...I roll RxW in cling wrap, makes it easier to get started without cutting a point on it, easier to screw in.
It's a great idea Spy. Sometimes Nextel can dry out so much that wetting it simply doesn't hold down the fraying. And for wick media that's been cleaned which has more of a tendency to splay. Don't toss it in frustration.
Kinda disheartening how hard it is to find this stuff in a forum this large when new peeps are lookin' for a solution. Key threads that broke ground by lots of users on ECF just seem to get buried, lost in the shuffle and not readily found by Information Retrieval…like this seminal thread on clearomizer (Protank) rebuilding, one of three threads which really layed out the basics and import of localization in rebuilding. Happens to be high temp silica rope but applies, I dropped this back in April 2014...
The Cellophane Wrap (Rossum took me to task for naming it this)…
...Cut a small square of cello and fold the end of your wick material (don't cut any off) into the center of the square. The tip of the wick a half-inch or so from the edge of the square. Squeeze the wick firmly and press all the air out of the folded square. With a very flat straight edge metal or plastic ruler (thin plastic book markers are a good example, thin transparent rulers, another) hold the wick down firmly and edge underneath the wick tightly from end-to-end while you press in with the straight edge. Great, you have now compressed the wick almost 50%. Holding the wick with fingertips cut away about 3/4 of the cellophane from the rectangle. Now, roll a cigarette with it. The real skinny kind (if you get my meanin'). The result should be very well be almost half the Ø you started with. Oh yea, that extra strip of cello at the end, cut it on the bias. You now have a needle. A little heat (not flame) and you can harden it. Pull that through your coil and beyond, remove the cello, pull the wick back the other way as needed and you've got your set at the correct diameter for that wick! [Orig. published April, 2014}
Treasure trove here on ECF, if only.
Good luck and thanks for pointing out that solution.