i'm in the process of building my first wheel and laced most of the spokes, but i stopped b/c the nipples would only thread onto the spokes a tiny bit. it is really really hard to lace the nipples onto the spokes - there is a lot of windup and i'm afraid the spokes are gonna break so i stop. is this normal? i'm not sure what is going on - does this mean i have the wrong size nipple? i figured i got the right nipple/spoke combo as i had the help from a mechanic at a good lbs.

oh yeah - i also tried boiled linseed oil on the threads and it doesn't help much.

any help is much appreciated.