfect, the lt blue is splotchy. And....the light blue has area with NO color on the thread. The thread once coated with finish turns pure white/silverish. These light areas are only 1/16th inch long and there's only two of them, one on the rod and one on my test subject.

I beleive 100% that is the thread, no question in my mind.

The rod has a kinda tye dye look to it only VERY FAINT and every way you look at the rod it looks different. Very odd looking rod!

I sent some pic's of it over to the owner and he loved it.........oh well......:)

I'll get some pic's up in a few.

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DR



Edited 8 time(s). Last edit at 09/15/2006 11:18AM by Duane Richards (DR).

I checked the rod I just finished in the sunlight, and the dark green was uniform and had that nifty metallic sheen and the sanded gjuide feet shine through with zesto.

Also, I did observe, and forgot to mention, the thread, when I was wrapping occasionly looked lighter as though the color was bleached slightly. But, application of the poly made the light shade go away. Still, I wondered about that occasional variation.

Good stuff, the above, thanks.


Hive

Very interesting, DR. Are you going to get a new spool of that shade and try it again just for giggles? Seems like an awfully bad run of thread. Really are some neat looking wraps though. Glad the customer liked it!

Mick,

I may very well try it again ON MY OWN rod. I kinda liked the really odd look it gave.

DR