What Material Do You Hate The Most?

[Tako]

Mine's deer hair. I hate the crap with a passion. I tied 30 nymphs tonight. Tried to do a caddis and gave up I need a substitute for wings

[Guest bigbadbrent]

Unless you're spinning it, why bother with deer hair then? Most caddis will be fine tied with elk, which is easier to work with

 

 

i hate glue and epoxy

[Snowwolf]

I am just starting out and am having a heck of a time with dubbing. Any tricks to it? I am using wax tried to do a couple without and that didn't work at first...L

 

are there any tricks to get it evenly on the threat and uniformed so it goes on the hook better mine is all clumpy. maybe I am putting on too much.

[Rick]

Any fly with a goose biot tail. I can never get them to spread the way I want. Drives me nuts. I've seen some tie in both biots at the same time and I'm just in awe.

 

Some ideas that I thought I would share:

 

- I always slap on the hand lotion when using deer/elk hair. Stops the loose hair and underfur from sticking like magnets to my hands.

- One day at the bank the teller had this little plastic thing used to moisten her fingers for counting money. I can't turn two pages without licking my finger so I asked her where she got it and if she liked it. They buy it from a local stationary place so I went and got some. It's great for dubbing. Not a wax, just a moisturizer.

- if your dubbing is looking clumpy your probably using too much at once. Dub more sparsely and use more wraps.

[bulltrout]

calftail...doesn't stack worth a damn and ya gotta torque the thread to tie in (which most often leads to snapping off)...nuff said...

[Castuserraticus]

I am just starting out and am having a heck of a time with dubbing. Any tricks to it? I am using wax tried to do a couple without and that didn't work at first...L

 

are there any tricks to get it evenly on the threat and uniformed so it goes on the hook better mine is all clumpy. maybe I am putting on too much.

 

Two tricks:

Apply in sparse amounts and build gradually.

Also, spin one way only. I spin by pushing with the thumb.

[TerryH]

.........are there any tricks to get it evenly on the threat and uniformed so it goes on the hook better mine is all clumpy. maybe I am putting on too much.

I agree with the previous post -- less dubbing on the thread and more wraps makes for better control. Also, keep good thread tension when wrapping. Lastly, wax is a must (for me at least) when dealing coarse spikey dubbing. However, use it only when necessary -- otherwise, I find it helpful to moisten my finger tips. I keep a wet sponge on my tying desk for that purpose.

 

Re the main topic: my least favourite material is floss. It's always fun trying to keep it from "untwisting" and with my rough hands, it is easily frayed. I usually sandpaper (use emery board, not belt sander) my fingers before dealing with it

 

Terry

[Brownstone]

Unicorn hair is the worst .. and I'm not fond of using head cement .. I'd rather gob on epoxy then use cement to finish anything

[Lawrence]

Mariboo, that stuff gets everywhere!!!

[DonAndersen]

The stuff I hate is mascara. Getting it on straight on clouser eyes drives me crazy.

 

Don

[KnotLikely]

i hate glue and epoxy

 

I second that, Zap-a-Gap, epoxy, hot glue, E-Z shape, Tuffleye...I hate them all. If you're not getting material that you don't want stuck to it, stuck to it, it's getting stuck to you, your tools or your bench. Though out of all of them, I think Tuffleye is probably the best to work with.

[tigershark]

I also struggle with deer hair. Elk hair is easier but the strands are too big for little caddis like 16s. Deer hair never stays where I want it.

 

I just recently discovered going really thin with the dubbing and doing more wraps- so much better! Dubbing used to be my least fav. but now its all good. I'm always suprised on how little dubbing you need.

[126barnes]

any kind of hair spun......................the only thing worst that spinning is trimming, worst than that .......................cleaning up the magnetised hair.

[albannachxcuileag]

Floss!

 

When you have skin like 40 grit Aluminium Oxide it just frays all over the place.

[birchy]

So far.. of all the material I have.. I hate my vise the most!

[Snowwolf]

Two tricks:

Apply in sparse amounts and build gradually.

Also, spin one way only. I spin by pushing with the thumb.

 

 

thanx for that was trying to roll it one back and forth will give her a go

[Snowwolf]

I agree with the previous post -- less dubbing on the thread and more wraps makes for better control. Also, keep good thread tension when wrapping. Lastly, wax is a must (for me at least) when dealing coarse spikey dubbing. However, use it only when necessary -- otherwise, I find it helpful to moisten my finger tips. I keep a wet sponge on my tying desk for that purpose.

 

Re the main topic: my least favourite material is floss. It's always fun trying to keep it from "untwisting" and with my rough hands, it is easily frayed. I usually sandpaper (use emery board, not belt sander) my fingers before dealing with it

 

Terry

 

 

oh a belt sander on the fingers would be killer

[Tee]

So far.. of all the material I have.. I hate my vise the most!

Is this why you are looking at a Danvise? What are you currently using?