# Movin on up



## TreednNC (Jul 1, 2005)

Ok slow this is only my third rod, I'm trying though. Just a little sumthin sumthin I tried on a rod I built my dad for Christmas. Had a basic 2 or 3 tone spiral wrap with a hook keeper.....watched a video and stayed at a Holiday Inn Express lastnight and wa-la...dont laugh too hard, my first attempt at this cross wrap stuff. Will do some packing and tweaking to straighten up the crossings a little....here goes nothing


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## fishinmama (Oct 14, 2006)

*no expert, but*

i think it looks nice...
i think it must be very rewarding to build your own!
don't cut yourself short Justin ..... it's pretty!


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## smitty919 (Feb 16, 2007)

heck yea thats a sweet looking rod. i would be proud to use that.
good job:fishing:


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## TreednNC (Jul 1, 2005)

I'll admit, I left it as an open wrap like that because I was anxious and lazy and didnt want to cut all the threads to fill it in right now, but on a smaller blank like that, I kind of like it. Two things bother me about it though, the tip end of the end wrap, some white shows there from where I didnt cut the end of my cross wraps at enough angle and they fuzzed up, and the butt wrap doesnt make a close tight wrap because of some flex coat on the blank. Hindsite says I should have spun the rod and took some fine sand paper to it. Thanks guys....now if I can just get this VisualWrap software understood....oh and the pics were camera phone pics...batteries dead in the digital


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## HellRhaY (Jul 6, 2007)

nice.
i remember on my 3rd rod, my mom wouldn't accept me as her son, that's how ugly mine was.


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## Mark G (Nov 15, 2004)

*looking good Justin*

Not bad at all.

One thing I found to help me is I bought the butt alignment kit from mudhole, it comes with a circle template and makes laying out the setup a tad easier, tho Using the light line from above the rod works also.

I've been messing with the visual wrap software and Billy's book, working on my first closed wrap- maybe able to post a pick in a day or two.

Once you get the lingo down from the book and the software it's pretty easy to understand. Took me a read or two to understand ins, outs, ups, downs, etc., but once that was straight in my mind it got easy - it's nice to have the laptop next to the rod you can have visual wrap perform a wrap one thread at a time, and just follow along.

Update coming......



:fishing:


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## TreednNC (Jul 1, 2005)

I have that tool Mark, got it for Christmas, havent put it together yet though lol. Used the light line this time. It's fairly square now. Dad loves it and that's all that matters I guess. Per the VisualWrap, I spent soent some time in the help section and on the website...for now I'll probably just 'borrow' some scripts and play with the colors and tinker from there....my puter skills and imagination just arent up to par yet lol.


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## Mark G (Nov 15, 2004)

TreednNC said:


> I have that tool Mark, got it for Christmas, havent put it together yet though lol. Used the light line this time. It's fairly square now. Dad loves it and that's all that matters I guess. Per the VisualWrap, I spent soent some time in the help section and on the website...for now *I'll probably just 'borrow' some scripts and play with the colors and tinker from there..*..my puter skills and imagination just arent up to par yet lol.


That's all I'm doing at this point also, almost every wrap is nothing more than a variation of the simple chevron or diamond wrap- the combinations are pretty much endless.


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## TreednNC (Jul 1, 2005)

Sounds selfish, but once I start on my Fusion Magnum, I'll take it slow and easy, learn the ends and outs, and probably use 300yds of each color thread before it's over lol. Going to take a razor blade to my RS1267 and play with it as well......probably take a razor to my 1023 and rebuild it as well. Addictive addictive addictive.


I do have a question...what's the best way to hold the threads at each end of the wrap. I did 4 threads at a time and used a piece of masking tape each time. Get's to be a loooooooooooooooot of thread though. Id heard, maybe from Terry, masking tape sticky side up and just lay em on that. Didnt work too good when I tried it though. May try some painters tape instead though. My masking tape has very little stick to it, which is ok, but i mean way too little, even when a freshly cleaned and dried alcohol surface.


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## basstardo (Jun 5, 2006)

Yep, masking tape sticky side up. There may be a better way, but that's what works for me. The cheaper the masking tape the less it seems to work. I got some of the blue automotive body masking tape that wasn't cheap, and it works like a champ.


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## TreednNC (Jul 1, 2005)

basstardo said:


> Yep, masking tape sticky side up. There may be a better way, but that's what works for me. The cheaper the masking tape the less it seems to work. *I got some of the blue automotive body masking tape that wasn't cheap, and it works like a champ.*


Might try that. Firespyder ryan told me to try painters tape.


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## basstardo (Jun 5, 2006)

I've been sitting here trying to think of another way to do it, but I can't come up with anything that makes sense. You could use duct tape, but could luck getting that off without wrecking the wrap. There'll be some stuff at the rod show about it, so maybe they'll show us something new there.


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## AtlantaKing (Jul 7, 2002)

Get the green masking tape...3M #2060 to be precise. Tape it down, and then twist it around so that the sticky side is up, then wrap that over a section of drinking straw. A couple more turns sticky side up and it's good to go. Every few passes of the thread(s), add a fresh layer of sticky side up tape. When done, cut where the straw is; the drinking straw acts as a "cutting board" for the razor so you don't FUBAR up the wraps/grip/blank underneath.


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## Elkhunter (Jun 18, 2004)

I use Golfers Grip tape... It is dual sided and works great it's like $8 a roll at a golf store. Worth the investment as I have used it under grips instead of epoxy.


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## basstardo (Jun 5, 2006)

AtlantaKing said:


> then wrap that over a section of drinking straw...


CT that's a damn good idea! Getting through several layers of tape while trying to keep the thread in place can be tricky. I'm going to give that a shot.


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## WALT D. (Dec 18, 2003)

What I use is a piece of regular masking tape wrapped around each end followed by a piece of double stick masking tape on top of that followed by a a piece of industrial double stick (the kind you use to put on rear view mirrors, outdoor signs etc) on top of that. All of it together is very thin and the industrial stuff on top holds like a vise. The regular masking tapes allow me to use the heavy stuff without actually having it stuck to the blank or grip. 

I'm not sure any of that made sense at 3:46am, but I hope so; time to hit the hay.

Walt

Oh yea Treed, that looks plenty sharp!


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## RuddeDogg (Mar 20, 2004)

*third rod*

Look great.


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## TreednNC (Jul 1, 2005)

Thanks guys...and thanks for the ideas, I just need to invest in some high quality tape. Ive tried sticky side up with what I got and it all came loose.


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## Mark G (Nov 15, 2004)

Treed- what Billy suggests in his book is double sided carpet tape, but first use your regular masking tape to tape a popsicle stick down on the blank. THe popsickle stick serves the same purpose as the straw in Atlanta King's method.Then roll the double sided tape over the first layer of masking tape- as you fil the first layer of double sided tape up, just continue to add another layer. When you done use an exacto knife or razor blade to cut in at an angle near the popsicle stick and peel the entire mess loose.

I went out and bought a roll of the double sided tape at Lowes yesterday, a bit expensive at $8.00 (get the widest you can 2" if possible) but it should last a long time- in fact I doubt that I would go through a roll in a year or two.

I did the same thing you did on my last wrap and will just deal with the ball of mess on this last wrap, but will give the double sided tape a shot on the next one.


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## Puppy Mullet (Dec 5, 2003)

Lookin good Treed, keep up the good work. When you come across the tape wrap it around a time or two. and do like SC said and make layers. Pile it up..


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## TreednNC (Jul 1, 2005)

I musta missed that part in the book Mark. Ill read through it again tonight.

Thanks Greg. Hope to see ya again in October.


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