Transparent Wraps Options

[Carlin]

Bob asked me a while back to do a quick how-to on clear wraps, so here it is!

First, for completely clear wraps, wrap the guides using white silk. Other colors will go transparent as well, but colored!. I usually use Pearsall's Gossamer as I like how it wraps and packs, but YLI or Gudebrod should work fine. Wrap with moderate or lighter tension. Once everything is wrapped to your liking, mix together 1.5cc of each part of some Flex Coat Lite and about the same amount of Acetone. Mix thoroghly. Once mixed the solution should be the consistency of water.


Now, take a small fly tying bodkin and dip it into the FC mixture. Wipe a small amount onto the wrap just in front of the end of the guide foot. The silk will begin to go transparent.


Work the drop of FC back towards the guide loop, adding more mixture if necessary. You'll want it to be pretty thick. What you are doing is chasing all the air out from under the guide foot.

Sometimes a bubble will show up no matter how careful you are. Don't worry about that right now, we'll deal with those shortly.


Once the foot area is soaked, work your way around the wrap until all the silk is coated. Continue on to the next wrap.


Once you finish all the wraps, go back to the first and wipe off any excess using your finger tip. Apply a second coat. This will eliminate the last of the tiny bubbles and shimmers.

If you have any bubbles under the guide feet at this point, take a small tube (a coffee stir stick or a piece of shrink tubing from a braided loop connector work great). Press this over the bubble and gently suck. If you get a good seal around the bubble, the air will be drawn out and replaced with FC mixture.


Let the wraps set for 15 minutes or so then wipe off any excess finish. Let the rod rest horizontally with the guides facing down overnight. If you don't let it dry horizontally the FC mixture will run from under the guide feet leaving bubbles and finish on the blank. Resting it with the guide feet down will allow the FC to flow into the space between the guide feet and wraps and drive out any additional bubbles as the FC dries.

It'll take the FC two days or so to thoroughly cure as the acetone slows things down considerably.

Once dry, continue finishing as normal. Easy! Works good on both graphite and bamboo.

The end result:

[Darrin]

WOW! You da man.
Excellant as always Chris. Maybe I should try transparent so my tag ends don't show . Next project I'll be reviewing this (clear wraps-green tipping).

Thanks again

[OSD]

Where do you buy Acetone?

Bob

[millerwb]

[OSD]

Thanks Brian

Bob

[SmallieHunter]

Anybody every try this on a graphite rod? I think I may give it a whirl for the next rod that I build.

[Carlin]

Works just fine Will! I did transparent wraps on the Swap rod (this is after the FC/acetone but before the finish coat of FC):

[SmallieHunter]

Is that silk thread or just regular thread?

[ridderbos3]

chris, you said swap rod, do you mean fund raiser rod?

[Carlin]

Oops. You're right the fundraiser rod, not the swap rod.

Will,

It is white Gossamer silk just like I use for bamboo rods (with glow-in-the-dark tipping ).

[canerodscom]

Chris,

Acetone is pretty obnoxious stuff, and can eat away the coatings on graphite rods in a big hurry. My booth was next to Roger Seidler's (Flex-Coat Owner) at the Roud Builder's Guild Conclave a few years ago. Roger was using denatured alcohol to thin his epoxy rather than acetone at that time. I've tried it, and it works quite well.

Might be worth considering.

Harry

[OSD]

Hummmm denatured alcohol
I have some of that

Thanks
Bob

[Carlin]

The 2 graphite rods that I did clear wraps on seem to be holding up fine, but as I've seen Acetone do some scary things, I'll definitely give the alcohol suggestion a go. Thanks Harry!

[Mark Shamburg]

Chris,

What are you using to wipe the excess finish off the wraps?

Mark

[Carlin]

My finger.