PE Braid - 4 vs. 8

[ChrisW_]

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Originally Posted by gman

I don't use there poppers a lot but they make good line and production rods, I swear by the line it and Its on all of my reels. I used to use Zenaq, YKG but I switched and never looked back so far. Its made at the same factory as all the other major brands but alittle less expensive and in US feet not meters.

Which other major braid brands?

[paul708]

Originally Posted by gman

8 strand is the only way to go IMHO

they 8 strand are nice and smooth a real nice line

[Fish-forever]

Yes Chris I also would like to hear what 'other brands' gman has used.

I have used around 22 different brands (posted somewhere on another forum) and from my experience nothing, but nothing is a better (metred) jigging line that WX8.
Its the best I can afford at the moment, tho one day I will trial a 12weave jigging line, or even an OTI.

I was recently asked to 'test' PE lines (by the way Paul Dyneema, PE and Spectra are all the same, there is NO difference at all) for abrasion resistance and used this method.
Holding the lines as a single strand under the same tension, I repeatedly drew the line back and forth over a rounded (fixed) piece of hard wood.
The outright winner with almost zero damage was WX8, the line wearing the most (actually breaking) was Fireline. Even the original green Cabela's Ripcord (err 1970s ??) outlasted the Fireline.
Try it yourself, its a pretty easy test for the home, and gives a working guide for normal use.

To take this discussion further.
From my research there are only 3 manufacturers in the World who make Gel-spun Polyethylene fibres and weave the yarns (line to us).
DSM High Performance Fibres in Holland (who I believe developed the original concept), AlliedSignal Inc in the US who make it under licence, and a single (unnamed) company in Japan.
Worldwide all Dyneema/Spectra/PE comes from these 3 factories.
So whatever name is on the spool you can be certain it originated from the weaving machines in one of these 3companies.
Therefore whatever anyone likes to believe OTI, Spiderwire or anyone else, does not 'make' the stuff with their name on the spool, they buy it wholesale, re-package it, and market it.

With price, its the more 'weaves' used to make a line, the higher the production cost (for a given line size), because the higher weave line must have finer fibres, exactly as Chris says above.

In the case of this material you definitely get what you pay for, and if you pay peanuts you WILL get the monkey.

Jiggin..what else?

[Sea Draggin]

Thanks for the info there F-F. Sounds like you know quite a bit about the braids.

[paul708]

Originally Posted by Sea Draggin

I thought the For Sale section was in a different forum? Every one of your posts seems to read like a OTI sale ad and its getting stale.

i will try to keep the OTI stuff to a minunim
sorry,,i do get your point..thanks

[jig42na]

I think the YGK is over rated in breakage strength as well as Daiwa. The OTI is sweat, and l like using the more common brands as well. I use alot of Suffix braid with no troubles and the Jerry Brown has been very good as well. THe suffix is the stiffest out of the ones I use and I like it more for casting poppers. I think it is the same as PP but has much better quality control.
I'm thinking about trying the newer Diamond/Momoi braid.

[gman]

Originally Posted by Fish-forever

Yes Chris I also would like to hear what 'other brands' gman has used.

Not sure why you need to hear what other brands I've used but here it goes

Non PE- Powerpro, Suffix, Momoi, JB Solid, Tuffline XP

PE- YGK Ultra Jigman, Varivas, OTI Depthfinder and Ultra Dyneema

does that qualify as other brands, I was told That YGK manufactures severals of those brands although I could have been misinformed

[TBaker]

Originally Posted by Fish-forever

From my research there are only 3 manufacturers in the World who make Gel-spun Polyethylene fibres and weave the yarns (line to us).
DSM High Performance Fibres in Holland (who I believe developed the original concept), AlliedSignal Inc in the US who make it under licence, and a single (unnamed) company in Japan.
Worldwide all Dyneema/Spectra/PE comes from these 3 factories.
So whatever name is on the spool you can be certain it originated from the weaving machines in one of these 3companies.
Therefore whatever anyone likes to believe OTI, Spiderwire or anyone else, does not 'make' the stuff with their name on the spool, they buy it wholesale, re-package it, and market it.

Here's an interesting article from Wikipedia concerning this stuff:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyneema

The part that caught my eye is the following:

"Dyneema is a registered trademark of Royal DSM (The Netherlands). Dyneema was invented by DSM in 1979. It has been in commercial production since 1990 at a plant in Heerlen, the Netherlands. In the Far East, DSM has a cooperation agreement with Toyobo for commercial production in Japan. In the United States, DSM has a production facility in Greenville, North Carolina, which is the largest production facility in the United States for UHMWPE fiber.[3]

Honeywell developed a product identical in chemical structure, which is sold under the brand name Spectra. Though the production details are somewhat different, the resulting materials are comparable in properties.[4]

Other trade names for consolidated UHMWPE materials include TIVAR by Quadrant EPP, Polystone-M by Röchling Engineering Plastics, Tensylon by Integrated Textile Systems, and GARDUR by Garland Manufacturing."

To me, its not quite clear how many manufacturing facilities there are nor, more importantly, whether these facilities simply manufacture the strands and individual companies buy the strands and assemble the strands into their particular brands of line. Also, since Spectra seems to be a registered trademark of Honeywell, I assume that all the lines that label themselves as Spectra must use fiber manufactured by Honeywell (or someone under license from Honeywell). Interesting stuff.

[Sea Draggin]

That is interesting stuff there Tony and a good read. I know of at least a half dozen Chinese suppliers right now that can provide PE line. It never occured to me that they are just weaving it and not actually manufacturing the thread. Up to 16 strand is readily available.

I have seen samples of everything from 4 strand up to 16. I would inquire more into the process, but I don't think I want to get involved distributing it at the end of the day. The road seems as bumpy as 4 strand PE.

[TBaker]

Here's a little more evidence that what the line manufacturers are doing is buying the fibers (Dyneema or Spectra) and then doing the weaving, dyeing, coating, etc. themselves. This is from the Western Filament (makers of Tuf-Line) website:

Facility

Our multi-millon dollar manufacturing facility includes over 50,000 square feet of integrated industrial technology, including:

Over 2,000 braiding machines ranging in size from 3 to 120 carriers.
Over 500 twisting spindles.
Complete coating capabilities including: nylon, rubber, silicone, urethane, vinyl, and synthetic wax.
On site dyeing, rinsing, and autoclaving.
Full time research and development lab.


Fibers

We specialize in synthetic fibers. Our main fibers are:

Multifilament Fibers:
Dyneema® / Spectra®
Kevlar®
Nomex®
Teflon®
Vectran®
Nextel™ Ceramic
Fiberglass
Nylon
Polyester

Monofilaments:
polyester, nylon, Halar®, Teflon®, Ryton®, and PEEK

Specialty metal co-braids

We also continually search for new performance fiber developments to improve product performance and fit customer needs.

Basically, this looks like a form of textile weaving and each firm has their own process. But they are sourcing the basic fibers from one of the (presumably licensed) manufacturers.