Hey Guys
My son built a rod and did not finish it it has set now for a month or so and the threads are dusty. Can he clean the threads and coat it without a problem or will he need to strip it and start over like i advised him to do. No CP was used on his wraps just plain nylon thread?

he can try using an artist brush to brush the dust off the wraps. next time he should save the plastic sock the blank comes in and store the completed sections in that till he is ready to apply finish.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/2008 10:04AM by LARRY PIRRONE.

Just dust if off with a soft brush as mentioned and finish it. It should be okay.

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Dust it off with a soft brush and repack it. It should be fine.

Freddwhy (Rapt-Ryte)

This may cause the hair on the back of a few purist necks to stand up, but I routinely use the blue "painter's" masking tape to remove the dust and stray golden retriever hairs that seem to gravitate to my thread wraps. I just touch it lightly to all sides as needed and have never had any issues with applying CP or finish afterwards. I'd certainly give the blue tape a try before removing all the wraps and starting again.

I use my compessor to blow them clean then tape for the hard to get stuff

Some times i have used fine glitter of the same thread color to camouflage dust partices I could not get out. I mix the glitter in to the finish. Use the glitter sparingly a little bit goes a long way
Good Wraps Bob

Mike,
Whenever wrapping, unless you wear rubber gloves while doing so; will result in skin oil and bits of skin cells being left on the thread and wraps.
It is a good idea to always go over the wraps with tape to pick up the oil and skin cells and junk th at might have been left on the wraps after wrapping.
I make a point of doing this as each wrapped is finished.

Then, if the rods sit a bit - just before coating the blanks to insure that any dust that may have settled on the wraps is removed.

Although compressed air is a help, the use of a brush often will drive the dust particles into the wraps.
However, the use of tape will suck the dust particles out of the wraps.

When finished - always double check the wraps to insure that you have not displaced or made any of the wraps loose with the use of the tape.

Then, after doing this, I always flame the wraps with a brief pass under an alchol burner. The heat of the flame will shrink the nylon wraps, burn off any fuzzies that might be there and also burn off any compustible dust particles or oil that might have been left in the wraps. Be sure to make the flame passage "BRIEF". If held in the flame too long, you will melt a thread and end up rewrapping that section of the rod.

Take care
REW

There are pressed air cans, if you have no compressor.

Thanks for all the advice. I will give it a try and if it does not come out it is not that big of a deal because these will be river rods anyway.

The problem with any kind of compressed air is that you may make the problem worse by stirring up settled dust in the area and causing more to settle on the wrap.

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 have a large pet cockatoo and dust is always an issue for me.He gives off a fine white powder and when it becomes air borne indoors it is extremely difficult to deal with,even with 2 large air cleaners.To make things worse I often have my bird in the same room that I wrap rods in(I live in a small place and can't really prevent this situation,although I make sure to apply finish in a separate room away from my bird).

To deal with the dust I often use green painter's masking tape on my wraps.I lightly touch all around the wraps when I'm finished wrapping them to remove any possible dust or hair particles that may have found their way on to them,and then unless I decide to finish the rod right away,I put a piece of masking tape all the way around the wrap to prevent dust from getting on them.I find that this masking tape is easily removed,without leaving any residue,and it allows me to finish the rod at a later date if I want to,without the worry of dust getting on the wraps.

Sure, masking tape working great, but it's removing dust only from the suffers. Dust between treads is untouched.
Another weakness of masking tape method is: the suffers after using become sticky and accumulating new dust that sitting forever.
So, I am using pressed air can and stiff teeth cleaning brush several times in turn. Next step is burnishing and covering by color preserver that making colors more vivid.