While at the kayak shop the other day, saw it was next door to a sewing shop. I went in and browsed. They didn't have Madeira, but had what looked to be other high quality polyester threads. Is there something magical about Madeira? Or did I stumble into a new thread supply?

A new thread supply. Just make sure you do some test wraps on some scrap blank material,and use your favorite finish epoxy on the wraps. You may find you need to coat the wraps with color preserver to prevent fisheyes in the finish. As with Madeira,you could use a few short strands of the thread in the finish when mixing it up.
I have a dear friend that goes to various quilting shows and brings me gifts of thread spools in unique colors or those I would routinely use. They have worked fine thus far.

My apologies for the double post.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/07/2017 11:34PM by Chuck McIntyre.

Thanks. I have always used cp with Madeira, and thus far have been lucky enough to avoid a fisheye mishap. Cool deal, I'm gonna pick some up when I go back to pick up the item I bought for the yak. The had a tealish metallic that looked like it would be an awesome underwrap.

What do the short strands of Madeira in the finish mix do?

Supposedly releases some of the silicone into the finish, so that when applied over the wrap, it doesnt cause fisheyes. It gets it "accustomed to" the thread coating. Some swear by it, others argue that it's hype. I've never tried it.

Randy,
I do a lot of sewing as well as rod building.
You mention Polyester thread. One downside of the polyester thread is that polyester thread has next to 0 stretch.
The typical rod building thread is made of nylon which has some stretch.

I have tried both, and much much much prefer the use of a nylon thread with its slight amount of stretch, compared to polyester thread which has next to 0 stretch.

I have also found that one has to be careful with some "other threads" that may have less than a perfect finish and can cause issues during the final finish application on the thread.

However, as has been noted earlier, do some test wraps along with test finish over the thread. If it all works for you - go for it.

Another thing you should check for your edification is the breaking strength of the thread. If you have a spring scale, you can test the braking strength of your typical guide wrapping thread.

Then, test any potential "different thread" for breaking strength as well.

Another thing to check, is to use a caliper and check the diameter of the thread. Obviously, one can wrap with any diameter thread that one wishes to use. However, if you are wrapping with something other than the standard rod wrapping thread, it would be good to know the diameter of a different type thread, so that you would have more knowledge as to how an unknown thread might intermix with a standard guide wrapping thread.

By the way, here is some nylon sewing thread in various sizes:

[www.thethreadexchange.com]

[www.amefird.com]

[coatsandclarksewingsecrets.com]

[www.google.com]

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Of course as you can imagine, there are literally millions of sewing machines of many many different types being used to fasten things together every single day of the year. As a result, there are likely billions of spools of various spools of sewing thread being used every day. If you want to use sewing thread for building rods - as the saying goes - the world is your oyster.

Just go out and discover the new to you world of sewing thread and its millions of variations.

Take care

Thanks for the info Roger. I was wondering why I don't like the way polyester thread wraps and the amount of stretch was the answer that I was looking for.

Thanks Roger, I was talking specifically for butt wraps or guide underwraps. I will continue to use nylon to go over the guide foot. I saw a mint metallic that I liked a lot. Kinda like the color used on the factory Calstar rods use, but a lighter metallic version. Thought it would make a nice underwrap.

I've used JT Metallic thread for a long time on wraps. It's a little thinner than size A but is limp and strong. Robison - Anton is nice to work with.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/11/2017 06:35AM by Ken Preston.