Category Archives: Fly tying Materials

Where to find them cheaply

Wax on Wax off

Non-drying, tacky toilet wax I’ve always assumed it fell from favor based on the unyielding goo Danville dips its spools into, their idea of waxed thread doesn’t share any of the properties that made wax a staple on every fly tying bench.

Both smaller thread and fly tying specific threads assisted in removing wax as a mainstay, but it’s still has capabilities that pre-waxed nylon and head cements have never been able to reproduce.

I still use quite a bit of it, mainly to stymie the smiling fellow in the plumbing department when he sees me pawing over the toilet gaskets. A two dollar gasket is the better part of a decade of non drying, tacky wax designed to stay supple with even my ponderous bulk on the throne.

dubbed_chenille

I use it to tame the unruly and coat materials that take a lot of abuse, where even a flexible vinyl cement will flake off … and on occasion, I’ll stretch the boundaries of materials – sometimes the results are useful, sometimes not.

The fly at left is flat forest green chenille that’s been dubbed_chenille_wet stroked with wax, then amber rabbit dubbed onto the chenille, which is spun, trapping the fibers. It’s a simple caddis imitation that once dampened offers a good looking scruffy pupa – akin to what Gary Lafontaine was after …

Naturally I like mine better, but I’ll let you be the judge.

Technorati Tags: , ,

War on Six Dollar Items – Head Cement

Lacquer and thinner There’s thousands of glues, lacquers, shellacs, and cements, but no such thing as “head cement,”  that’s a term we invented to describe grabbing a gallon jug of something used in the woodworking industry, decanting into a tiny little jar and selling it for 97 times what the jug costs.

Fly tying cements are one of two types; the vinyl cement family, and the lacquer-shellac family. A good rule of thumb is high gloss = lacquer, and dull = vinyl cement.

Vinyl cement is available in many viscosities – and most of those sold in fly shops are thinned to a water consistency for maximum penetration. Lacquer is usually thicker and is almost always sold with thinner, allowing you to customize the mix to your liking.

Lacquer gets thicker as it gets older and is subjected to oxygen, vinyl cement mostly evaporates with exposure to air – without changing viscosity. Most tiers have both in their desk; vinyl cement is flexible and works well with feathers, lacquer dries shinier, harder and is brittle.

Both have great qualities, reinforcing a feather to make a wingcase would be vinyl cement; it doesn’t add shine, is more flexible than lacquer, and the first couple of fish won’t destroy feathers as it retains some of the original flex despite the coating. Exposed thread would be best served with lacquer as it dries harder and often the shine is desirable, like the larger exposed heads of steelhead or salmon flies.

Last year I wrote where to find cheap vinyl cement but I never touched on the glossy lacquers and what to look for…

I prefer the nitrocellulose lacquers once used in the automobile industry (which has since shifted to water based lacquer). These are the thin lacquers used with spray guns and are now used for finishing musical instruments.

Violins and guitars derive much of their sound from the resonance of the body, and a hard glossy lacquer is preferred to enhance its musical qualities (I assume a flexible sealer would dampen sound).

I buy the Lawrence-McFadden lacquers by the quart ($18.00), along with a quart of thinner ($10.65) and either use it as a 50/50 mixture for general fly tying – occasionally using it un-thinned for the “large head” flies, where gloss is part of the overall presentation.

Nitrocellulose lacquers produce a very hard yet flexible, durable finish that can be polished to a high sheen. Drawbacks of these lacquers include the hazardous nature of the solvent, which is flammable, volatile and toxic.

Decanting and resealing the larger containers has always led to quarts of wasted wood finishing products lining your garage, and how each time you’d opened one it had turned into a dried hardened mass.

Instead of pouring into a smaller container, save a couple of straws from your favorite fast food vendor – those big round ones that induce an aneurism because the milk-shake-substance hasn’t thawed yet.

Cut one of those about two inches above the height of your quart jug. When you need to refill your bench bottle – just press it down into the lacquer and when it hits bottom put your finger over the end. Hold your small bottle over the lacquer jug and transfer the straw – about three trips with the straw and you’ve filled a head cement bottle half way, repeat with the thinner, and stir. Toss the straw when you’re done.

No mess, no drips, and the large cans reseal tightly so you get to use all the goody.

I’m not sure how many years two quarts of head cement represents – but to a casual tyer it’s measured in decades. Store-bought head cement is at least $5 per bottle – double that if you buy thinner, so it’s a considerable savings over their product – whose bottles often leak or evaporates the product anyhow.

Not yet a fly, not even rational thought. Blame Nyquil.

