Tying Materials

[robbie]

Looking through my chaotic tying boxes, I have tinsels,wires, flosses etc etc in all sizes and manufacturers. Many have never been used, and some are duplicated. I wondered if people would be prepared to list their favoured makers and materials and a brief reason why. Also, makers and materials that they are not so happy with.
My answers below simply tell the truth- that I am lazy and unadventurous!:

TYING THREAD

Uni Thread, Size 6, many colours and readily available

FLOSS

Pearsils, Strong colours and just feels nice to me
Glo Brite- Wickedly bright neon colours

TINSELS

Uni - Flat - Widely stocked with a good range
Uni French Oval- as above
Lagartun- as above

WIRES
Lagartun


OTHER FAVOURED MATERIALS/TOOLS

Hard as Nails nail varnish - Cheap, quick, comes with own brush.


FAVOURED RETAILERS OF MATERIALS

Lakeland Flytying - Whenever I have ordered from them it has been quick,reasonably priced and accurate



Would now avoid "Durham Ranger" wire and tinsels. Probably unfairly, however oval tinsel had a habit of delaminating half way through a fly on more than one occasion

[rpsalmon]

Your tinsel and wires I’d agree with, holographic tinsel is something I would add to the list as I regard it as indispensable these days, along with a range of plastic/mylar tinsels that have their uses if protected. You have not mentioned Pearl, there is an interesting range called “mirage” that I’ve been testing this year, when dressed over a layer of fluorescent thread you can get some interesting effects.

I use Benecchi round sectioned twisted threads in 6/0, 8/0 and 12/0 for strength and practicality when dressing. Have never liked the flat kind of thread though see its uses and use it on occasion.

Most of the varnish I have now has been cellire from a variety of sources including Spartan and McHardy’s, and this is principally because they used to (may have still) have such a variety of colours you could mix them together to form any colour you want…green, orange, purple, brown, teal blue etc. I have tried Loon but was unimpressed with their Fluorescent yellow and orange. The black, clear and red seemed ok and used them for a while but moved back to Cellire. Recently, after posting a negative remark about Loon red varnish, I opened the bottle of red Loon varnish and used it on a fly and it was super, can only think it either matured or dried up a little but I will be using Loon’s red varnish from now on.

Orvis had a “hard as nails” type clear product, have run out, that was astonishingly strong and quick drying and had used this to help secure hairs at the head.

I don’t have a favourite retailer for any product, I will buy it from anywhere but when it comes to hairs and feathers I must see the material first because there is still too much rubbish about. I have noticed that just because a place is called a “superstore” it is not necessarily super quality, this is confirmed when you speak to their suppliers because they will tell you that they don’t supply them with their best materials!!!

Despite one processor/wholesaler buying out another, the bulk of the supply of fly tying materials has not improved much over the years. I note that some shops orders for fly tying materials can take up to six months to fulfil, and as a customer of local shops I find this rather annoying, especially when certain mail order companies get their stocks replenished immediately.

[robbie]

Badger Hackles - How do you choose a good badger cape?. What do you look for?
I bought one last week for the first time and when I came to use it discovered that the darker areas of the hackle close to the stem were very irregular. It was almost as if someone had poured a bottle of ink into the bag and shaken it about. Is that normal? or are the good ones all regularly patterned?

[Speyducer]

Identifying those capes which have those qualities of feathers necessary for the best effects in the flies themselves may not be easy, and, certainly if buying 'at distance' without actually handling the cape, you should go for capes produced by those best renowned for this - eg. Whiting, Keogh. There are others, of course, but I have found them reliable.

I have just ordered some dyed Whiting badger capes, and will await their arrival and report back later.

Mike

[Speyducer]

Hi CF,

I got very good responses from Geoff Cherrett @

www.fly-dressing.co.uk

Geof does both saddles and capes, and he's doing the dyeing for 4 or 5 Whiting badger capes for me.

Mike

[jjtt61]

i got some badger capes from above site very well priced good quality fast delivery well worth contacting man, hope the salmon like the dyed badgers as much as the members

[ibm59]

Did they do you any good yesterday . JJ ?

[jjtt61]

yes had a look at them when i got home empty handed and thought their braw,it done me good

[ibm59]

jjtt61 said:

yes had a look at them when i got home empty handed and thought their braw,it done me good

;D