Production Fly Tying

By A. K. Best

Hailed by Lefty Kreh as the best fly-tying book of the past few years and by Field & Stream as "a bible of invaluable secrets," this revised third edition of a fly-tying classic is a great resource for both beginner and expert tiers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stackpole Books
• Release date: Mar 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9780811761918

Book preview

grateful.

CHAPTER 1

Tools

Vises

Scissors

Whip Finishing by Hand

Hair Stackers

Bodkins

Hackle Pliers

Bobbins

Tweezers

Needle-Nose Pliers

Side Cutters

Quill Wing Former

Bobbin Holder

Third Hand

Head Cement Applicator

Lacquer

Florist’s Putty

Dubbing Wax Container

Eyeball Sticks

Dubbing Loop Twister

Dubbing Teaser

Hackle Gauge

Dubbing Blender

Tying Bench

Chair

Lamps

Fingernails

Final Thoughts on Tools

This isn’t the typical chapter on tools in that I don’t list everything that’s available or what I think you ought to have. That’s been done very well many times. Your selection of tools is entirely a personal matter. A lot of it depends on your billfold and your tying needs, but be careful here. What I do tell you is how to select your tools, how to make some of them better, how to finish making some of them, and how to use some of them for purposes other than for which they were designed. There are some essential tools you absolutely do not need, and there are some you can make yourself that will be far better than anything you can buy.

Always buy the best tools you can afford. Vises and scissors are good examples. The more expensive ones generally last longer, function more smoothly, and show very little wear over long periods of use. The most expensive tools are often under warranty in some manner, and replacement parts are readily available. Some vise makers guarantee all parts for life. Even if you’re not a commercial tier, that’s an important consideration. Things do wear out and break.

VISES

When you go to your local fly shop to select your vise, compare the various models. Listen politely to the salesperson as he expounds on all the advantages of his favorite vise, but don’t forget your own needs for a second. Do you tie mostly streamers? Then you need a sturdy vise with large jaws.

If you tie a lot of deer-hair Bass Bugs, I recommend that you get a heavy-duty vise that clamps to the tying bench. Pedestal types slide all over because the pedestal is never heavy enough. 6/0 thread will move most of them before the thread breaks, and Monocord will move all of them. To be heavy enough, it would have to weigh in excess of ten pounds. A good C clamp that will accept a 2-inch-thick workbench is the best choice. Another advantage of the C clamp is that the vertical standard or rod that holds the jaws is longer, thereby allowing for more height adjustment. I’ve never found a pedestal vise with the jaws far enough from the pedestal.

If you tie a little of everything, you’d be wise to select a vise that will accept size 2 streamer hooks down to a size 24 dry-fly hook. Only a few vises will do this adequately without changing jaws, which I believe is a very important feature.

Open and close the jaws several times. Is the action smooth? If you feel roughness, the mechanism has not been finished properly. There are burrs on the moving parts. Do the table clamp and its adjustment operate smoothly? If you can wiggle anything, do not buy it. Remember, you’re paying hard-earned money for something that’s supposed to work right, not almost right.

Check out the jaw adjustment to allow for different hook wire diameters. If you need two hands to make this adjustment, it’s one hand too many. Jaw adjustment should be quick and simple. Are other adjustment knobs large enough to snag materials as you tie? Don’t buy a vise with oversize adjustment knobs. At the same time, beware of the vise whose adjustment knobs are too small to use comfortably.

One thing that I really dislike in any vise is a highly polished chrome finish on the collet and jaws. An hour or more of trying to focus your eyes on a dry-fly hook next to all that reflection can create a headache from eyestrain that will last into the next morning. You can take nearly all the glare off the highly polished and chromed parts by buffing them with a strip of very fine emery cloth. Clean all the grit from the jaws and collet opening after the buffing process with a couple of blasts from a container of canned air before you begin to use your vise. If you don’t keep the jaw shoulder and collet opening clean, the grit from the emery-cloth operation will cause unnecessary wear on those surfaces. If you tie on a daily basis, these surfaces should be cleaned once or twice daily. No lubrication is suggested, since any oil or grease will only collect grit. If it makes you feel better, you can use nose oil from your face. It works great and doesn’t collect dust.

