Is it best to brush on color preserver or not? How do you get thread color to keep its original dry color look? Or is this just impossible? Thanks

Frank do a search on the board and you'll get a couple hours of reading. Any time you put any thing on the thread it is going to change color(shade of the color). Most of the time the color of the thread will darken to some degree, if you need or want a particular color general rule of thumb is go a shade or two lighter than what you want. As far as whether to CP or not to CP it is up to you. If you want the color of the thread to remain as close to the dry color as possible then use CP.

We ALWAYS use two coats of color preserver.

In particular, we use TM Chromaseal or the 811 product cut with 30% denatured alcohol.

Provided you have cleaned your hands before handling the thread (to get rid of grase and oils from your skin) and there are no other contaminants onn the thread, there should be no color change when youapply CP. Keep in mind, though, that some folks will say that the thread "darkens" after applying CP, and often this is because the wraps are not tight enough and the dark color of the blank is showing through.

Uncle Russ
Calico Creek Rods

If you want to retain the spool color for the finished wrap, you must use color preserver. This will darken the color slightly compared to the unfinished spool color.

As a new builder, it's a good idea to create a wrap sample on both dark and light colored blank scraps. Wrap several shades of thread color and finish with and without CP and see how each color reacts with CP on that blank color. Some lighter colors will still show through the darker blank color unless you spend a lot of time packing the threads tightly.

Terry

How do you apply CP and how long does it take to dry?