Problems With Deer Hair

[cdock]

I have a really tough time spinning and trimming deer hair, say for a bow river bugger head or goddard caddis. Any suggestions to make this a better experience? It would be greatly appreciated.

[Guest rusty]

What are you having problems with?

 

Use a good hair that's nice and hollow. It should stand up when you push it with your fingernail. I like decent sized (maybe pencil-size) bunches. Use 6/0 min size thread, and start with two very loose wraps around the bunch. Pull tight, and take two wraps through the bunch. Push the hair back nice and tight, take a few wraps in front, and repeat. You can do a nice #2 Bow River Bugger head in 3-4 bunches.

 

If you're doing more than 3 or 4 flies, build all the bodies first and whip finish. Do all the deer hair at the same time. You get in a good rythym and you'd be surprised how many you can pound out in an hour.

[cdock]

I guess I should specify. Trimming the hair to the proper shape is more my problem. I like your suggestion rusty to do all the bodies at once and get a rythym. Great idea. Thanks man!

[trailhead]

I trim by tying all the deer hair then finishing with a couple of half hitches, cut off thread and remove the fly from the vise. Then I trim it to the shape I want. If you need to you can put the fly back into the vise to add other details ie head cement, eyes etc.

[SilverDoctor]

I trim by tying all the deer hair then finishing with a couple of half hitches, cut off thread and remove the fly from the vise. Then I trim it to the shape I want. If you need to you can put the fly back into the vise to add other details ie head cement, eyes etc.

Along with that use your scissors to cut in from the front not the side. The type of scissors make a difference. A good pair doesn't have a smooth cutting surface, look instead for SERRATED SCISSORS. A razer blade works well also.

[Brownstone]

use good materials and tools...practice practice pratice

[Grizz]

Trimming your deer hair once spun with:

 

Scissors (as mentioned)

razor blade

Lighter (burning the hair down to where you want it and blowing it out) - careful!

Plucking to get a more fuzzy kind of appearance as on some mouse patterns where you don't want that nicely trimmed looked.

 

You can, once trimmed to your satisfaction, also coat the final deer hair with something like Flexcement to add even more stiffness to it. Experiment with what you might coat it with. Be careful though, I tried two different things once (once of them was crazy glue) and for some bizzare reason there was some kind of reaction and the fly started to smoke! Weird indeed!

 

Also, of course different coloured deer hair too to get various combinations of colours. Once you get good, instead of letting the double loops pull/spin the hair all the way around the shank, you can hold it til it flares on the top and on the bottom of the shank allowing for two different colours, one colour on top and another on the bottom. This is great for having a lighter colour hair/fur underneath for frogs/mice/etc.

 

Also, a needle type glue dispenser can work by stabbing the needle into the spun deer hair down to the shank and squeezing off a drop or two to secure the wraps to the shank of the hook. Makes your fly more durable over time.

 

Cheers!

[DonAndersen]

cdock,

 

In addition to the comments above, all deer hair is not the same. When I was tying commercially, I looked hard for early fall hides. there was little underfur and the hair length was all the same. All hair on the hide is not the same - back and neck hair are more hollow with leg and hock hair nearly solid. When trimming use a razor blade - a real 2 sided razor blade from Gillette. Razored hair has a larger end thereby appearing to add bulk w/o adding more hair. This is important on flies requiring weight like the sculpins etc.

And Rusty is bang on doing the hair all @ one time. Used to have upwards of 500 Muddler Minnows to do @ once. Fast that way.

 

catch ya'

 

 

Don

[Conor]

Use a razor blade. I have not done many, but I get better results with a fresh razor than with scissors.

 

An electric trimmer works, as well. A small beard trimmer or nose hair trimmer is best (not that I have nose hair!).

[126barnes]

Use curved blade scissors instead of normal for heads...............but I find a blade the best

[Grizz]

An electric trimmer works, as well. A small beard trimmer or nose hair trimmer is best (not that I have nose hair!).

 

Great Idea!!

 

Just a cheap little mustache trimmer would work!

[SilverDoctor]

Just another point, I've found that it's quicker and more accurate to trim a head if you take the fly out of the vice. Keeps the scraps in check by working over a garbage bag or box. Don is also dead on in saying not all deer hair is the same. Look at different types. You might also experiment with Elk and antelope. The have some great characteristics for some patterns.

[hydropsyche]

You might also experiment with Elk and antelope. The have some great characteristics for some patterns.

 

antelope - very, very brittle but it floats about 3 times better then deer.

[Guest bigbadbrent]

caribou is where it's at for spinning