Photo 1: True rotary vise

Photo 2: Heel of hand on true rotary vise

If your vise’s collet has any small Allen-head screws, you should put a small drop of rubber cement or Pliobond on the edges of them. This will prevent the screws from working loose and falling into your waste bag, or worse yet, on the floor. In either case, the screws will be lost forever, and your vise will be nearly useless until you can find the exact replacement. Be careful that you don’t get any of the cement into the hole where the Allen wrench is inserted or you won’t be able to get it in.

No matter which brand of vise you choose, I suggest that you purchase one that has at least partial rotation of the jaws. Complete 360-degree rotation is best, but you can probably live without it. It’s a lot easier to roll the jaws to examine the other side of your fly than it is to change your entire upper body position and probably scorch your forehead on a hot lamp in the process.

Photo 3: Standard angled collet vise

Photo 4: Heel of hand on angled collet vise

You should have to buy only one vise in a lifetime, and you ought to buy it from your local tackle dealer. The reasons for purchasing all your tying needs from your local fly shop should be so obvious that I’m not even going to mention them here. Buy the best vise you can afford and one that accepts a wide range of hook sizes. You may think that all you’re going to tie the rest of your life are size 12 and 14 trout flies, but you couldn’t be more mistaken.

Be careful about purchasing an in line or true rotary vise. Compare the level of the collets and hand positions in the accompanying photos. An in line vise does not allow the tier to position his materials hand in any position other than horizontal. That is to say the palm of the hand must be level with the floor, which will position the first knuckle of the first finger in front of the finger and thumb tip holding the material. This prevents guiding the tying thread from going where it should since the first knuckle is in the way. Thread control is critical in tying any fly that will have any degree of durability. Each turn of thread must be precisely wound on the hook at near breaking tension. There simply cannot be any interference with this action. A true rotary vise is useful for a tier who ties a lot of Woolly Buggers or who winds a lot of hackle around the hook on saltwater flies.

I prefer a cam lever vise with a collet that may be positioned at any angle, be it horizontal or tilted. It should have a rotary function. To get true rotary function from such a vise, simply place the hook in the jaws so that the hook shank is aligned with the center line of the collet.

SCISSORS

If the vise is the most important piece of fly-tying equipment, your tying scissors are certainly the next most important. Some say the scissors are the most important, and they may be right. After all, the vise can only hold the hook. Your scissors snip, shear, cut, pick, tease, and do a dozen or more additional things that other essential tools are made to do. Again, my advice is to get the very best you can afford. They will last longer, will not wear out at the axis quite as soon, and won’t need sharpening as much as the cheaper models.

You only need one good vise, but you ought to have two or three scissors. The number-one or good pair should never cut anything but tying thread and hackles. The number-two (slightly larger) pair is used for cutting ribbing wire and quill stems, while the number-three cuts the heaviest and thickest materials. If you have two or three pairs, your number-one scissors will last a lot longer. Never cut even the finest wire with them.

Your number-one tying scissors should be short in overall length because the longer ones only get in the way. The theory goes something like this: Touch something small like a size 16 hook eye with the tip of your index finger. Easy, right? Now do the same thing with a 12-inch ruler, or even a 6-inch ruler. Notice the difference? Shorter scissors are far more accurate and easier to use than the longer ones.

Scissors should be designed so that you can keep them in your hand at all times. Never put them down because you’ll only have to pick them up again—and that’s wasted motion and time. If you choose scissors of standard design, the thumb and finger loops should be larger than standard sewing scissors, and the blades should be thin and meet at a very fine point when closed.

I don’t often blatantly endorse one product over another, but there is one pair of scissors on the market that leaves your thumb and first two fingers totally free while using it, has razor-sharp blades that meet at a fine point, has replaceable blades, has an adjustable axis that never wears out, and will allow a dubbing needle to be attached to it, thereby saving one more step in the tying process by having two tools in one hand and reducing the number of your purchases. It’s made by Wiss and was designed as sewing scissors. Someone (I learned from Dave Whitlock) discovered that Wiss scissors made a good fly-tying tool.

