Hairstacker
12-10-2006, 02:55 PM
Hi! Since I couldn't get to the water today, I decided to tie up some deer hair bugs and, in the process, test a couple of recently acquired products to see how well they worked:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v484/Sachlil/gelspun.jpg
The 1st item on the left is simply a flea comb I noticed and bought while walking my puppy through the aisles of the local PetsMart. (Like most fly tiers, I'm constantly on the lookout for useful tying items NO MATTER WHERE I am. :lol: ). As you know, when you spin/stack deer hair, you want to comb out any of the fuzzy hair that remains after you cut the hair off the hide -- thus, the need for some type of comb. This comb was less than $2 and sports two different-sized sets of teeth on each side. Its plastic is just a tad flexible so its teeth are not inclined to break like many of the eye brow combs and what-not I've bought in the past from the cosmetics sections of various stores. It works GREAT and even has a perfectly-sized hole in it should you want to attach it to your vise stem. :D
The 2nd item on the right is a spool of Wapsi UTC 200 denier gelspun that I picked up last time I was at Kiene's Fly Shop. This stuff is the real reason for this post. I had been using Orvis G thread since I started tying with deer hair and, for the most part, it has worked well. However, I had always wished it was a little stronger and that it didn't fray or catch on itself as much as it does at times. (Don't you hate it when you go to do a whip finish and the thread catches on itself and/or starts fraying? :x ](*,) )
Anyway, at the last fly tying/BS session at the shop, I embarrassed myself by breaking my Orvis G thread 3 times while tying an ill-fated and ultimately doomed bass bug. The final straw for that bug was when I went to trim it and sliced the thread that held it together. It wasn't that I had trimmed too closedly. Rather, on one of the hair bunches, the thread had jammed itself so that I hadn't snugged it up as tightly as I had thought. This left a small thread loop that was justing waiting for the sharp edge of the razor blade. After brooding about it, I vowed to see if there's a better thread out there.
Well, today I decided to try this GSP thread and found it resolved everything I didn't like about the Orvis G thread. First of all, it is REALLY strong at 16lbs and, thus, I found I can really crank down on it without fear of breaking the thread. Also, its tendency to lay flat like flat-waxed nylon kept me from cutting through ANY of the hair bundles despite how hard I cranked down on it. Secondly, it is very slick. At first I wasn't sure I liked that slickness, but ultimately concluded it's one of its very best features. First of all, it spins and stacks deer hair like a charm. Just as importantly, this slickness keeps the thread from catching itself and/or fraying, as I mentioned before, and I also found it slides past hairs rather than inadvertently matting them down when you're doing thread wraps around the hair to snug it down. Well, I am absolutely sold on this thread and will convert all of my deerhair spinning/stacking threads over to this stuff. Bottom-line, it worked better in ALL respects than the thread I was using and was an absolute pleasure to use. I now no longer have to worry about or fight with my thread, and I fully expect to tie better bugs because of it. Kiene's sells it in 3 different-sized deniers, and I found the 200 denier (I think Kiene's label on the bin identifies it as 180 denier) perfect for this purpose. Give it a try yourself, I think you will REALLY like it too.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v484/Sachlil/gelspun.jpg
The 1st item on the left is simply a flea comb I noticed and bought while walking my puppy through the aisles of the local PetsMart. (Like most fly tiers, I'm constantly on the lookout for useful tying items NO MATTER WHERE I am. :lol: ). As you know, when you spin/stack deer hair, you want to comb out any of the fuzzy hair that remains after you cut the hair off the hide -- thus, the need for some type of comb. This comb was less than $2 and sports two different-sized sets of teeth on each side. Its plastic is just a tad flexible so its teeth are not inclined to break like many of the eye brow combs and what-not I've bought in the past from the cosmetics sections of various stores. It works GREAT and even has a perfectly-sized hole in it should you want to attach it to your vise stem. :D
The 2nd item on the right is a spool of Wapsi UTC 200 denier gelspun that I picked up last time I was at Kiene's Fly Shop. This stuff is the real reason for this post. I had been using Orvis G thread since I started tying with deer hair and, for the most part, it has worked well. However, I had always wished it was a little stronger and that it didn't fray or catch on itself as much as it does at times. (Don't you hate it when you go to do a whip finish and the thread catches on itself and/or starts fraying? :x ](*,) )
Anyway, at the last fly tying/BS session at the shop, I embarrassed myself by breaking my Orvis G thread 3 times while tying an ill-fated and ultimately doomed bass bug. The final straw for that bug was when I went to trim it and sliced the thread that held it together. It wasn't that I had trimmed too closedly. Rather, on one of the hair bunches, the thread had jammed itself so that I hadn't snugged it up as tightly as I had thought. This left a small thread loop that was justing waiting for the sharp edge of the razor blade. After brooding about it, I vowed to see if there's a better thread out there.
Well, today I decided to try this GSP thread and found it resolved everything I didn't like about the Orvis G thread. First of all, it is REALLY strong at 16lbs and, thus, I found I can really crank down on it without fear of breaking the thread. Also, its tendency to lay flat like flat-waxed nylon kept me from cutting through ANY of the hair bundles despite how hard I cranked down on it. Secondly, it is very slick. At first I wasn't sure I liked that slickness, but ultimately concluded it's one of its very best features. First of all, it spins and stacks deer hair like a charm. Just as importantly, this slickness keeps the thread from catching itself and/or fraying, as I mentioned before, and I also found it slides past hairs rather than inadvertently matting them down when you're doing thread wraps around the hair to snug it down. Well, I am absolutely sold on this thread and will convert all of my deerhair spinning/stacking threads over to this stuff. Bottom-line, it worked better in ALL respects than the thread I was using and was an absolute pleasure to use. I now no longer have to worry about or fight with my thread, and I fully expect to tie better bugs because of it. Kiene's sells it in 3 different-sized deniers, and I found the 200 denier (I think Kiene's label on the bin identifies it as 180 denier) perfect for this purpose. Give it a try yourself, I think you will REALLY like it too.