Dumb question? I hope not.

[Ausyowie]

Hi all,

I have marvelled at some of the amazing wraps and binding work that some of you have displayed. I have tried a few in the past, usually laid across my lap in the arm chair. My last one was a surf rod that I had rescued from somebodies hard rubbish then rebuilt. It is now a very servicable unit. It does however carry some fairly sloppy handy work, particularly the finishing. This leads me to my question.

When marking out your wraps, what do you mark the underbindings with?

Last time I used felt tip pen and it bled when I applied thread sealer. Given that it is a knockaround rod, I wasn't all that worried, but I am currently in the middle of another surf rod and want to make a reasonable job of it. I have bought a drying lathe and have made up a binding jig, so my expectations are higher this time.

I realise that this may seem a naive question, but seeing as most people on this forum seem to do such good work, I thought that I'd ask.

Cheers,

David.

[Stuart]

A fine paint marking pen is by far the best around.

Stu

[DR]

you can use one of those fine point paint marking pens from the newsagents, just make sure the end marks will end up under the finished binds. you can also use the pen to write on the blank if required. Also you can use a white chinagraph pencil, again make sure your marks are under the finished bind..

[finga]

On the few that I've done I try and match the colour of the thread that is going to go over the top of the marks or match the rod (usually the rod).
I've had a couple of markings show up under the wrap or binding so I thought match the colour of the thread over the marks or if it's going to show it might as well be close to the colour of the blank.
I think this was only because I was using Madeira thread and they tend to go translucent (except the real dark colours) when finished.
I have a white, silver, black and gold fine point markers and this seems to cover all bases.
I mainly use the black.

Which thread sealer did you use??

And remember...the only dumb question is the one you should have asked but didn't :-/

[Rodman]

Hi
Iuse a coloured china graph
Works a treat

Rodman

[Noelm]

geees I just use a plain old pencil, never had any dramas.

[tunaticer]

I use a Laundry Marker pen with a very fine tip. It doe not wash out or contaminate anything else with the sealer.

Jack.

[Great White]

I use whatever Roz uses ;D ;D ;D I think a white china graph thread ;)

[Ausyowie]

Thanks for the tips guys. I have a couple of fine tipped paint markers so will give one of them a try.

Oh, and Finga, the sealer was "Super Coat".

[roz]

I did exactly the same as you & learned the lesson fairly quickly.

I use the hybrid Gel pens, they don't react with anything, but the marks don't dry instantly, the cabinet makers pencils in white/ cream/blue are good, as well as all the others mentioned.

what ever you can get your hands on.

good luck

roz.

[Stuart]

China graph pencils are made from a wax bassed product, avoid this type of pencil as it can leach throught the threads as well interfear with the coating.

Stu

[DaveB]

Hi,
Another thing you can try is to lay some white threads down the blank on the axes you want to mark, mark those threads, wrap over them as if they were part of the blank, then pull them out when your wrap is well advanced. Leaves nothing behind.

Regards
Dave

[greglane]

masking tape at either end, just wrap up to it

[ant_72]

i have always used a white pencil used for marking on glass. Pays to keep a good point on it