Photo 5 shows the original, unaltered Wiss scissors and how I squared off the plastic handle just over the top blade to allow a flat surface in which to drill or burn a small hole that would accept the butt end of a darning needle. A standard stainless-steel 2-inch darning needle works just fine. Secure it in the hole with a drop of super glue. When completely dry, bend the needle slightly upward so that it parallels the cutting edge of the top blade, as shown in the photo. If you don’t do this, the needle can get in the way of some cutting jobs. The point of the needle should extend beyond the scissors’ points by only ³/8 inch. Dull the point of the needle by honing it on a fine sharpening stone or it will cut the thread when you slide it out of a whip-finish loop.

Photo 5: Wiss scissor without needle at top and Wiss scissor with needle at bottom

You now have two tools in one hand, and you never have to put one down to pick up the other. Both work better and are easier to use than those designed for fly tying. Other brands of this type of scissors are available with some alterations in the basic design, but I’ve yet to find a pair that works as well as the Wiss.

The blades on the Wiss are so razor sharp that you can cut thread, hackle tips, dubbing loops, single-strand yarns, and floss by merely holding the material taut and stroking it with one blade. Be sure to do this flush with the body of the fly. It’s a minute detail, but if you use the normal clipping motion of any other scissors, you will always see a tiny stub of material after making the cut.

WHIP FINISHING BY HAND

Do not buy whip finishers of any design. The most efficient, adjustable, controllable, sensitive, and strongest whip finisher is that thing that hangs at the end of your arm, and you only need two-fifths of it. How’s that for efficiency? You need to learn to whip finish by hand. (Another advantage of the Wiss scissors is that you don’t have to put it down to whip finish.) It’s easy to do, and anyone can learn it in ten minutes. Besides the advantages already mentioned, you never have to pick anything up or put it down, nor will you ever misplace it or drop it on the floor—or, any one of a dozen or more other annoying things that invariably happen to small tools. I became convinced some years ago that gremlins representing the spirits of all the dead grizzly roosters visit every tier’s bench each night and put nicks halfway down the stems of 3-inch-long size 16 hackles, kick loose hooks on the floor, roll spare tools under the bench, and take the top off the head cement bottle. Although you can’t prevent all of this, the fewer tools you have lying around the bench, the better.

I’ve looked at a lot of good fly-tying books with marvelous photos of how you can learn to whip finish by hand. The final result is nearly always confusing. Find a buddy who knows how to do this and ask him to teach you. He’ll be glad to oblige. It’s the best way to learn. Still photos are good, but they fall short. A video would be ideal.

HAIR STACKERS

Hair stackers are great tools and should be your third or fourth purchase. Don’t try to save money here, either. The good ones will have close tolerances between the sliding tube and the body. Too much clearance represents sloppy workmanship and tells you a lot about the quality of the material. The shoulder in the bottom of the body should be no shorter than ½ inch. This means that after you have tapped it a few times (with hair in it), then held it horizontally and withdrawn the tube, ½ inch of neatly aligned hair tips should be visible and easy to grasp. The top end of the sliding tube should be flared to help guide the hair tips into the tube, and the bottom should be absolutely flat. I have a pet peeve with all hair stackers in that none of them have a long enough or wide enough flared portion. This funnel ought to be at least ½ inch in height. There are some definite variables in this part of the design from different manufacturers. Look for the highest and widest funnel.

Another complaint I have with hair stackers is that someone evidently decided that all hair stackers would have the same almost-too-small inside diameter. Most are fine for stacking hair for hair-wing dry flies, but none of them hold enough hair for the collar on size 2 and larger Muddlers. Also, no one to my knowledge markets a magnum stacker. Some saltwater flies and Bass Bugs require magnum amounts of bucktail. You don’t want these hair-wing streamers to be stacked perfectly, but a couple of taps in the right-size hair stacker would eliminate a lot of time in pinching and pulling to match up the tips a little better on 3- and 4-inch-long bucktail hair.

Photo 6: Hair stackers

Photo 7: Calf hair stacker

I made a stacker for calf body hair (which I use on some Wulff flies and large parachute wing posts) from the small plastic tube in which Pentel erasers are sold.

