If a Tip Top is Glued on with Tip Top Adhesive, is there a requirement for Wrapping it? Is it more for aesthetics? Or do you wrap over the tube
a little to help secure it? I am building an Ultralight rod and wondering if it would be okay not to have the wrap Tip Top. On my Ice Fishing Rods I
wrapped a guide for the tip top, but this is first time I am gluing a tip top on. Thanks

I wrap the tip up to, but not onto, the tip-top - else it looks unfinished to me.

Not necessary, but like Micheal, I always do one because it gives a finished look.
Norm

On fly rods i just run a little bead of thread epoxy around the blank at the end of the tip top tube.
Herb

Its a custom rod and you can do whatever you want, so wrapping over the tube may be aesthetically appealing to you. Something like a signature for the rods you build. I do not do it but I do a decorative wrap at the tip, up to the tube and when I put the epoxy on the wraps I slightly coat the end of the tube. On some of my ultra light builds I will not do a decorative wrap at the tip, but I like what Herb does. It looks like its missing something, so that little bead might be the ticket.

I generally use a short tip top wrap up to the tip, but not over it..

When I build ice fishing rods I use florescent pink or florescent chartreuse tip top wraps. Often when ice fishing, it is in a dim shelter, or at night. As a result, the florescent thread really helps to illuminate the tip of the rod to be better able to notice light bites from fish down below.

Be safe

Herb Ladenheim Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> On fly rods i just run a little bead of thread
> epoxy around the blank at the end of the tip top
> tube.
> Herb


X 2 on what Herb does. Looks great, easy to do and seals moisture out !!! Win win

Stan,
Tip wraps are optional = personal preference. All the replies above are good; for ultimate performance = no wrap, for aesthetics = wrap. I prefer a brief tip wrap which complements the guide wraps. On my UL / fly rods I often wrap an open spiral of a noticeable color to aid visual detection of light bites. In the end = to each their own.

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

All my personal rods are done like Herb suggested, all types.

I'm with Lance it is a custom rod, It is your choice.

Wrapping the the tip does not add to the integrity of the build, however it does add to the eye appeal of the rod.

I wrap my MNST tip tops on surf rods with AAA thread.

Thanks for all the replies! So I put about 5 or 6 wraps of thread in front of the tip top and will coat with epoxy. Gives a little finish look with minimal addition hopefully. Once again thanks! Forum is so helpful.

I will wrap on to the barrel of the tip.
It most certainly adds "some" extra support for the tip.

I have this unusual story to tell...

One day I was wading the South Harpeth river with a friend of mine.
Every once in awhile he would make a cast and his line would snap and his lure would go flying.
Well this went on for about an hour. He was blaming it on having some bad line.
We took off the line and I spooled on half the line I had on my spool.
His very next cast....the line breaks and the lure goes flying.

I got to looking at his rod and noticed that that tip was loose.
What was happening was this:
When he made a cast...the tip was rotating on the blank.
This was essentially wrapping the line around the blank between the tip and the first guide and causing the line to break.
What was somewhat perplexing is that the tip never came off.
I took a lighter to it and remelted what little glue there was and it was fixed.

Stash, your good to go, just glue it on and go fishing.

Dennis J. Danku
(Sayreville,NJ)

Was told this about 1980 by Camm Clark. What he showed me was the Tiptop guide tube was a little larger than the blank so he recommend that it be wrapped toward the tiptop tube, When your wrap reached the tube you continue wrapping BACK over it self with the pull thru loop under this back tracking wrap until you got enough to contain the tag end and finish with pull through like any other wrap. this will take care of the tube step. My .02.

I wrap my tip tops. I just think it looks nicer, but that's totally a personal choice.

The science of physics predicts weight added to the tip-top will slow the action of the rod - and it will. Unless you go wild with wraps and decorations at the rod tip I doubt a short wrap at the tip-top will produce a measurable change in the rod's performance. If someone produces Numbered evidence to the contrary I will change my opinion. Obsession is a deep pit.

Adding tiptop wrap to an ice rod IMHO, will not affect the performance of the rod. Ice rods are jigging rods of relatively short lengths. Often, spring indicators are placed on the rod end to act as a strike indicator. The tiny bit of weight added with wraps won't make the blank any less sensitive, and as stated in above posts ,can be of a florescent or reflective color to assist in visibility of the rod end. Accumulating ice on the rod tip will add more weight than the wraps. There are tiptops available with a tang provided so that wraps can further strengthen, and stabilize the tiptop.

Tight Lies and frisky fish

RJF

No need to wrap the tub, just wrap it up to the tip-top tube. Wapping the top-top got started back in the 50s and it was on all rods until the 70s on fiberglass rods because fiberglass would break easily if the rod got bumped up against a hard surface. With today's graphite blanks, a tip-top wrap is not at all important. A tip-top wrap. is more of a decorative touch that custom rod builders put on their rods but it is not really needed with today's graphite rods.

Glenn McMurrian