Hi guys/gals. I'm building my first rod and I am currently wrapping my micro guides. Things are going great, but I do have a question about pulling my tag ends through with my loop. All of my tag ends come through ok, but what I notice is the threads they are sliding under are pulled a bit inward when I pull the tag end through. Is this normal? Am I wrapping too tight with my thread? Just curious. Thanks!

use your packing / burnishing tool to pull it out a bit if it bothers you

Matt,
Try a few test wraps.
I suggest that you make the wraps tighter. If the wraps are tighter, the thread won't slide, and the packing will be tight so that the thread won't move.


As I said, try a few different wraps with the tension of different tension. Then, choose the tension that you want. Cut off the test wraps, and go ahead and continue on with your building. You will find that after you have wrapped a few hundred guides that you will have everything dialed in exactly correct.

All of us have cut off many guides and started over. Many reasons to cut off a guide and start over, so just be patient and you will have the exact look that you want in the finished product.

You will also find that often, as the size of the blank changes, that sometimes you will have to change the thread tension a bit to continue to achieve the result that you want. i.e. you may have to make the tension less tight or more tight.

Be safe
Roger

This used to happen to me when the tension was too loose. I now wrap a bit tighter and hold the edge of the wrap tightly with one hand while pulling through with the other hand. I then pull the tag fairly tightly and after cutting the tag I push the wraps slightly outward a bit to straighten the edge.

Matt,
Another thing that helps is to watch the thread angle when pulling the tag tight.
Rather than pulling at a right angle to the wraps, pull parallel to the wraps. You will get very little inward pulling if you pull parallel, rather than at right angles to the wraps.
Roger

Thanks for the replies. I read Tom's book and he said to make sure you don't wrap too tight, that you should be able to move the guide if necessary to adjust for alignment. I guess maybe I was worried about wrapping too tight. Don't get me wrong, the wraps look good, but I enjoy the heck out of this so I don't mind redoing them. I will say the micros are little buggers sometimes. I bet when I use regular size guides they'll feel giant..hehe.