OK, I have no patient's for butt wraps and or any weaves, by the way Doc I really like your weaves, but what I would like to do is something super simple, but decorative in front of the grip, until now any thing in front of the grip was just a hook keeper with simple thread wrap. Links to pics or any Idea's would be very helpful.

A 3-D tiger wrap, but that takes just a bit of patience to get the spacing correct.

A nice exotic wood hosel, but there again you have to have to some patience for the turning, sanding and finishing operation.

There are various peel and stick fish decals that can be placed on the blank, then wrap some trims at either end and finish over. Some actually look pretty nice.

When you eliminate weaves, crosswraps and feathers, you've eliminated most of the possibilities.


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Tim,
Marbling. Bob

That didn't occur to me. Good idea. Just might be the ticket.

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The marbling sounds like the ticket, but if you want even simpler, some older South Bend rods had a contrasting color design that appeared to be painted on. Masking tape, spray paint, coat of finish, maybe?

You picked the wrong business to get into if you have no patience. Try the tiger wrap they don't take to long and look real cool.

Marbling for SURE. I marble all my rods to varying degree's, some just light touches and others all out depending on what I'm trying to acomplish with the build.

Invisiline Weaves over Moiere Tiger Wrap - Easy but time constraint for finish to dry three coats total

[www.rodbuilding.org]

Waterslides over thread - easy - one day

[www.rodbuilding.org]

Thread, CP and waterslide out the door in two days (cp drying limiting)

[www.rodbuilding.org]

Anything will get boring if you do a lot of rods - keep it interesting and shift around to maintain sanity.

The threadwork only takes patience if you want to get complicated. If time and patience are not on your side, that Gudebrod braid still lets you kick out a simple diamond wrap in just a few minutes.
Sulky Holoshimmer is so bright that a very sparse wrap is possible and nice

What are your long suits? If you can draw or paint, do that. If metal, then turn an impressive winding check.
Or If you want to make the rod snappy without art in front of the grip, put your attention grabbers into other things perhaps like making up some custom laminated or inlayed grips, or coloring your hardware.
Of if you want to go the computer route, all you need do is use your printer and some waterslide sheets to make interesting art you can stick on
Or with spray paint and stencils you can create your own Moderist geometric collage (step back Kandinsky!)

Ideas are everywhere. Wander thru a big crafts or hobby store perhaps for new inspirations as well.

Gudebrode BUTT WIND will let you make a diamond wrap in just two passes! Also there used to be some sparkly chinese finger trap material you could put on the rod, stretch it out and wrap it down. Merrick used to sell it.

a short crosswrap in front of the reelseat shouldn't be too bad. with a little practice it will get easier and easier.

something like the gudebrod HT braid will allow you to cover 1/8" with each pass and really simplifies the crosswrap.

marbling is simple as well

another option is variegated thread. this is a guide wrap, but you can see the look that you would get
[www.rodbuilding.org]

I gotta agree with Scott - if you want to produce something nice, it's going to take patience. Typically, the "super fast and easier" something is, the more it tends to look like a rod you bought at Wal-Mart. Feathers don't really take that much patience from what I've found. Sure, if you are doing a really complicated feather inlay it takes more time. On alot of my rods, I inlay 2-3 grizzly hackle feathers around the rod with the customer's name and my logo in between. Looks clean, classy, and not garrish, and is quite quick to do.

I wonder why if they can produce fish decals, why not decorative butt wrap decals? The different blank diameters might be a fit to try and size for but maybe it could be one on a shrinkable film or tube so it would fit any blank. If fish decals can mimic woven fish why not wrap decals to mimic butt wraps? Somebody might find a market for this. Old fishermen cannot see well enough to tell the difference!

I think the decals to mimic wraps would look even worse than the decals for fish.

Sorta Rich. 'Nice' can mean a whole lotta things. Most of the rods I see at Walmart or Sports Authority have buttwraps. Quality may be different, but they have them. You want to set yourself away from that genre, then one possible way would be to toss buttwraps out the window and either do something else with that real estate or move the eye candy elsewhere.

When someone says they don't have the patience for something, I read that as possibly they don't want to go thru a skills acquisition curve, or they have time/space constraints,or they simply just don't want to go down that path. Personally, I find if I enjoy something that patience is not required, just time. Whatever is is that floats your boat, it is a pretty good bet that working with something you enjoy and find interesting, you will need no patience for.

Personally I find thread tedious but can spend all day working on a tech issue. That's my predisposition. Billy, Doc, and many others have thread work that shows they personally enjoy spending lots of time within thread discipline. Some of us are macro and some of us micro in oreintation. Some enjoy form, some function. Some enjoy minute intricacies while others like using a big hammer. Some want to be fashionable, some different, and some follow the crowd (actually most follow the crowd, which is why there is a crowd)..

For whatever reason, Tim asked for alternatives to weaves and buttwraps. There is some reason behind that, which is valid for him. There are lots of possible intersections between a blank slate and personal predispositions.

Hey Billy,,, you mean you aren't using Visual Wrap to print on waterslide? Come on now,,, fess up! :-)

i was just like you man! i didnt really like butt wraps and as long as the rod performed great thats all i cared about....now on the other hand im starting to like the butt wraps people are making(the people on this board of course because they are not the usuall diamond wrap) and the first thing im trying is a tiger and so far its easy and fast...ive got the bottom layer done and now on the top...the hardest part about it is deciding which colors you want to use!

no matter what though for me performance ALWAYS comes first

Yeah Jon,,,, but notice the high interest level in tiger wraps now. It is really cool, but when everyone does cool, it becomes passe. I've done some practice pieces (on stainless rod) but the more I see people doing tigers, the less interested I am at actually doing the real thing on a rod. Personally, I like less travelled paths. That's my own bias. Now I might play with the tiger more, but I'll be looking to break some 'rules' if I do. I really want to persue that 'feedback loop' idea I tossed out there a week or so ago..... if anything just because I wonder how the heck it would look. Hall or mirrors sort of thing perhaps?

Decals for decorative butt wraps have been done by some of the commercial makers. Not so many years ago I saw some rods that had them. To me, it was obvious it was a sticker. To the average fisherman, maybe not. I thought it looked cheesy, but that's just me. I'm sure someone could do a better one these days.

I'm not aware of anyone using them currently, however.

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Tim - one really simple thing you could do is to use a winding check made out of sterling silver chain or the like. It's amazing how much bling that will add to a rod - they really pop out at you. Otherwise, the comment about moving the decoration to another part of the rod is a good one. If you have a black blank, and wrap a black hookkeeper with black thread and a little silver trim band - that looks seriously cool. Throw in a burled cork split grip with something unique inlaid in the buttcap and you have a rod that looks like it's going to kick butt in a very classy understated, stealthy fashion...