i saw coats and clark mentioned on here the other day and i went and bought a couple of spools at the friendly neighbor hood wally world, nic colors but do you need color perserver on all the colors

If you bought thread to wrap guides I hope you noticed what the thread was made out of and know which ones may be acceptable and which ones will not work.

Doug,
Bill is quite right. Coats and Clarke make thread for sewing. They make thread from cotton, polyester, and rayon. Any of their thread that is made to be used in a sewing machine is highly likely to contain additives such as silicones which will affect any epxoy finish you use. In addition cotton threads are very likely to fray and create fuzzies. The strength of many of those threads is also suspect.

Of the threads I mentioned only polyester is likely to be useful for rod building. I have used rayon thread for trim and used color preserver. I find rayon thread to be weaker than other thread of the same weight. Many rod builders use Sulky and Madeira thread successfully. You might check with some of the sponsors who carry Sulky.

If you find silk thread from a manufacturer like Coats and Clarke, it will probably work, but I would use color precerver or test how epoxy works on it before using it for a rod building project.

Mike Blomme

I have several spools of Coats and Clark thread POLYESTER. It seems to be just as good or better than Madiera. I have done several wraps with it and it works great. I always use CP unless I am going for the translucent effect so I don't know if it is color fast or not. I may try it on my next rod to see if it would be translucent. Just guessing I would say it would probably need CP if you want it to be color fast.
PFD

I use C&C a lot and as long as you are using the Trilobal Polyester, you'll be okay. There are no issues with finish using this. Just as with any other thread, if you want the color to remain, you'll want to use CP. As a caution though, the colors tend to darken a shade or two more than a comparable color in Gudebrod, so if you are looking to do a very specific color scheme, I recommend you make some test bands of different shades to find out which will work best for you with the finish method you use.

I second Mick on this. I have maybe 20 colors of the Trilobal polyester. Use it for everything, and never have had an issue when not using CP. It seems to be great stuff!

Ditto Mick & Steve!!

No problems with the tri-lobal polyester here either. As per the Mfgr. they dont use any additives to help it
run thru a machine.

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

Has anyone tried this thread successfully without using CP if it supposedly doesn't have any additives? I have done a few rods with CP and will probably do more, but I much prefer the translucent look. I personaly have yet to try C and C. All I can find localy if I remember is a 50/50 blend of polyester and cotton. (I think?) Thanks.

TJ

Works like any normal reg. nylon

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

Man I'm glad to hear that. Since I started building rods, my number one biggest dissapointment is wanting to match a certain color scheme, ordering what you THINK is right from the online pics, and then being dissapointed and mad when it doesn't look like it did on the computer. I tried to match the blue and yellow from a Border Patrol patch once and ended up with about five different shades of yellow and gold that I will probably never use just to find out that goldenrod was the right choice. Now maybe if I can find the C and C localy somewhere and can eliminate some of that frustration. Thanks Raymond.

TJ

Tim I know just what you mean, I use the sponsors to the left for the big stuff but sometimes its hard if your not 100% sure about something. Dont know where your located but fabric and craft stores(Michaels, Rag Shop, and Joanns) should carry it, Sulky also.

I've used the C & C polyester with no problem, but personally, I'd test any with cotten in it first

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!