nivtup
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I got to work on the auction rod, and figured i would do a how to along the way. Probably not something to start out with, but if you have a few basic wraps under your belt, jump in, the water is fine.
So step one of this process is defining our target. jimh had a couple of requests, "I'd like it to compliment it although making this one unique is good." and "You can see
from the picture the colors of thread that you used last time. I'd prefer to stay with the same base colors as last time so the rods compliment each other."
Here is the photo jimh sent of the first rod.
A few tools we will need, calipers and scale for layout of the wrap. Thread pick, and burnishing tool for packing and burnishing thread as we go.
Thread selected for this wrap:
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nivtup
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We have selected a pattern from Dale Clemens book "Custom Rod Thread Art".
We will wrap the center of the pattern in Metallic Copper, the small points in the patternin Metallic Gold, and the background will be faded from orane to brown. We will box the pattern in with tan and close the wrap in brown.
I am leaving an area near the foregrip for a hook keeper, and an area for the decal that will be applied to the rod.
Since this is a closed pattern, and all rod blanks are tapered, we will have to offset our layout to account for the taper, basically reducing the distance between centers near the butt, and increasing the distance between centers towards the tip. First we layout the area that will be wrapped on the blank, I choose to apply about three layers of masking tape for protection from the razor later on. The distance between the bands of tape this time around is 9.8 inches.
I run a white thread along the 0 and 180 degrees that will be the center of the wrap. This thread needs to be checked to verify it is aligned with the reel seat and guides.
We need to measure diameters to determine the "taper offset" needed for the pattern.
We need to measure at the butt end, the middle and the tip end.
I run the numbers through a spreadsheet to determine location of centers. There is a explaination of this in "Custom Rod Thread Art" that I will not go into here.
This is the output from my excel file, showing center locations for the 0 axis as well as the 180 axis.
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nivtup
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We now need to layout these centers on the rod. I do this by marking the loctions on the white thread we placed earlier, others mark the blank with a China Marker, and some scribe the blank. Here the centers are marked on the white thread.
Marked and ready to layout the base of the pattern. This pattern calls for three boxes, a center box, a middle box adjacent to the center box on the outside, and an aouter box. We need to estimate the size of the pattern and number of threads will will lay inplace and leave room. In this case I layed out the ceter box with 0.15" between parallel threads. The ceter box is to be Metallic Copper with Metallic gold next to it on the outside, followed by an orange box. A bit blurry, but you get the idea.
The goal is to reasonably accurate here, if you are off a little bit we can deal with it later while packing threads.
It is important to keep the center box on the layout marks we established earlier, this will leave you room to close the wrap in the end. I always wrap from left to right in order to keep things straight in my mind. For me, the left side of the inner box is god. If I start moving threads around, I never move the intersection points here.
On to wrapping the pattern.
Our sequence for this pattern is middle box out, outer box out +1, inner box in. What does this mean?
First step, wrap all sides of the center box, on the outside, with one thread. In this case, Metallic Gold.
Second step, wrap the outer box on the outside, with one more thread than you used the last time you wrapped this box, 2 threads this time. Both Orange. We will work on the fade shortly.
Third step, wrap the inner box with one thread, on the inside of the box. Using Metallic Copper here.
Do not worry to much about the gaps in the thread, get them close, and move on. We get to pack things several times to get them in thier final resting place.
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nivtup
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Bored yet?
We are going to continue with the sequence.
I forgot to mention that the threads all stay in place using tape, some use double sided tape, I use regular masking tape folded back on itself.
Let's cover fading a background here.
We have started with orange thread, and are going to end up using brown. To get from here to there we will require at least one other color, in this case we have chosen rust.
So the background has it's own pattern so to speak, this does not interfere with the wrap sequence, but it is a second thing to keep track of.
To accomplish the fade, we need to introduce the next color in a graduated step. I started with 4 orange threads, and then placed one rust colored thread followed by three orange threads, 2 rust threads, 2 orange, 3 rust, 1 orange etc. So it goes like this O = Orange, R = Rust, B = Brown OOOO/R/OOO/RR/OO/RRR/O/RRRR/B/RRR/BB/RR/BBB/R/BBBB
So as we move forward with the wrap we need to keep track of our fade pattern.
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nivtup
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So, things are coming right along, butt the threads are all over the place.
Time to pack threads.
Warning: I use a thread pick to move the inside threads, this pick has been dulled and smoothed so as not to scratch the blank. Right out of the package these will result in damage to the blank.
I use both the thread pick and the burnishing tool to pack threads. I usually work from the inside out.
Remember, do not move the initial layout threads. In this wrap the left side of the copper box is god to me. I do not worry to much about the rest at this point, butt any excess movement will have to be corrected later.
Here is a photo showing one side of the pattern packed.
And here it is all straightened out and packed.
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nivtup
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Keep your eyes on the horizontal and vertical lines created by the intersections, if these are not straght it is an indicator that the packing is uneven, and something will need to be moved.
So, moving right along....... make several passes, pack, more passes, pack etc.
About here I dropped the Metallic Gold from the sequence as I wanted the copper to be more dominant.
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nivtup
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Boy, things are looking a bit ratty, looks like some heavy duty packing is required.
I pack in stages, sometimes trying to straighten things out completely, other times just making room for more tread.
It is about here I realize my original layout was too wide and will need to undertake some serious packing to get things tightened up at some point. See how loose the Gold Metallic looks?
Here things have been fixed, and I have added in two passes of Tan to frame the pattern.
And to finish........
I will add in for the tie off later........Boy I hope this works for jimh, I would hate to cut it off now 
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TwistAround
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haggard
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nice work! my dad builds rods up in NY so i know the kind of patience good work takes. hats off to ya.
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nate
currently targeting inshore redfish, flounder, and specks. also sharks in the surf and inlets.
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normgonefishing
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dual red striper
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man that looks good i wish it was my rod you were doing
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navigator
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I'd like to check her for tics!!
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Awesome
 
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Join CCA and save our fish
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Or are they just easier to spot in the dark?
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Brewer
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Then They Turned @ Last To Me, We Shall Call You Brewer, The Slayer Of Salmons You Shall Be'
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gotta say that looks much nicer than brewers multi colored duck tape spiral cubed butt wraps. its pretty primative, highly durable to the cold and rain, but looks totally hidious.
which is axeactley why the pants had don build a rod for me. don killer anatomy.
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bighoof
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Thick Tail
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What nav said! So how long did that take you?
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Jeff
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Marty
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Very very nice!!
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Musicman
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Beautiful workmanship Don! Have no idea what your saying in your pics vs directions but COOL none the less. It's like learning a foreign laguage.
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JD
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nivtup
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Thanks for the kind words.
Bighoof, this wrap took about 5 hours to this point.
Musicman, I think it is a foreign language takes a while to get it all deciphered.
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Rainshadow
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dual red striper
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5 hours is underestamated would take most of us 5 hours just to figure out the lay out Great work love the detailed steps puts things into perspective on what an art it truley is not to mention the patience.
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Karry Batson
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Trouthead
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I'm sure glad that the rod I got from Don was with black wraps and a little gold highlite. I probably wouldn't be able to fish with a piece of art like he's making here.  
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Trouthead
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CastawayChris
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Got Beer?
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nonsensical post
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chinook
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Thick Tail
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work of art.
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Freedom isn't free
I'm for equal rights not special rights
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CastawayChris
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WHAT, grrrrrrrrrrrrr
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