I want to do a little guide wrapping practice before I attempt to build my own rods.  I have a BPS Extreme 6'10"MH that I though I would convert to spiral wrapped guides.  It has 9+1 guides.  In order to do bumper style is it as easy as taking the second guide and moving it to 90degrees in the same spot and moving all other guides to 180out in their same spots?

That will work if you make sure that you have a good smooth surface after you have removed the old guides. Each area of the rod blank will have to be cleaned and prepped, you will most likely be removing the glossy finish from the blank if it has one. Make sure the guide feet are properly tapered so the thread will climb up the foot properly also.

A thought, instead of removing all of the guides why not just remove one and practice wrapping it to a new area of the blank that is smoother than if you tried to wrap it back in the same area. I think you would find that it would be easier until you have enough experience to do a re-wrap

Good Luck.....

A thought, instead of removing all of the guides why not just remove one and practice wrapping it to a new area of the blank that is smoother than if you tried to wrap it back in the same area. I think you would find that it would be easier until you have enough experience to do a re-wrap

Good Luck.....

Just the person I was hoping to reply

I wanted to use the same locations because of the damage to the rod finish.  I will take extra care to make the the blank is smooth before I rewrap.  I am not so concerned about wrapping the guide and I have made and served several bowstings, which has a the same basic principles.  I am actually going to convert my bowstring jig into a rod dryer, eventually a wrapper if I take to the hobby.  I am more concerned about applying the flex-coat to the wraps and making that look good before I try it on a new SCIII blank.  Do you use high or low build?

Thanks for the advice

Yup I see what your doing. If there is still a chance of you working custom bows or anything to do with that sport I wouldn't mod any of my bow building equipment. When you are ready to get fully into the hobby then I would either build for or buy a rod turner. You never know the 2 may just make a living or some good extra cash. Just my .02¢ on that...

Oh back to your question... I have used FlexCoat High Build from day one.. I have been asked to try and use other formulas, but when you have used one for this many years you tend to have a system put together that works really well, so why change it.

Tight Wraps!  

My bow making stuff is unistrut based so it is modular by design.  I will just make thread tensioners and rod supports/drying head that bolt into my existing base.  I will add some pics as soon as I get a motor and build it.

 I read on another forum that I need to turn all the guides but the stripper 180 and add a small fly guide between the first and second as the bumper guide.  Do you do that, or use the spacing that I will have if I use my second guide as a bumper, which is currently probably a sz 10 double foot.

Thanks for the help

Bowtech,

If you want practice at wrapping and finishing, buy a few cheapo guides and use old arrow shafts for the "rod."  You can get lots of practice and not take a rod out of service.

As for finishes, they all work fine.  I like Threadmaster because, like ReelMech w/ flexcoat, I started with it and have always had great results.

Bowtech,

What you read in essence is a conventional spacing scheme that is done at the time of static stress testing for spacing, then all guides are turned to the 180° side of the rod and yes a guide is set into the space equally between the stripper and first 180 guide. The size usually depend on the guide size scheme that you use.

Most all of my guide setups for the simple spiral are #10 double foot for the stripper, #7 (low profile) single foot for the bumper, then #6 or #5.5 (low profile) single foot out to the tip. Again all of this is done under static stress testing...

This again will show you why flechero and I, suggest using either the clean untouched area of your rod or arrow blanks for practice, and not moding that rod....

Tight Wraps!

I completely agree with David on this and I also do static testing with the guides in the spiraled positions. (only)

And that aside, I just HATE stripping old finish!! I'd rather build a whole new rod that repair one. ...lol Which is why I used an old arrow shaft and a cheap guide for my own practice in the beginning.

The main reason that I was going to use the BPS rod as a test piece is because most of the finish  around the wraps has lifted from the blank and water has penetrated under the finish. I could either rewrap regular or spiral to fix it.  There will be very little finish scraping involved.  I have picked up a #8 single foot Hardloy  to put in between the first and second guides.  I am going to practice with that for a while on an arrow shaft and then go to town on the extreme.

Do you guys thin your first coat of finish at all?  I have read some people cut the epoxy with 5-10% acetone or denatured alcohol on the first coat.

I guess that's a different story if the old finish is peeling up anyway.

I never thin finish... and I have never had a bad finish experience. (knocking on wood!!) Anyway, I've read lots of nightmare stories about finish problems, fisheyes, incomplete cure, etc. and most are from people who stray from the manufacturer's instructions, usually by thinning.

If you are concerned about either penetration or thickness of coat, use the light or low build in your brand of choice and don't stretch the pot life out.

Getting a thin coat applied is pretty easy, it's when you need a thick, even coat that you have to manipulate things sometimes.  

I will try it without thinning.I wanted the lite formula, but am very limited to what I can find locally.  Academy carries only a few products and that is the only local store that has rodbuilding supples

The main reason that I was going to use the BPS rod as a test piece is because most of the finish  around the wraps has lifted from the blank and water has penetrated under the finish. I could either rewrap regular or spiral to fix it.  There will be very little finish scraping involved.

That is not a good thing. You will need to make sure you have cleaned the finish up quite a bit past the effected area, and you will have to make sure your wrap covers all of the cleaned up area.

I have picked up a #8 single foot Hardloy  to put in between the first and second guides.  I am going to practice with that for a while on an arrow shaft and then go to town on the extreme.

Good idea....

Do you guys thin your first coat of finish at all?  I have read some people cut the epoxy with 5-10% acetone or denatured alcohol on the first coat.

With High Build I only need one coat. But I would never thin any of the 2 part finishes anyway.

I wanted the lite formula, but am very limited to what I can find locally.

Take your time and shop Cabela's or Mud Hole and get the supplies you need. The problem with most stores like Academy or Sportmans, or Gander is that most of the building supplies you find are for fly tying, and fly rod building. There are quite a few rod building supply shops on-line and if you check out the resources page on my site you will have all the rod building supplies you need..

Tight Wraps!!!

I have spent many hours in the last two weeks scouring Mudholes catalog and website.  I just don't want to order anything until I order my blank, seat and guides, etc and make one large purchase.