Hi all,
I am very new to rod building. I have built a few rods for myself and friends with just a simple diamond wrap as a butt wrap, but on my latest rod for a friend at work, I decided to do the tuna wrap. It looked like it was coming out really good at first, but as I filled in the threads to close it out I ran into a situation with the gaps in the thread close to the handle, and not enough room at the wrap towards the tip. I used the flex coat brochure to do the wrap and the only thing it mentioned about spacing was that " I might have to experiment" with the spacing. My question is, how do I determine the spacing so that the same amount of threads will fit the length of the wrap? Or do I have to pack them really tight close to the tip and spread them out at the handle?

Thanks,
Matt

this is a problem all of us run into at some point or another, for just about any closed wrap you're going to have to offset the spacing to allow for the taper of the blank. known as taper offset spacing. pick up a copy of billy vivona's book and you'll be good to go, as he explains this topic thoroughly. even after you learn taper offset, there still will be times when you'll have to pack and pack to squeeze threads in or even wrap threads on top of each other to get the wrap to close.


Dave



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/05/2011 02:40AM by David Teague.

Dave's got it right Matt. Taper offset spacing is the way to go. It's a bit drawn out to go into here. But you have to adjust your centres. More space between centres towards tip and shorter spaces at base. Adjusted in increments from base to tip. Hope I haven't confused you, nearly confused myself. Another good book is Custom Rod Thread Art by Dale Clemens. You should invest in one or both of these great books. Then you will be bitten and start buying blank after blank after blank. More than you think you will ever use. I haven't got that far yet, prob one day when my eyes go haha. Good luck.

Thanks guys, I thought the taper was my problem. I have meant to buy those books, just haven't yet, guess its time. I started another rod for myself and am doing the tuna wrap in multi-colors. So far its coming out much better than the other one.