# Chevrons



## Frogfish (Nov 6, 2007)

How do you guys do basic Chevrons?


----------



## basstardo (Jun 5, 2006)

The way I do them is just to mark the 0* and 180* axes. I then figure out the spacing I want, etc, and setup the rod for wrapping. The key to good wraps is the setup before hand. I can't tell you how many times people have told me that, and I've found it to be very true. 

Now, imagine looking at the blank with the butt to your left, and tip extening out to your right. I wrap the first set of threads one way, following the spacing I've laid out. Then I wrap the same number of crossthreads the other way, starting on the same axis as I did the first threads. I build my way up back doing this back and forth with the same number of threads on each crossing pass. If you just add threads from left to right, you will get a basic chevron like this:










Make sense?


----------



## Frogfish (Nov 6, 2007)

Yea, so basically if you want to do a simple 2 color chevron...lets say blue and black. You'd wrap the blue in one direction first, then the blue in the other direction, then the black...?

Is there any special way to stop or end the wraps?

You know how there is 2 sets of the wraps in the above chevron...does one wrap from left to right and the other vice-versa?


----------



## Mark G (Nov 15, 2004)

Ok I'll take a stab at a short tutorial, tho it would probably be easier to explain with a short video on you tube, at any rate I'll give it a shot.

Take a look at this simple two color chevron- black and gold.










Terry mentioned the 0 degree and 180- degree axis. In wrapping the 0 degree axis is the top of the rod - what the caster will normally view while holding/fishing the rod. The 180 degree axis is the bottom of the rod.


You can layout the threads in what is known as squared, elongated, or, shortened fashion.

Let's talk square first- that is what is shown in the picture. To determine square spacing you need to measure the circumference of the rod at the point where the wrap will be placed. 

IF the wrap is a long one and the rod has a severe taper- you will need to measure both the starting point and ending point of the wrap- as the circumference will be different at both ends.

For simplicity we will talk a short section with no taper. THe easiest way to measure the circumference is to take a piece of masking tape and wrap it around the blank, marking the tape at the point where it joins itself. Remove the tape and place on a ruler to measure the circumference of your rod.

Let's say the circumference is 2". To set up for a square chevron you would have your thread intersections every 2" along the blank. Let's assume an 8 inch blank section will get the wrap treatment. 

For practice the first time I would suggest taking a thin piece of masking tape (1/8" or 1/4")
that is 8 inches long and place one at the top axis and one at the bottom axis of the rod- running from where the wrap will start(butt) to where it will finish (tip). If your rod is located under a light source the light source will throw a very thin light line on the rod. Try to get the tape lined up with this light line. The threads will be covering this tape, so don't use the lay out tape on an actual wrap you intend to finish- there are other ways to mark the rod or blank for the intersect points.

On the piece of tape on top mark the tape every 2 inches, so you will have a mark at the start of the tape and at 2,4, and 6 inches, with the final mark at the end of the tape at 8 inches.

On the piece of tape on the bottom or 180 degree axis, we are going to mark the spacing so the mark falls halfway between the marks on the top piece of tape. In other words the bottom piece of tape should be marked at 1,3,5, and 7 inches.

With these marks in place we are set to begin the wrap.

I typically set my rod with the butt to the left and the tip to the right, just so we are clear on direction. If I say wrap "up" the rod it is from left to right or butt to tip. If I say wrap down the rod we are wrapping from right to left or tip towards butt.

As I wrap the thread I spin the blank counterclockwise (as viewed from the butt end) and spin it in the same direction whether I am wrapping "up" or "down" the rod.

OK lets lay the first two threads on the rod. Cut two threads about 15" (15" is a guess) long of the same color ( in the picture I started with gold - the first threads to the very left of each pattern)

Here is a close up.











Take the first thread and start to the left of the top tape, make the thread cross over on the top of the rod at the very beginning of tape at the top and then spiral it up the rod, it should next spiral to the bottom and cross the bottom tape at 1", then cross the top tape at 2", and so on, until it finally crosses the top tape again at 8 inches. leave the thread long enough and tape it down to the blank a couple of inches past the wrap end. (The 8 inch mark) THen trim any excess off the length of the thread.