I’ve been calling it the “Fishing Jones” yarn – ever since I saw his Peacock Bass picture. I’m not sure what eats little Peacock Bass, but yank six inches of this stuff through the water and you’re sure to find out.

 

Mornings are cold and wet and with me honking snot already, wisdom has kept me indoors. I’ve got a couple of “alpha prototypes” to test this weekend; they’re not flies yet – merely strips of the material lashed onto a hook to test the physical qualities; does it shred apart, does it flap around wildly, does it resemble anything other than a Nyquil induced nightmare … the usual tests.

It’s an Italian double-eyelash yarn that is iridescent, all the colors of the rainbow are present and they glimmer like the center of a Peacock eye. 100% Polyamide – so it’s soft as a baby’s arse, and melts when exposed to flame.

 

What makes it difficult is the 4-strand stitch up the center. It’s unnecessary as a structural component, yet something I’ll have to work around.

The maker is Gedifra, “Costa Rica” is the yarn name. It appears to have ceased production in 2004, but can be had on eBay or some of the traditional yarn outlets.

I have to assume the best fishing yarns make the poorest fashion. Never much of a “clothes horse” myself, it certainly brings into focus the question of sense of style. I find something I like only to learn it fell out of favor four or five years ago.

Furry Foam by any other name is a blanket

JC Penny's Vellux blanket with 9 colors available I was tracking some quarry for the Roughfisher, and as the supply is ample figured I’d share with everyone else, as many of you tie flies with baby blankets …

You call it Furry Foam, and are content to pay $1.25 for a 6″ X 6″ square, I call it a Vellux Throw, and pay $15.00 for 36 square feet. At retail that’s a 600% profit for the middlemen – who score them wholesale I’m sure.

J.C. Penny’s offers nine colors in stock, available as a throw wrap ($15), and Twin through King sized sheets ($19 – $34).

Hareline sells it in the fly shop, but why buy it from them Big stonefly nymphs and Darth Clam come to mind, likely it’s something you’ll want to split with a buddy, or share with your fly tying class – 36 square feet is a lot of flies.

One of the few investments for a toddler they won’t outgrow – once they get too big you can launder it and chop it into manageable pieces, you may even have it longer than the bronzed baby shoe.

Just cut around anything that looks like “urpy-chuck.”

You could at least throw me a towel when you’re done, the War on Six Dollar items heats up, or I do

I made the mistake of restocking some rubber leg material at my last visit to the local establishment, and was driven into another paroxysm of swearing.

There among all the pre-packaged “jobbed” materials was the Spirit River “Tarantula legs” – minus the color I was looking for, naturally. I did find one old pack down at the floor that someone had missed – just enough to get me through the weekend.

My mistake was glancing at the price while admiring my find.

Detail view of the (olive) Pumpkin metal flake

Don’t waste your money – times is hard enough without being used savagely, $2.50 for about 24 strands of colored leg material is unconscionable – that’s a dime per fly.

Spirit River buys the damn stuff from someone akin to the Living Rubber Company, and you’ll find all the colors and sizes they offer – plus extra colors not available at your fly shop – and the price is 1/11th what the shop charges.

Do the markup math yourself – a “25 skirt pack” is about $6.00 from Living Rubber, and each of the “skirts” equals a Spirit River pack of rubberlegs, about 24 strands. I don’t mind so much if an enterprising fellow doubles or triples his money, but 11 times is enough to make me wince – only because he’s making 11 times the retail price of the rubber, he’s making double that if he buys it wholesale.

The standard skirt material from Living Rubber is what Spirit River describes as their “medium” size, and it’s rectangular rather than round. If memory serves, the Spirit River “fish scale” rubber is also rectangular. Living Rubber sells the round rubber in 15 foot lengths for $8.00 – these are simple one-color bands of ~50 strands each. They don’t yet sell the printed pattern round fibers on their web site.

I haven’t contacted the company for the availability of round imprinted rubber, but if they’re selling it wholesale to jobbers, they’ll certainly sell it to you.

Shown in the photographs are “25 skirt packs” of “Green Pumpkin” (the olive and black metal flake) and dark green/black and the orange/black varieties.

Take advantage of the vendor for a change, see how it feels – it’s another sawbuck saved for your next big purchase …

Stalking the elusive Ultra Chenille, it’s Vernille in the Wild

I figure it’s a cross between Euell Gibbons and Basil Rathbone, a mixture of natural curiosity and dogged determinism; a personal quest, my ongoing War Against Six Dollar Items, where I delight in finding products “in the wild” – unfettered by middlemen, fly shops, and their obligatory markup..

