How to "Soaring Ealgle" Wrap

[upnorth]

OK....there was some interest in a how to on an advanced design wrap so here goes. I hope this helps inspire someone to try it.

Here is the layout steps. I am using elongated spacing on this cuz I want the wings a bit stretched lengthwise. It is circumference of the blank times 1.25, or diameter times Pi times 1.25.

Note: when I mark the line and mark the crosses I use a scribe, lightly scribing the finish, if you are jittery about marking the blank use a china marker.

finding the axis

Marking the axis's

Find the axis mark to make you line for marking the crosses.

Scribe the line and mark the crosses. There are few ways to do this. You can use ruler or dividers, or like I do, I use a set of machinist calipers(I used to be a machinist), but the more accurate you lay this out the easier you will have it later. I also put down a layer of double sided carpet tape to anchor the threads.

Cover the blank with paper towel and lay a piece of Popsicle stick on the blank and the foregrip. Makes removal of all that thread much easier.

Making a diamond for the Eagles head. I am using Sulky gold metallic and it is bit smaller diameter than size gudebrod A metallic, but I made an 8 thread diamond.

[upnorth]

OK...now we start wrapping the pattern. This is what is referred to as plus one. The gold is going from the 1st pass of gold to the diamond and the red and the white up from the diamond and the blue is going down from the gold. I hope that made some sense.

1st pass.

2 gold

1 blue

1 white

I am leaving enough room between the gold and the diamond for 16 threads(hopefully). The blue goes down from the gold and the white goes up from the diamond

2 pass

2 gold

1 blue

2 white

Same thing as 1st pass as to where the threads go.

3rd pass

2 gold

1 blue

2 white and 1 red

4th pass

2 gold

1 blue

4 red

5th pass

2 gold

1 blue

5 white

6th pass

2 gold

1 blue

5 red and 1 white

[upnorth]

Continuing on.

7th pass

2 gold

1 blue

4 white and 3 red

Ok I didn't get a pic of the 8th pass, but I think you can figure out what it looks like.

3 gold(need a little more on the edge)

1 blue

2 red 5 white 1 red

Tightening the pattern, pushing the gold and blue up to close things up. I purposely push things out to make sure I can get the pattern threads in.

9 th pass

1 blue

4 red 5 white

OK at this point the tough part is done. I am going to put about 4 passes of black and 2 passes of gold to frame it and fill it in with black to close things up.

I will post a few more as I go, but this is the gist of it.

1 more thing is you really have to keep track of which thread per pass. I record every thread in the pattern, nothing worse than the phone rings and then you have to sit and figure where you left off, and some patterns are really hard to do that with.

[riverrat56]

So I don't know a thing about rod building, and I don't really have the patience to learn, but that is really impressive. What would something like that cost to get done if I were to get a custom rod?

[upnorth]

Not sure, I do this for a hobby. I have heard many builder charge $50+ for a wrap like that.

[bottomdweller]

I think that is a bargain. Great job.

[muc33]

I have just over a week to go before I build my first rods, I don't expect to create anything close to that type of beauty, but hopefully, I have a rod that I can be proud of. I am really excited!!!!

[upnorth]

Let's just say I am not putting that on my first rod. I have built quite a few and it takes time to learn these things. A few rods down the road and you may be willing to try something like that

[broodwich]

Upnorth: This is great. I've built 8 rods in the last 6 years and I've done a butt wrap on 7 of them. Mostly chevrons and diamonds because they were the easiest. I bought the book "Custom Rod Thread Art" by Dale Clemens which I'm sure your familiar with, and though this book has a great deal of info and instructions I never could really grasp how to do those wraps. After seeing this post though I'm really starting to put it together. If only the book had these kind of photos... Great work and thanks for taking the time to post these pics. Keep up the great work! I envy your skills

[upnorth]

Broodwich, thanks for the positive feedback, I was wondering if anyone would be able to put this to good use.

I have the same book and this wrap is a modification of the streamlined Thunderbird wrap. Using the book you have to do a few before things start to "gel".

The "skills" I have acquired have come through much practice and a little experimentation. I have cut off a few wraps after a few hours of wrapping and I didn't like how it was coming out and I have even cut off a few completed wraps that didn't work out the way I had envisioned. If it doesn't work out the first time, the worst you are going to do is waste some thread and few hours of your time.