At this point we have one thread on the rod and the spirals should be evenly spaced and cross the axis at the marked points. Now we are going to wrap the second gold thread. THis time we start on the right side (at the tip end) and wrap "down" the rod. the second gold thread start by crossing the top axis at the same point where the first thread stopped (the 8 inch mark on the top of the rod, and gets spiraled towards the butt using the same marks that were used by the first thread. Again tape the thread down at each end an inch or two past the marked wrap area. Now what we have is a simple X pattern, the two threads should form an X at the top and bottom axis of the rod. there will be 5 intersections (or X's) on the top axis of the blank and 4 X's on the bottom. These first two threads are critical in getting set up right- all the following threads will be layed against them- so if the spacing on these first two is correct, the pattern will look right when finished. Use the light line to make sure the intersections (X's) cross over evenly spaced and all lined up in a row. 

That's the basic set up. In the pic you can see the first two threads are gold, so I simply repeated the first two threads with another pair of gold threads.

*For a chevron*- when you start the next thread (the third thread) again start at the butt or left side of the pattern and lay the 3rd thread to the *right* of the first thread, spiral it up the rod keeping it against the first thread. Once the third thread is on, take the fourth thread and start at the tip laying it to the *right* of the second thread and spiral back down to the butt , keeping the fourth thread aginst the second thread and to the right of it. 

The important thing to remember for the chevron is that each thread goes to the right of the previous one in the pattern. 

It's a lot easier than I made it sound and once you get the first couple of threads on it will be a piece of cake to continue the pattern.

I explained it using one thread at a time but the wrap will go faster if you can handle more than one thread, you can wrap 2, 3 or even 4 threads on each pass- but that is trickier and I recommend doing one thread at a time to get the hang of laying out the pattern. 

Better than taping down each thread individually is to take some 2 sided masking tape or carpet tape and put it at each end of the wrap, the threads will stick to the 2 sided tape so you don't have to tape each one down idividually, but that's another subject for another post.

Good Luck and have fun 
:fishing:


----------



## Frogfish (Nov 6, 2007)

Surfcat!
What a post! I did learn a lot from that! It was very informative!

WOW! Thanks a lot to Surfcat and Basstardo!

One question Surfcat. If you lay more than one thread at a time when wrapping up and down, it will look like your chevron, right? It looks like you wrapped first the 2 gold up the rod, then 2 gold down, then 2 black up, then 2 black down, etc.


----------



## Mark G (Nov 15, 2004)

Frogfish said:


> Surfcat!
> What a post! I did learn a lot from that! It was very informative!
> 
> WOW! Thanks a lot to Surfcat and Basstardo!
> ...



You are correct- doing one thread at a time will make for more intersecting points where the threads cross one another and will be a little easier to pack and keep tight against one another - but beware the first few threads may not want to stay tight to each other, stop every pass or so and tighten up the intersection points by psuhing the threads together (This takes practice). 

You will spend more time packing the threads together than actually laying them on the rod- but a nice tight wrap with no gaps makes a great looking wrap- one with gaps will not look good when the epoxy is applied.


----------



## Mark G (Nov 15, 2004)

I need to add one point - on my last pass you can see a large band (9 total)of gold threads going up and then down the rod.

It is not practical to wrap with more than 4 threads in one pass as they will twist around each other and not lay straight on the rod. I find 3 threads to be enough to handle in a single pass- so what I did for the last group of nine threads was wrap "up" the rod with 3 threads and did this 3 times in a row, then wrapped "down" the rod with 3 threads 3 times in a row.


----------



## Frogfish (Nov 6, 2007)

So how do you finish the Chevron at the ends where it is taped? Do you just do an overwrap on them?


----------



## basstardo (Jun 5, 2006)

Yep, just overwrap them to secure the wrap in place and then carefully cut away the tape and thread. It's a good idea to taper your cuts at the endsso you aren't trying to wrap over a "cliff." This allows for a smooth transition of the wrap and will cause less headache. 

Great post by the way Mark!


----------



## WALT D. (Dec 18, 2003)

Mark & Terry,

Excellent job answering the questions; it's nice to have a forum where anyone can ask anything and get a knowledgable response.

Frogfish, be sure to post pics of your chevrons when you're done.

Walt


----------



## Frogfish (Nov 6, 2007)

Thanks guys! I'll start practicing on a wooden dowel as soon as I have time!

Thanks again!


----------

