Silk thread wraps

[RALMD11]

I'm working on completing two Steffen blanks and am planing on using silk to wrap the guides. I have previously used nylon for all wraps, and am wondering if there are any specific differences that I should know about.

I'm also trying to finalize color selection and opinions would be appreciated.
Right now I have the Pearsall Jasper, Chestnut, Black, and Antique Gold. I'm thinking about ordering a forest green (YLI 221) and have a maroon in nylon currently. The Steffen blanks are a chestnut color.

[fritz]

not that this will be your experience but I recently bought a spool of thread from one of the sponsors who was advetising the thread to carry their own label and endorsement. After receiving the thread and peeling back the label, I found it to be manufactured by YLI. i was disappointed with the thread because even after singeing the thread over an alcohol lamp, there were a lot of "bumps" in the twisting processing that would not be smoothen out even after applying 6-8 coats of varnish. I went back to nylon and rewrapped the guides. Maybe I should have ordered a finer thread.

[aged_sage]

I see no real difference between silk and nylon other than that silk is a bit easier to 'fray' due to rough fingers. You don't say what color the Jasper is. Jasper refers to a two colored thread, with one color being black. The other color can be white, red, green, etc. The antique Gold would go well as a trim with either the black or the chestnut.

[kbproctor]

I have seen the problems noted above with silk. I now do all of my wrapping with nylon. It just works better for me and 99.999% of the people out there wil never see the difference. The Jaspers are available in nylon as are many other color combinations and the colors react much the same both with and without CP under epoxy or varnish.

The one and only time I will specify silk is for a truly transparent wrap. The only way to get a 100% clear wrap that completely disappears is with white silk. White nylon will stay a little milky

[herefishy]

I gave up on silk, too, it frayed too much and the tension was hard to work with. Try it and see if you like it.

[dunfly]

I agree with what has been said. I worked with silk on one rod and hated it. It frayed a little, but it was hard to maintain the right tension since it does not "stretch" like nylon. Once finished, I couldn't really tell any significant difference.