Kevlar tying thread?

[Mike N]

Advantages: I find it is much easier to spin hair with kevlar thread because you can really pull it tight. I find I have to make less wraps overall and less through the spun hair, and I think this makes for a cleaner body - especially where you cut the hair short. If you just use it for spinning it should last a long time and so is worth the cost.

Disadvantages: I'm not sure if they make a wound kind, but the kevlar thread I have is basically floss, which means it tends to spread out on the hook, so it is very visible and you have to plan accordingly at the edges.

M

[kjackson]

Fred-- We had at least one supplier of GSP threads until Gudebrod quit selling to the consumer market. I'm not sure of the other manufacturers and importers, but I'll be on the lookout at the Denver fly show.

However, you can still get GSP in appropriate sizes by buying Berkley's Fireline. There is a new color out, crystal, that is translucent white. The other two colors are a flame green (chartreuse) and a smoke. Up until recently it was only available in larger sizes-- 4-pound test was about it. Now, Fireline is available down to one-pound test that looks to be in the 6/0 thread range, maybe even 8/0.

There are two negatives-- it comes on relatively large spools used for monofilament, and it is slicker than just about anything you'd care to name.

To use it in flytying, which I haven't tried yet, would require that you put it on a spool or cut a length (and let it hang) and wax it. Outside of that, it's likely cheaper than GSP or Kevlar tying threads because you buy it in either 100, 300, or 1100-yard spools.

A regular fly shop won't carry it, but some place like Cabela's will.