Tube rolling

From PyroGuide

This is a technique i developed for myself over a period of a few years of tube rolling.

I use good quality 50# Kraft, the roll is 18" wide so it takes several strips to roll a tube. The glue is ready mixed wallpaper paste ( not cellulose paste) and i mix it with 50% PVA, i think you call it Elmers glue over there, then i thin this down quite a bit with water to about the consistency of thin yoghurt.

The former is my first rammer with two rounds of Kraft glued down at one edge (making a slip on tube) this also gives a slightly larger diameter to allow for tube shrinkage on drying.

I initially rub vaseline over this tube before rolling so the rolled tube comes off easier. Sometimes it pulls off with the rolled tube so i poke a stiff thin wire down between it and the inside of the tube to remove it, then i feed it back on the former, ready for rolling the next tube.

With my first strip, before gluing, i dry roll it once around the former and mark it with a pencil, then i fold that part back underneath at the pencil line so that when the strip is laid down for pasting this portion doesn`t get pasted. Now the important bit, paste all of the strips with a thin coat of paste, and lay them aside for a few minutes, the purpose of this is to let the paper expand close to its limit.

Next, re-paste your first strip then turn the previously folded and marked end over and paste a 1/2" or so at that end, this ensures you have paste to paste at the start of rolling, without this the first end could later`pick up` in the tube. After rolling up the first strip, roll over a few times with a flat piece of wood or metal - do this for every strip. I use a 1" thick piece of wood shaped like an elongated household iron with a handle one end and a knob at the other, which allows me to get plenty of pressure on the tube. This elongated shape helps in pushing any surplus glue from the centre to the outer ends of the tube.

Re-paste the next strip, then the next important bit, paste the tube lightly, run your fingers all over it to get it sticky/dry, quickly roll the next strip, repeat this procedure for the rest of the strips not forgetting to hard roll each strip. If you do all of this correctly you should end up with tubes approaching or equaling the same burst strength of New England tubes. My 3/4" ID 3/16" walled tubes have a burst strength of 8,500psi. When i first saw this i thought to myself what a coincidence that the figures exactly matched that of the New England tubes, but then i realized it was just the fact that we had both reached the papers maximum strength limit.

For drying, the tubes are best stood upright on screen mesh or similar for good air circulation - alternatively they can be threaded through with string and hung up to dry.

Finally, to neaten them up, i cut 1/2" off the tube ends with a fine toothed saw.