I've seen a couple of questions recently on thread tension, or threads relating to tension. Got to thinking about how to setup and wrap double foot guides. Just want to get some clarification. I have a very very hard time moving my double foot guides when both feet are wrapped. Am I possibly using too much tension? I normally will wrap the foot towards the butt and after I get all the guides on with at least one foot wrapped, I'll line them up and move them around before wrapping the other foot. Once both feet are wrapped, I can't move them around. Does anyone have a better way or am I doing this properly.

It won't hurt you to back off on the tension just a hair. If the guide foot is flat to the blank, and your thread tension is correct, you will still be able to slightly shift the guide with some firm pressure on the side of the guide ring. If you can't shift it, or you find that you actually bend the frame when trying to shift it, you're probably a bit tight on your thread tension.

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Even for double foot guides?

I openly concede that there is more than one way to skin a cat, or wrap a guide. I've wrapped a fair number of blanks (well over 100) and broke one because of too much tension. My feeling (and I'm sure some may disagree) is that it's hard to wrap one too loose. Ever hear of a guide failure because it was wrapped too loose? Me neither. For cosmetic purposes, you're not too loose until you can't get the threads to stack up nicely with your burnishing tool. On double foot guides, I consider it 'normal tension' to have to 'ratchet' the guide around the blank to align them - first wiggle one foot a bit in the direction you want to go, then hold that foot there and wiggle the second foot over, hold that and wiggle the first... you get the point. Double foot guides require a bit of patience to align. If you do wrap too loose, you may also discover new gaps in the thread after you align the guides. You can either spend extra time w/ the burnishing tool or just cut the wrap off and increase the tension a bit. If you go at it the other way around, you can break a blank. Also note that tension gets exaggerated the smaller the blank diameter, read: toward the top. And guides that I have seen aren't convex enough to match the tiny diameter of a blank tip. Visualize a snake guide on a fly rod for an extreme example. So I feel that tension on the tip is far more likely to cause a problem than at the butt.

Wrapping on a wrapping machine, I run the thread between my thumb and forefinger while applying firm pressure. I may go tighter at the beginning of the wrap to get the strands of my decorative bands to hold tight, but when I'm on the guide foot, just firm pressure w/ my thumb & forefinger. That's it.

I PREFER double-foot guides to single foots for this reason: when you tweak the position of a double foot, the guide ring remains aligned with the center line of the blank. I just put the side of the ring against the surface of my workbench, hold the rod in front of and behind the guide between my thumb and index finger, and apply just enough downward pressure to move the guide.
When you tweak the alignment of a single foot, the tendency is for the ring to move off the center line of the rod, angling to one side or the other.

On stubborn guides I wet my fingers and push the foot with my thumb . Almost like trying to turn the thread with the guide. Maybe the saliva helps to lubricate .

Bill - willierods.com