1. Practice, practice, practice- especially if you are doing decorative thread work, trim bands, etc. You can use a dowel rod, a section from a broken or no-longer-used rod, whatever. Get comfortable with the thread tension, compacting your wraps, and starting and finishing a wrap before you get started on the real deal.

2. If it doesn't look good, undo it and start over. If you can't get all the gaps out when you burnish, you accidentally crossed some threads, if there is dust stuck in the threads that you just can't get out- cut your wraps off and do them over. It is much easier to take off bare thread than it is to take off epoxied thread when you decided that you should have done it better in the first place a couple months down the road.

3. Wash your hands before you sit down and get started, and if your hands sweat then keep them dry with a towel and wash them occasionally. This will keep your thread free of dirt and body oils.

4. Have fun and take your time. If it takes you a month, then that's fine- so long as you are enjoying yourself and doing quality work.

Oh, and Jack- I disagree with your advice about letting one section dry while wrapping the other. That may be fine for the experienced builder, but I think the beginner should do the following-
-Spine each section individually and then assemble them with the spines alligned.
-Space your guides, and wrap them up. Start with the first and last, and use them as a guide to keep the other guides in line (this helps to avoid "creep").
-When the guides are wrapped up, but before you even think of picking up that glue, go out and lawn cast your rod, and have somebody hold the end of your line and give the rod a bit of flex. You may find that you need to move some of your guides closer together to avoid sharp angles, or spread them out a bit if you can take one out and save the weight.
-Once you are sure the guides are where you want them, then you may proceed to get a bad mix of epoxy, or glob on too much, or too little, or spill it all over the kitchen table, or get it in your eye. (Don't even pretend like you won't do at least one of those things! I've done all of them ) <--- That's not a wink, that's me after getting epoxy in my eye!

[This message has been edited by OkieBass133 (edited 07 November 2005).]