I’ve been chasing down Ultra Chenille (Vernille, Velvet Chenille, Suede chenille) for almost a year. I thought I had it when I discovered a manufacturer in Turkey,  instead it was an interesting crop of fibers and yarns, all cheap as dirt and as yet undiscovered.

The good stuff, and it's cheap as dirt

Ultra chenille is a great material, tough as nails, low buildup, and has a variety of uses from traditional chenille flies to the nouveau dressings unique to the product.

At $2 for 9 feet, it’s also pricey.

I’d toss the old rayon stuff if the price was low enough to replace it – mainly because ultra chenille wears better and doesn’t come apart in your fingers if spun in the wrong direction. The fibers being so much shorter – it doesn’t mat or bleed, especially after the flies have been fished.

Tie is the blue strand, fly shop stuff is the flesh colored strand This fiber is made by a manufacturer called “Silk City Fibers” located back East, and is marketed under the “Tie” name, to distinguish it from the myriad of other yarns they make. It’s neither suede, rayon, or cotton, rather a synthetic nylon called “Polyamide.”

Acid dyes will dye nylon just fine – allowing the possibility of scoring a 2000 yard cone of white and making whatever color you fancy.

Chenille and yarn follow a number of sizing conventions and the “YPP” convention is commonplace. “YPP” is Yards Per Pound, and the higher the number the smaller the diameter of the material.

“Tie” is a 3800 YPP fiber which is about 15% smaller than the size sold in the fly shop. Also good, because we can use it on smaller hooks without making the fly too bulky – and it’s likely available in a variety of sizes – something else that’s missing from the fly shop selection.

100 yards in a neat little bundle for only five bucks A cone of ultra chenille is $90 from a reseller – and while only a commercial tyer will get excited – searching on eBay yields a vendor with 14 of the 16 colors available from the factory.

50g skeins for $5 is a steal, and she has plenty.

The top picture is her color selection, and contacting the vendor directly will score you enough of “the good stuff” to make it worth your while.

The smaller size is especially useful, as it’s diameter is small enough to make trout flies – expanding your use beyond  traditional steelhead flies and streamers.

The War Against Six Dollars Items continues, with you folks the beneficiary.

Matte finish faceted beads, so you can torment all your pals when they produce the store-bought flavor

I keep a small supply of the taper-drilled beads on hand for special circumstances, but the metal beads I use on flies are all from bead stores.

At $2.75 per 25, all I’m doing is adding another dime to a tree limb, and being a cheap SOB, that goes against the grain.

There are positives and negatives with the “bead store” product; they’re available in a bewildering assortment of shapes, colors, and metals, and they’re about 1/5 the price of your local fly shop. The downside is the holes are small, and for certain shapes of hook bend, just can’t slide over the sharp turns.

Model perfect bends are the exception, but Sproat and Limerick are chancy at best.

I just got an order of specialty beads from Beadaholique.com, with a matte finish that includes a faceted sparkle. It reduces the shine of the traditional beads and adds a sparkle that looks especially good.

I’ve often heard complaints from anglers who under bright conditions thought traditional bead head flies “too shiny” – and if you’re one of those fellows, you may want to eyeball the “matte” flavor.

 

Indoor Indirect Light

The facets give off a sparkle very much like seal fur in dubbing – a whitish wink of light that really looks attractive next to the dull matte finish. They’re available only in Gunmetal and Copper colors, 4mm size. The interior hole is 2mm, which is the minimum size you want to order (smaller holes can only fit 16-20 hooks.)

Next to the faceted beads are traditional 5mm copper beads from the same source – the holes on the 5mm look to be about 2.5-3mm, suitable for larger flies like stonefly nymphs, streamers, and the like.

For jewelry beads these are on the expensive side; the faceted bead is $3.99 per 144 beads, and the plain copper 5mm is $3.33 per 144, I’m assuming it’s the price of copper that makes these a dab more expensive than normal – usually I pay about $11.00 – $14.00 per thousand beads.

 

Outdoor Direct Light 

From the above outdoor photo you can see the additional glare off the traditional smooth bead, and how the matte finish is absent that extra gleam.

I can’t wait to give these a try – as I find myself using beaded flies much more often than I used to – it’s often the easiest way to weight them and you don’t need seventeen split shot to get them to hug the bottom in fast water.

Be cautious on your first order, you may be using a hook style that prevents their use. I use mostly Togen hooks that are unforged – that allows me to grab the point area with a pair of pliers and move it the 5-6 degrees necessary for the bead to pass the sproat “kink” portion. I would not try this on traditional forged hooks (those whose wire is flattened on the hook bend) – only round wire hooks can be deformed and returned to their original shape without inducing too much weakness.