> the Benotto needed the extra help in keeping in
> place..
>
> When you start wrapping from the bottom, you then
> have to come up with some other method of anchoring
> the tape at the top. Hence the references to super
> glue, electrician's tape, Rivendell style twine
> whipping, and colored plastic tape.
***
having just gotten my picchio special out of cold
storage (the walk-in freezer -- unheated -- that is
the warehouse behind the shop), I was admiring the
translucent powder blue benotto tape I'd applied years
ago, and noticed it didn't have the black electrical
tape at the top/center (which I use for cork, vinyl,
and even cloth). it'd been heated and *fused* and was
still holding up after lord knows how many years.
to accomplish this, I believe I'd wrap (stretching as I went, not only to conform to the compound curves, but to make it 'tack' to the bar better and reduce/minimize slippage, not to mention the translucent 'candy' effect that it enhances (IMHO), and then after finishing at the top, I'd go around maybe an extra turn and trim it off square (as opposed to the taper I usually use for cork or vinyl), and then find a lighter or matches (more consistent, more easily regulated flame w/ the former) and *carefully* heat the last inch of the end as well as the section that it would overlap. you have to be able to 'judge' when it's gotten to the correct temp on both surfaces (and if it starts to smoke, it's *too* hot), and then quickly press/wrap the end onto the other surface on the bar, and viola!
neat effect, very clean-looking, and it'll drive your friends nuts 'til they figure out how you did it.
I do agree that
> wrapping from the bottom up tends to keep the tape
> in place better, preventing the edges from rolling.
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