StickFish
05-13-2008, 11:49 AM
It shouldn't be a surprise that I have become somewhat enthusiastic about the tiger wrap. The tiger wrap was originally crafted by Scott Throop and was used exclusively by him for some period of time as his signiture wrap and am very thankful that he has shared the secrete and made it available to everyone. The wrap and technique is well documented in Rod Builder magazine and if you wish to get the description from Scott via that magazine you would want to order back issue volume 10 issue 2. I'm also using some information that a well known rod builder Randy "Putter" Parpart shared at the recent rod building workshop at Lamiglas in April.
The tiger wrap gets its effect from the moire' effect. Which is happens by looking through one spiraled thread down into two to three spiraled threads below. If you remember the old two phase baseball cards that would show two different pictures on one card used the same technique. As you move rod around or change your viewing angle the pattern in the wrap changes.
Step one, lay down your bottom wrap. The bottom wrap should have at least two high contrast threads wrapped parallel. I use black nylon and white NCP in size A. I start on the left side of the area to be decorated and wrap to the right on the bottom wrap. It is important to use a lower tension when laying down the bottom wrap. This first picture shows how I started the black thread and the white
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/P1000528.JPG
As you start to parallel wrap the two colors you need make sure you get a nice even spiral. This picture show the beginning of that
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/P1000529.JPG
And a few more see the alternating black and white threads
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/P1000531.JPG
This pic has about 5" of bottom wrap tied off and ready for the next step
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/P1000532.JPG
The next step is to burnish or other wise disrupt the even spiral of the two colors you have laid down. I put a layer of blue masking tape around the end of the front grip and mark what direction I'm burnishing what part of the wrap and divide the circumference with arrows showing where and what direction or method to burnish. You can burnish in a straight line, or at angles or in circles. Again all you are trying to do is disrupt the normal pattern.
For instance in this picture I did a circle in the middle and burnished out to the edges. The attempt here was to create a bullseye.
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/P1000534.JPG
You should also see how the edge of the wrap is wavy as compared to the image above - again disrupting the normal patter.
Once you are satisfied with your bottom wrap - apply several thick coats of high build finish. The thicker the finish the more dramatic the Moire' effect will be.
Next step is to wrap another pair of threads as your overwrap. Again a high contrast between the threads should be used. One of the threads you will be removing after all your hard work - called a sacrificial thread. A couple rules for the top wrap -
The finish on the bottom wrap needs sufficient time to set up. If you wrap the top layer when the finish is still soft you may have trouble making the spiral even. You mileage may vary with how long to wait, epoxies with short pot lifes' will generally require less time than longer pot life varieties. Wait anywhere from 1 to 4 days.
The top layer needs to be wrapped the opposite direction of the bottom wrap.
The spiral needs to be as consistent as possible
You need to use the same size thread as your bottom layer (there is a caveat when using three threads in the bottom layer, but that is being ignored for now)
The top layer is you color layer. For instance the wrap I'm doing needs to be yellow. So I used Goldenrod NCP and Black Nylon in Size A
This picture shows the yellow color and the black sacrificial thread as I started the wrap. Note I'm now wrapping from right to left and not left to right as I did on the base layer.
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/P1000541.JPG
Once you get the wrap done you need to leave a little tag end of you sacrificial thread exposed or hanging so you can un-wrap it. If your wraps are not perfect at this point you can burnish them to a certain extent to straighten them out. However, if you have wrapped to quickly after you last coat of finish the finish maybe pretty soft and the thread might sink in. Once you are done with your burnishing it is suggested that you warm the wrap with a blow dryer to let the threads sink in a little. This pic shows the beginning of the sacrifice thread being removed.
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/P1000542.JPG
If you look close you can already see the pattern emerging. It is really neat to watch as you unwrap the sacrifice thread.
Here is the wrap finished. The pictures really do not serve justice to how cool these wraps look. Pictures are 2d, the wrap is 3d.
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/P1000543.JPG
Good luck with the wrap and have fun.
The tiger wrap gets its effect from the moire' effect. Which is happens by looking through one spiraled thread down into two to three spiraled threads below. If you remember the old two phase baseball cards that would show two different pictures on one card used the same technique. As you move rod around or change your viewing angle the pattern in the wrap changes.
Step one, lay down your bottom wrap. The bottom wrap should have at least two high contrast threads wrapped parallel. I use black nylon and white NCP in size A. I start on the left side of the area to be decorated and wrap to the right on the bottom wrap. It is important to use a lower tension when laying down the bottom wrap. This first picture shows how I started the black thread and the white
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/P1000528.JPG
As you start to parallel wrap the two colors you need make sure you get a nice even spiral. This picture show the beginning of that
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/P1000529.JPG
And a few more see the alternating black and white threads
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/P1000531.JPG
This pic has about 5" of bottom wrap tied off and ready for the next step
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/P1000532.JPG
The next step is to burnish or other wise disrupt the even spiral of the two colors you have laid down. I put a layer of blue masking tape around the end of the front grip and mark what direction I'm burnishing what part of the wrap and divide the circumference with arrows showing where and what direction or method to burnish. You can burnish in a straight line, or at angles or in circles. Again all you are trying to do is disrupt the normal pattern.
For instance in this picture I did a circle in the middle and burnished out to the edges. The attempt here was to create a bullseye.
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/P1000534.JPG
You should also see how the edge of the wrap is wavy as compared to the image above - again disrupting the normal patter.
Once you are satisfied with your bottom wrap - apply several thick coats of high build finish. The thicker the finish the more dramatic the Moire' effect will be.
Next step is to wrap another pair of threads as your overwrap. Again a high contrast between the threads should be used. One of the threads you will be removing after all your hard work - called a sacrificial thread. A couple rules for the top wrap -
The finish on the bottom wrap needs sufficient time to set up. If you wrap the top layer when the finish is still soft you may have trouble making the spiral even. You mileage may vary with how long to wait, epoxies with short pot lifes' will generally require less time than longer pot life varieties. Wait anywhere from 1 to 4 days.
The top layer needs to be wrapped the opposite direction of the bottom wrap.
The spiral needs to be as consistent as possible
You need to use the same size thread as your bottom layer (there is a caveat when using three threads in the bottom layer, but that is being ignored for now)
The top layer is you color layer. For instance the wrap I'm doing needs to be yellow. So I used Goldenrod NCP and Black Nylon in Size A
This picture shows the yellow color and the black sacrificial thread as I started the wrap. Note I'm now wrapping from right to left and not left to right as I did on the base layer.
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/P1000541.JPG
Once you get the wrap done you need to leave a little tag end of you sacrificial thread exposed or hanging so you can un-wrap it. If your wraps are not perfect at this point you can burnish them to a certain extent to straighten them out. However, if you have wrapped to quickly after you last coat of finish the finish maybe pretty soft and the thread might sink in. Once you are done with your burnishing it is suggested that you warm the wrap with a blow dryer to let the threads sink in a little. This pic shows the beginning of the sacrifice thread being removed.
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/P1000542.JPG
If you look close you can already see the pattern emerging. It is really neat to watch as you unwrap the sacrifice thread.
Here is the wrap finished. The pictures really do not serve justice to how cool these wraps look. Pictures are 2d, the wrap is 3d.
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/P1000543.JPG
Good luck with the wrap and have fun.