is it a should do to wrap the tip of the rod below the tip? is it a weak spot like the ferrule that could use a couple wraps or is it just for show?

I only do it on some repair work, it's just cosmetic. You can taper the step from the bare blank to the tube with a drop of finish. pulled with a toothpick around the opening.

Tom White
Rod & Reel Restoration

Wrapping the tip is pure aesthetics EXCEPT with tips that are "spurred" such as the MNST and other similar tops. When I do "blended" wraps, I never do the top ... weight reduction AND much easier replacement. If it is a highly decorative rod with team colors and such ... I wrap to match.

[www.mudhole.com]

On INshore SW rods +, I hav sarted wrapping thread up onto teh base of teh tip top from the blank. IT's an added measure of security against the tip top getting loosened, and it makes teh person repairing the top have to do a little more work. lol.

On the rods I build it it purely for looks but a rod without it looks half done to me. Especially if the wraps are bright colors.

Just for looks .... it does add weight to the tip. I never wrap the tips because of the weight issue. I like a lively tip on my rods.

Dennis Scott
dmsc0tt@charter.net

Brandon,
I always wrap every tip. As much as anything, I want the wraps to appear uniform.
Also, on some blanks which have an unusual tip size, I find it much easier to add a wrap to the tip to enlarge the tip to make for a better fit on the tips.
Also, on very fine tipped rods, the wraps add both strength as well as tip adhesion.

Take care
Roger

I only wrap the tips in cases of aesthetics. I haven't had a single tip broken while fishing because it didn't have a little thread around it.

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Strictly aesthetics but I think a rod doesn't look finished with out it.

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 install tiptops with hot melt glue. I make a very short wrap just off the end of the tiptop tube, then wrap up and onto the tiptop tube itself. Then I apply a thin coat of epoxy over the wrap. This tends to lock the guide in place even on very hot days or when the rod is put into a very hot environment. If I ever need to replace the tiptop, I can slice off the wrap/epoxy and then lightly heat the tiptop to make the hot melt turn loose.

I find this an excellent way to get the security of an epoxy bond with the ease of replacement that hot melt offers.

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I do something very similar to Tom. I use Flexcoat tip-top adhesive... it is flexible..not one of the hard, brittle ones. I heat the adhesive, coat the rod tip with it, then heat the tip top tube and slide it on to the rod. Once the tip top is aligned with the rest of the guides, I do a short wrap that matches the guide wraps, I bring the wrap right to, but not over the tube. The wrap gets a couple coats of CP and then a coat of epoxy finish. The finish DOES go up on to the tube. I can remove the tip pretty easily if it gets damaged, but I don't need to cut any wraps. I have never had a tip top loosen up, even coming out of the car in the Florida heat.

thanks guys i was rewraping the eyes on a buddie of mines catfish rod and he said he really didnt care what it looked like as long as the eyes were straight and it held together. i got all the eyes wraped and put on a new tip cause it needed it and i guess i just got tired of messing with it and figured why mess with it it aint holding anything, but now that i read mikes post about it "not looking finished" it does look different without any thread by the tip, almost all rods have it i probally should but i dont feel like it i guess ill put a thin coat of finish there to ''look like it" if he dont like it i can always change it.

Why not wrap it in the first place ? Why go through the trouble of reworking the rod if you don't complete the last small detail. It'll take all of twenty seconds to put a wrap at the tip then It WILL be completed and you won't be getting it back again if he doesn't like the look. Even the lowest priced rod on the rack at a store has the tip wrapped if nothing but for looks. If I sell a rod at any cost I will darn sure wrap the tip and make it look professional.

I agree with Mike and Lance. A rod just doesn't look finished with the tip unwrapped. I wrap every one of them.

J.B.Hunt
Bowling Green, KY