The local rod building shop steered me away from silk from my next rod, but in looking at sites like Golden Witch, it seems like if I want to make a truly fine rod, I need to switch over. It does seem like there are varying qualites of silk and the less fuzzy the easier they would be to work with. How do you guys feel about silk vs. nylon, and do you recommend specific brands?

Nylon is lot better to work with, and I use mostly Fish Hawk silk on bamboo rods. No need to really use silk on graphite. Silk is just a pain in the neck to work with. But if you must The Persalls or YLI aka Fish Hawk silk is the best to work with.. Thanks Dave's Rods

I did a rod with Kinkame Silk and it came out beautiful. The rod lights up in the sunlight and almost glows. I used G-brod 811 for CP and could not be more pleased. Kinkame also has a huge assortment of colors to choose from and shaded butt wraps with this silk would be outstanding. I think they have 120 colors or something like that.
Bruce Fisher

John..Silk is the classic, longtime favorite for bamboo. When wrapped and finished with expertise, it's incomparably attractive. Pearsall's is the best; it comes in the finest diameter (called "gossamer"), and is as smooth as it comes. Silk is also demanding skill-wise, more prone to color fade, and less durable than nylon. Unless you're building a cane rod, I agree with the direction your shop steered you in. Today's nylons are great threads, and stunningly beautiful rods are built with them.However, both kinds of thread are readily available and relatively inexpensive. I think perhaps the best answer is to experiment on your own and see what you like for yourself. Happy wrapping. Barry

Jon,

I switched over to using Pearsalls Gossamer silk on my cane rods a while ago. Silk indeed is finicky thread. There's a fine line between too loose, and breaking the Gossamer. But, once you break the code, the silk thread finishes are just beautiful, especially the Pearsalls. Silk flattens wonderfully, and when you apply a good wrap varnish, the transparency of the thread is absolutely gorgeous. To get good wraps with silk as thin as Pearsalls Gossamer (actually any silk thread for that matter) you need to have the drag on the spool of the thread rather than the thread itself. My wrapper is set up so that the nylon washers and springs provide the drag directly to the spools. When using Gossamer, I find that a few tads below the breaking point of Gossamer thread is sufficient drag to hold the guides in place, yet not too tight to burnish. I must be getting better at my wrapping, because I had a fella ask me what kind of tape I was using to hold my guides on a cane rod.

Titelines,
Mark