Now I'm back home, was trying to finish up a rod for my bro-in-law in CA. Everything was fine, wrapped the butt wrap with medium tension, simple chevron (gold Sulky, Purple gudebrode, green Madera). Everything was fine until I put Swifty CP on. The gold sulky instantly loosened up, leaving it loose in between every chevron. Attempts to pull the threads together were unsuccessful.

For the most part they are there in the same place, just a bit more loose than the other threads. Any ideas what would cause this? Not enough tension? Too much tension and you have a hard time packing the treads, correct?

Phil

I have had that same prob. when i take a few days to do a decorative wrap. Only way i have gotten it done right is find a day i can wrap and put finish on all in one sitting. I'm interested to hear the more experianced guys' feed back

I used to fish a little, but a little wouldn't do it, so a little got more and more.

My butt wraps always takes me days to finish and I have not had this problem. Never used any other thread than Gudebrods so it may be the choice of thread brands used. I did have one problem with too much tension and the thread broke.

Just a thought here.....I am re-reading the tutorial on tiger wraps and it makes mention of warming the outer wrap with a hair dryer prior to removing the spacer thread. The point here is that warming the thread helps it take a "set" and preserve the spacing when removing the spacer thread. Maybe, just maybe, this technique would help stabilize your wraps before CP.

In Billy's book he uses a method involving wrapping the entire wrap with mono leaving enough space between the threads for the CP to soak the underlying threads. Just before the CP sets up, carefully remove the mono. I've used this method several times now with good results.

Thanks Billy!

Regards......Doug@
TCRds

Sounds like this is a common problem, not one I've seen before. I don't understand why only the metallic loosened up.

Is Sulky particularly prone to this or does it happen with all metallics?

Phil

Phil, it can happen with any thread, really.

Putter
Williston, ND

Check to see if your sulky is rayon. I bought several spools and none of them are worth wrapping with. I had the same problem with mine. Loosens up every time also will bleed funny when you apply epoxy.

Good Wraps..
Russell C.
Bastrop,Tx.

Phil,

All my wraps are with Gudebrod, NCP or metalic A. The only time I use regular nylon is when I need to bleed as in a tartan wrap. I have yet to try any other threads, but I have never experienced what you described, at least for the last 5 years. When you use a mixture of different brand of threads, I believe you will get different thread elasticity and therefore, tensioning may become a critical problem. This is only my guess as I have not done what you did. In most of my wrap, like the recent one that I have just posted (Roses), I always make it a point to use a single thread, NCP or Nylon, to complete my wrap. This single thread wrap with sufficient tension, can hold the whole pattern together very neatly. If you were to examine very closely my rose wrap again, I use single black NCP A to border the whole rose pattern. Once this is done, I will do alot of burnishing, adjusting and repacking to close up any ugly gaps. More critical is the adjustment of space between patterns that has to be closed later. You will be surprised how this single thread wrap can hold the pattern together and still allow you to make adjustment.

So it may be because of the different types of threads? Makes sense thinking about it as the Sulky metallic was the thinnest thread compared to Gudebrod and Madeira. I'll have to see if I can prevent it from happening again.

I truly despise working with Gudebrod metallics after seeing how much easier it is to work with Sulky or some of the other metallics. I haven't done a lot of metallic buttwraps though so have to work at it some more. I think the wrap may be able to be saved, will see what happens.

Phil