Winding check

[Piker20 0]

The rubber seal above the rod handle on an old orvis rod has perished and come off.

1) does it matter functionally? My feeling is it doesn't.

2) how easy is a thread wrap in this area? I have some size E gudebrud thread which should be ok to use.

[flytire 0]

seems to me to be a cosmetic feature that does not add any function to the rod

 

if you can wrap a rod guide you should be able to wrap some thread in that area

 

your rod should fish with or without it

[Piker20 0]

That was my feeling, just cosmetic to finish that handle blank area. I'll have a think about it as it's a rod i rarely pick up now.

[Bryon Anderson 0]

Flytire is correct: the winding check is a cosmetic feature. It is there to provide a visual transition between the top end of the grip and the rod blank. I've built rods for years; most of my rods have winding checks (some rubber, some metal), but some don't. It just depends on the shape of the grip.

[tjm 0]

I had thought they were to cover the gap caused by poorly fitted cork.

[vicente 0]

I just used thread on the rod I built.

[Steeldrifter 0]

As others already mentioned the check is a cosmetic thing and serves no real functional purpose. It gives a nice transition from cork to blank, and as tjm mentioned they also cover any gap/shim/split from reaming. If you have access to some rod finish then you can just put a bit of rod finish over a thread wrap there to make it look a bit better, or you can just leave it as it it won't hurt anything.

[flytire 0]

apply a bead of uv resin to fill in any gaps if its that worrisome or offensive

[Piker20 0]

cheers folks. I may use it as a practice for re whipping another rod that I am likely to use more.