Since the tubes have identical ends, you can make two from the same container. Stacking calf body hair for your Royal Wulffs or wing posts on large parachutes makes them look a lot better and much easier to tie, since all the hair tips are aligned. To make one, simply cut off the tube at a length of ⁵/8 inch from the end. That length has worked out to be correct for nearly all fly sizes. (See photo 7.)

BODKINS

Don’t buy a bodkin. Instead, go to your nearest artist supply store and buy a potter’s needle. It’s a stainless-steel needle inserted into one end of a ³/16-inch dowel and is about 5½ inches long overall. It costs about $2. The bodkins made for fly tying are mostly all metal with the handle being the heaviest part. About all you can do with this bodkin when it’s not in use is lay it flat on the table. Since the handle is almost always no bigger than ¼ inch in diameter and is hexagonal to keep it from rolling off the table, it’s not easy to pick up quickly. But it is easy to snatch a 4-inch-long handle from a small block of foam sponge near your vise. That’s the beauty of the long-handled, vertical, lightweight bodkin. By always having it in the same place, you know where it is, and soon you’ll be able to pick it up without even looking. I made a fancy one from a piece of old bamboo fly rod and a darning needle. It looks so nice I don’t use it.

Photo 8: Bodkin

HACKLE PLIERS

Hackle pliers are a close third with hair stackers in importance regarding the tools you should purchase first. I know a few tiers who don’t use them, but I believe that hackle pliers are an essential aid, especially when tying the tiny size 18, 20, and 22 dry flies. Don’t think for a minute that you’re never going to tie anything that small. The mere idea is a challenge to every fly tier I know. Besides the challenge, you can bet that someday you’re going to find yourself on a stream where the only bugs on the water are size 20 Blue-Winged Olives—one of the most widespread aquatic insects in the United States.

You only need one size of hackle pliers. Don’t get sucked into buying mini hackle pliers for tying tiny flies. The tool still has to grip the tip of the hackle. As aggravating as winding hackle can sometimes be, it is much better to use the same size hackle pliers for all your hackling chores. Your fingers become accustomed to the feel of the pliers in a few days, so why confuse them with the feel of another tool that is too small to handle comfortably?

When you select your hackle pliers, stay away from those with a rubber pad on the business end. Like people, rubber pads on hackle pliers become old and brittle. Worse yet, I haven’t seen one that will firmly hold a hackle tip when hackling Bass Bugs or large dry flies. I recommend the standard-size English-style hackle pliers. The tension is easy to alter with a pair of good pliers, or by hand. Almost all manufacturers make them far too strong in the grip. After a few hours of tying, you’ll have a very sore thumb. To reduce this excess tension, place your hackle pliers in a pair of pliers (as shown in photo 10) and carefully squeeze them well past the normal opening space that you’d use to grasp a hackle tip. Do this by the standard trial-and-error method, being careful not to overdo it.

Photo 9: Standard English-style hackle pliers

Photo 10: Adjusting hackle pliers

Photo 11: Removing burr edges

Your hackle pliers should have some serrations on the flat or inside portion of the jaws for more secure gripping. If they don’t, don’t buy them.

After you get your pliers home, you’ll need to finish making them. Take a small diamond dust hook hone and remove the burr edges that will be present on the edges of the jaws. The burr edges result from the manufacturer grinding the outside of the jaws to shape them. If the burr edges aren’t removed, you’ll be cutting a lot of hackle tips while hackling. (See photo 11.)

BOBBINS

The bobbins that you almost always see are the open-frame type made by such well-known manufacturers as Matarelli. They are mostly very well made and have stainless-steel or ceramic tubes and brass spool knobs. They all look great and are classic in both design and appearance—simple and functional. I hate them. I hate them for important and practical reasons and am quite perplexed about why they are so popular. They simply aren’t heavy enough to keep tension on the thread while you leave it hanging between tying steps. You can add weight to the open-frame bobbin by inserting small lead sinkers into the spool and then putting the spool into the bobbin.

I can’t understand why the S & M bobbin isn’t the most popular one in the world. It has a much better design and enough weight. In more than forty-five years of tying, I have found that the S & M bobbin is heavier than the standard open-frame bobbin. This allows