[Northlander]

Very Very nice work UpNorth. Man them colors just "pop" when layed together dont they?

[upnorth]

Thanks Northlander, and for colors, you just can't go wrong with Red, White and Blue

I finished the rod and will post a few more pics in a day or so. It was for the Brother in laws Birthday which was today. He seemed to like it.

[upnorth]

Here a few pics of the last stages and the finished product.

Here is the pattern close and ready for some color preserver to lock the threads in place before cutting anything. Have not done the final burnishing yet so you do see a few thread that look out of place, most of that will burnish down.

Now to finish the ends. I didn't take a pic of the 1st part, but what you do is to start like you would for a guide wrap, just more tension on the thread and go about 1/4 inch and then tape over your wrap and make sure you pull the the thread back away from where you are cutting. Notice the piece of Popsicle stick it helps to have something to cut against to protect the blank and the handle when cutting all that stuff off.

Now you start trimming the extra threads. After you free the threads from the gob of stuff you had on the tape take a toothpick or something similar and kinda comb the the threads straight. Then like it shows hold the razor blade at a bit of an angle and carefully cut the threads off. You want them to have a layered effect to get a nice smooth transition from the wrap to the blank.

Here is what it should look like when you are trimmed and ready to go.

Now re tension your thread pull the tape off and finish the wrapping the way you would for a guide with pull through thread and all. I usually add trim threads or inlays to the wrap to dress it up a little. I also make sure the wraps on each end of the butt wrap are the same length so things have a balanced look.

Here are few pics of the finished product.

The wrap with the epoxy.

The handle, Walnut split grips and a Mermaid to keep you company when fishing is slow

And the handle and wrap together.

The finished rod is a Medium action blank 2nd wrapped as a baitcaster with spiral wrap. It was a 60th birthday present for the Brother In Law. It should see some action down on the St. Louis river this weekend

I am a little curious as to whether this was helpful to anyone or if there are some things that would make it more helpful, of if there is no interest in this kind of stuff.

[drowned minnow]

Front cover......Great....easy to understand....any info shared that helps others can only be welcomed

[Northlander]

Awesome Job Upnorth! I sure would like to see that in person. Maybe I will see it on the River this weekend. Its a one of a kind so I will keep a eye out. Not too mnay guys using baitcasters so that will make it easier.

Again nice work thats sharp!

[upnorth]

Early 90s smokercraft with 90 horse merc. They are camping at vines. I will be out of town this weekend and next week up in BC for work but the next weekend I will be down fishing with them. Maybe see ya around.

[crazyice]

Man! I love the color scheme in that last one! One thing I noticed, do you usually do your wraps with the handle already on the blank? I usually do the wrap first, then apply an end wrap where the handle comes to on the blank and epoxy the handle on over the very bottom edge of the end wrap.

[upnorth]

I fit the handle directly to the blank, if I put the handle the hole in the handle would have to be larger than the diameter of the blank to fit over the thread and the blank would have to be built up with tape or something. I prefer not to do that.

[crazyice]

I see, I just tend to have the handle drilled out just a touch larger than the blank, and then like you said, use tape to build arbors on it. One advantage, I think, is that you get more epoxy to hold the handle pieces to the blank.

[upnorth]

Actually as with most glues the less epoxy or other bonding agent you need to fill the gap between the two pieces the stronger the bond. If you think about gluing two pieces of wood together you clamp them together and literally squeeze all the glue out.

However I have done a few handles similar to what you do, they have no failed, so I really don't think it is an issue.

[Dark Cloud]

Top notch work UpNorth! Great picts and explinations. The tip with the stick will help me alot. That step is a pain without it and I never thought of it, thanks...

[upnorth]

The Popsicle stick sure does make it easier to cut all that stuff off without scaring your handle or blank. I picked that up off another forum(can't take credit for figuring it out myself).

[CustomRodFan]

Nice. Very Nice. Up, you got it going on. Great tutorial. I hope this site continues down that path. Thanks. Keeps us rod builders going to see that and pushes those sitting on the fence off into trying it. Good job.

Folks lets see more. Even at the basic levels. We got our own little community growing here!

T

[upnorth]

I agree with CRF, even the basic stuff is nice too. I have seen come real clean nicely done stuff out there and that is worth showing off also.

[GOOSEBILLY]

WOW, very nice work. I have never gone that far with a wrap. I like the handle also