Help. I've got a problem that I just can't seem to fix. I've got 8 rods ready to finish but I'm so frustrated I'm afraid to even start. My problem is fuzz/dust in the finish. The finish is clear and even but it almost looks like someone has sprinkled salt into it. It is not contamination from anthing it is fuzz/dust on or in the thread itself. Even after I have applied multiple coats of CP, if I look with a magnifying glass I can see the fuzz/dust. Apply the finish and it looks just terrible.

A couple of things I have tried or noticed. Number one I am using either Gudebrod and/or Pac Bay NCP thread. Test wraps are done under no tension with the same result. When I look at a new spool there is a great deal of dust attached to the thread. I have tried brushing and cleaning the wrap with alcohol and other various chemicals without sucess. I have tried removing the fuzzies with tape and/or flame - no luck.

Any help will be appreciated.

Jim

That doesn't sound like dust - it sounds like frayed/fuzzed thread. Dust would be easily removed by a light brushing and would only occur on the top of thread, not underneath. Frayed/fuzzed thread is something else.

Is the thread on the spool this way or does it only appear this way after you've wrapped it on the rod?


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If it's NOT on the spool in that condition, you may be causing it by running it through a tension device (the kind where the thread is "pinched" between two disks) that is to tight. I used to sometimes experience that before I switched to a system that puts the tension on the spool, NOT the thread.

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 just checked a brand new spool. I can't say it is frayed to any degree but it does have some dust on it. The tensioners I use tension on the top and bottom of the spool and never touch the thread. But while I was looking at these suggestions I may have stumbled onto the solution and It may just help out some other slightly dim witted builder like myself. I did a fast test wrap and looked at it with a magnifying glass - it looked ok - just a very slight bit of "stuff". I then brushed it down to remove what was there before applying a coat of finish and I checked again with the magnifying glass and presto - there was 5 times as much stuff as before I brushed it down. The stuff is coming from the brush both during cleaning and finishing! Just put a coat on a new test wrap using a spatula and it looks good to start. We'll see. Just goes to show you never know (At least I don't)

Jim

Take a piece of masking tape and touch it, sticky side down, to the thread on the spool. Now look at it again. If the dust/fuzz, etc., is still there it's not dust.

If it is dust, and If lightly dusting it off with a brush increases the problem, then you need to find a cleaner brush.

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Jim I noticed the same thing would happen to me I'm pretty sure your are applying to much tension. Especially if you are using older guberod nylon, you can actually hear the thead streching. I could be wrong but that is what I found to be causing my fuzz, e-mail me and I'll tell you what I done to get it off with out removing the whole wrap.