I'm currently working on a flyrod built on a Forecast F764-5 blank that I recently picked up at Hook and Hackle. I'm at the point of wrapping it and have a question.

I've only built 3 rods up to now so I'm certainly still new to all this. Since I wrap the guides by hand (no power wrapper) I find it difficult to get the wraps tightly packed so I've gotten into the habit of just wrapping 5-8 turns and then manually packing the threads by sliding them together using my thumb or fingernail, wrapping another 5-8 turns and then packing the threads, etc. until the wrap is complete.

Is this a common way to do this for you "hand wrappers" or do you spend the time trying to wrap each turn as tightly as possible to the previous wrap? I'm not necessarily unhappy with my wrap jobs so far but figure anything I can do to improve it makes sense to try.

Any other techniques to achieving a decent wrap? I tried burnishing the wraps on my first rod but I had 3 or 4 wraps pull apart when I rubbed them so I'm reluctant to try that again.