Hello everyone, Im new to this forum and also to rodbuilding. My name is Jacob Thompson Im 15 years old and I love fishing and pretty much anything related to it. Ive been doing a few small repairs on some rods lately but I want to get into actually building myself a custom rod. Ive been watching videos on youtube (anglersenvy mostly) on how to do basically everything and its really helped my understanding of what to do a lot. But, I still have a question (probably lots more to come!), I see that when doing a butt wrap you go up the blank and back down and then tape the thread to the foregrip and cut it off but when you are completely done wrapping it, how do you end it? Do you just wrap some other thread around or close to the end of the thread thats been cut and wrap it like you would a guide sort of or what?

Thanks!
Jacob

Welcome to rod building. I would suggest buying some books on the subject. I've books from Dale Clemens, Billy Vivona, and Tom Kirkman. It will make life easier learning the tips and tricks others have spent years working on. Dale Clemens book's are very detailed. As far as your question, I put about 10 tight wraps and cut the design threads close, fray them out, and continue tie off wrap.

Ok thanks I'll check some of those books out and see how they are!

"Rod Building Guide" has the most detailed instructions on making basic crosswraps that you will ever find. The section on tying off the wrap is exceptional. Each step is matched with a full color photo. You cannot go wrong.

Alright cool where can I buy it?

Ok I found a book on amazon called rod building guide by tom kirkland. Is this the book you were talking about?

Yep, that it. If you want to do wraps other than diamonds, I suggest Billy Vivona's book. It has a ton of patterns. I would recommend Dale Clemen's Advanced Rod Building, but it's kinda pricey.

For now im not going to try anything other than a diamond. I might try some different wraps once I get some more experience though.

You can go up and then down, wrap it around double faced tape and cut thread.....or you can go and then down, wrap around the tape a few times, and go up and down again.

When you cut you can end up with ends coming undone and generally a lot more tape. Honestly the best and easiest way to to do the butt wrap is before you put the reel seat and grips on. It just takes a little more layout work first. Otherwise you end up with a big bunch of thread and tape which is difficult to trim off. Plus you often end up messing up your grips because the thread cuts into them.

Biggest advice is build simple first. Forget looks for now and concentrate on what makes a superior fishing machine. The fish doesn't care what the rod looks like. You shouldn't either if you are outfishing your friends ten to one. Remember, everything and anything you add to the naked blank only degrades its fishing ability. So use the least thread, the smallest guides, the least finish. All of these things are counter to "good looks" but they are everything when it comes to putting fish on the dinner table. And last but certainly not least, forget everything about how you think a rod should look. They are built to catch fisherman's dollars and not fish.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

Welcome Jacob. you'll love it and are on the right track watching videos and asking questions. There's nothing to it, feel free to let us know how we can help.

Tight Lines and Bull's-eyes,

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