Just started building my second rod but it's my first with Madeira thread. Wraps are light gray under and dark gray over, Threadmaster finish and American tackle CP.The problems are bubbles and losing my color. One or two coats of CP and 24 to 48 hours of drying time on the CP before applying finish. This is only my second time using Threadmaster. First time was with black Gudebrod thread and no CP. I was very happy with the results. Mixed the finish with a stick , poured finish on foil , applied and no bubbles. On the Madeira project I used a epoxy mixer and poured finish on foil and no matter what get lots of tiny bubbles. Thanks for any hints or advice.

What temperature were you mixing in? Were the bubbles in the mix or did you get them after applying the epoxy to the thread? How did you apply the epoxy, with a brush or spatula?

I set the finish outside for about 20 minutes (90 degrees ) Then mixed up a batch and applied with a brush on 3 small areas and with a spatula on one large area . Same results on both applications. It is around 75 degrees in the room I work in. No bubbles in finish until applying.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/18/2007 07:22PM by Bryan Noble.

The bubbles could be air release from the wraps,although the CP should have taken care of that.Did you try a little heat to raise the bubbles.Not to much or you will make it worse.How far into the set-up is the finish??I found it best to follow the words of Tom Kirkman and let the finish alone to do its job.Since I started doing nothing with it after getting the tunnel full and the sags out I let it go.Walk away.

Freddwhy (Rapt-Ryte)

Heat got some of them out. The rod is for myself and the bubbles are hard to see unless your close to it so i can live with it. The color loss had me wondering though. I brushed the CP on let it set then wick away the extra. Even tried two coats on one of the wraps and still lost spots of color on the light gray.

I haven't used the American Tackle product so I can't tell you anything from experience, but if there's air bubbles in the epoxy and there were none during the application, I'd question how good the seal was on the CP, two coats or not.

We've had a minimum of bubble problems with TM. Yes, we do get some, and we chase them up before we leave the rod spinning. We never touch it again until it dries for at least 24hrs. We've never used heat on the TM, although we have doen the microwave bit as suggested by Andy.

Uncle Russ
Calico Creek Rods

I just finished a rod with Madeira thread, and I did not use CP at all. No problems with bubbles or color.

I did notice that the madiera #40 polyneon thread is very small diameter, so you need to wrap twice or the thread will become translucent and the background color will come through which could equal a loss of color. I learned this when I used it as a underwrap. I applied the finish and the thread soak it up and he color (black) blank could reall be seen and the thread was there, but overshadowed with the black background.

Good luck.

Send Andy Dear a email,
Good Wraps Bob

I'll throw out an alternative. First, I seriously doubt it was CP or epoxy's fault. My alternative theory is teh CP formed a barrier preventing the epoxy to soak in (no duh), so when you applied the epoxy is sat on top of the threads, making it thicker, thus harder for the bubbles to burst. THEre's lots of bumps and valleys on a wrap which could trap micro bubbles which didn't get released due to teh thickness of the coat of epoxy. This is even more true when using a brush to apply the finish.

I'm not blaming the epoxy or the CP. I figured it was something I did wrong . I'm new at wrapping and this was my first attempt with this combination of products. I thought you had to use CP with Madeira because of silicone or something like that. Thanks for the theories and tips . I will do some experimenting before my next project.

Bryan,

Probably 90% of Madeira wraps have CP applied. I have seen some beautiful Tartan wraps done without CP but, for me at least, the beauty of Madeira is the 330+ colors and if Im doing a multi color wrap, I wan't to keep the colors as close to spool color as I can. Without CP ANY thread will darken considerably and/or become translucent. There have been widespread reports of fisheye problems with sewing threads due to sometime use of silicone treatment to ease use in sewing machines. Other than Tartan wraps where you need the thread to go translucent, I would want CP to maintain the brightness of the colors.

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!!

I still can't get over Tartans with MAdeira. I did a CP test and applied finish to bare Madeira by accident, not only did the epoxy repel on teh untreated MAdeira, I must have got whatever teh contaminant is on my brush and transferred it to other areas of teh test which were fully CP'd.