6 Easy Steps for Wrapping Guides

With various thread colors and combinations, wrapping guides can add a personal touch to your rod. Recall that spinning rods have the guides mounted on the opposite side of the spine while casting rods have guides lined up along the blank's spine.

Preparing to wrap—Use manufacturer's guidelines to accurately space each guide along a rod blank. If wrapping a double-footed guide, tape the forward foot in place first and then start wrapping. A single-foot guide can be secured by wrapping a small piece of tape around the center of the foot. As you wrap up the foot you can remove the tape.

Step 1—Start the wrap about 1/4 inch from the guide. Wrapping from left to right, start with one wrap around the rod blank. Then, place your finger where the two threads meet and rotate the blank while also crossing the running thread over the tag end. This forms a cross-stitched-like X pattern that locks the thread in place. Execute about eight wraps before trimming off the remaining length of the thread's tag end. Trim the tag end as close to flush with the wrap as possible.

Step 2—Continue wrapping so that each thread is tightly placed next to the previous wrap.

Step 3—Once your wrap is about 1/8 inch from the end, use a small piece of thread folded over into a loop and slide it under the running thread. The loop goes in the same direction as your wrap. Continue wrapping over the loop roughly 8 to 10 more times.

Step 5—Use a razor blade and lay it flat against your guide wrap with the blade facing the thread's tag end. Pull the tag end over the blade to cut it flush with the rest of the thread wrap. Never use a sawing motion to cut the tag end because it will fray the thread, which could end in failure for that wrap.

Step 6—Check to make sure your guides are aligned with the spine mark.

Check out In-Fisherman's Custom Rod Building page (in-fisherman.com/custom-rods) that features how-to videos, rod building tips, and more.