Another newbie with Nymph and tool questions

[iamasmith]

I'm back to tying after 25 years and a couple of weeks ago started to tie my first nymphs.

I landed my first fish in 25 years on a Lightning Bug like this last week so I thought I might tie a few more up along with the usual Cat's Whisker.

I have a few questions about what I'm using and doing though.

I got a set of basic tools in a Veniard materials kit. They seem a little rough but mostly they do the job.

The scissors from that kit I use to trim wire, I very quickly bought some much finer Sportfish Arrow head scissors for the finer work.

I never used a whip finisher before getting this lot - I used to whip finish by hand. The one shipped seems to force me to wind the thread towards me rather than away which is counter intuitive. I have learned to tie quite happily as long as I remember to start off winding that way but I have to say that I am a convert and love using the whip finisher. What are your thoughts though? Are there much better ones or are they all 'much of a muchness'?

As you can see I'm using the cheapest AA vice one can imagine at the moment. This poses me problems of seeing around the fly and also orientating it for a lacquer coating. The current ones that I am tying aren't getting the coating on the basis that I'll tie plenty more if they unravel etc. but I have treated myself and have a Dyna King Pro on the way (which I should get in about a week), this should help with orientating the fly for a coating and better inspection for trimming etc. On such a fly do you recommend tying off, lacquering and then continuing with the herl body once that is set? What lacquer coating do you recommend? At present I have clear Cellire and also use 'Hard as Nails' for other stuff.

I try to avoid leaving a wide thread collar by tying the herl body 3/4, putting in the legs, pulling over the casing and then finishing the herl with a couple of wraps.

I have been finishing on this kind of fly not by lacquering the thread collar but by putting a length of about 3" of Hard as Nails droplets onto the thread and whipping that down behind the bead on the basis that there should be plenty of lacquer on the thread to flood that area.

All comments and criticism well received

[Alanc]

nice fly I see you got sorted with a vice.

Alan

[iamasmith]

Originally Posted by Alanc

nice fly I see you got sorted with a vice.

Alan

Cheers Alan, and yes I can't wait for that to turn up. I tried to tie a Bobesh on a size 14 today with this AA and threw down the tools in disgust when I fouled up about 4 times because I couldn't see what I was working on.

[seanie]

Great to see you are back tying again and tying good flies
You are on the right road by investing in a good vice(Dyna King) from the onset. As regards tools I feel that buying a kit is a waste of money as some tools in the kit may not be to your liking and never be used. Personally I prefer to buy the tools that I like irregardless of manufacturer.Probably more expensive but at least you have tools that YOU like.

[iamasmith]

Originally Posted by seanie

Great to see you are back tying again and tying good flies
You are on the right road by investing in a good vice(Dyna King) from the onset. As regards tools I feel that buying a kit is a waste of money as some tools in the kit may not be to your liking and never be used. Personally I prefer to buy the tools that I like irregardless of manufacturer.Probably more expensive but at least you have tools that YOU like.

Thanks again, as far as the kit goes.. well that was just to give me a variety of materials to have a dabble with over Christmas. The pack of Veniard tools on the whole are passable with the exception of the scissors which are so crude they would make a poor job of toe nails (hence they just get used for trimming wire now).

I guess being picky, and I'm sure I will be. The next things to get changed will be the bobbin holder because it's a little crude and stiff. It isn't snagging or snapping thread but it could be a lot better then possibly the whip finisher.

[mancfly]

Originally Posted by iamasmith

I guess being picky, and I'm sure I will be. The next things to get changed will be the bobbin holder because it's a little crude and stiff. It isn't snagging or snapping thread but it could be a lot better then possibly the whip finisher.

Veniards bobbin holders are set for narrow spools such as Pearsalls silk. Try stretching the legs apart, (OO ERR MISSUS!), to fit the normal, wider spools. Another tip is rub some dubbing wax on the grips, this helps the spool rotate smoothly.
I don't understand about the whip finisher only working by rotating anti clockwise, i.e. towards you. All the whip finish tools i have seen are able to be used either way.

Nice tie by the way mate, keep up the good work!

[iamasmith]

Originally Posted by mancfly

...
I don't understand about the whip finisher only working by rotating anti clockwise, i.e. towards you. All the whip finish tools i have seen are able to be used either way.
..

Here you go. It's like an S at the end. If you try to whip with the thread in the curve which is nearest the shaft of the thing the thread just slips out all the time - if you imagine the strain coming onto that part you can see that it's actually angled away from the shaft. Wrap the other way (towards you) means that you can use the other part of the hook and it works quite nicely. I think I might just try a new whip finisher if I don't get used to starting off wrapping towards myself soon.

(SWMBO broke her MacBook Pro screen at 1am which is why I'm still up restoring a Time Machine backup onto my MacBook so she can work.. I don't normally lurk around forums at 4am )

[iamasmith]

Well, I got a new ceramic bobbin holder and the C&F whip finisher which was the only one of reasonable build quality in the local shop.. it comes with it's own problems. It isn't flexible enough to gather the loop and when you have performed a few twists you then have to be very careful to drag back a bit of slack to disengage the first point or it will snag the thread enough to break it when you draw it tight. Have to say that on the whole it's a lot better... still waiting for that Dyna King vice to turn up btw.

Did anybody have anything to add on the lacquering? I was curious about the stuff that people use to layer. Some mention using fresh superglue (to avoid blooming) etc. as a base layer. I've had a go at a couple of buzzers and started with three coats of Hard as Nails...



..but I note that it still isn't as deep as most of the lacquer coatings I have seen on the flies posted.

Is this simply far more coats or some other lacquer?

[sweenytodd]

You can get one of those thingys that rotates the flies around when they are drying , then you can get away with thicker coats . I don't have one though and I just splosh on 3 good coats and seems to be ok ??





There is no reason why you can't just add more coats to build up the buzzers if you wanted .
One thing I have found though is try and get the coat on without dabbing and messing about to much . I hold the buzzer by the eye of the hook with the hackle pliers and get plenty of varnish on the brush . Start with the buzzer upside down and sweep the bush all the way along in one movement and then turn the buzzer to get one side and the top and then the other side and the top . So the whole buzzer is done in 3 strokes .
Just my way of doing it and I don't know a lot and am sure others will have some better advise than me .

[iamasmith]

Originally Posted by sweenytodd

You can get one of those thingys that rotates the flies around when they are drying , then you can get away with thicker coats . I don't have one though and I just splosh on 3 good coats and seems to be ok ??

They look great!

....
There is no reason why you can't just add more coats to build up the buzzers if you wanted .
One thing I have found though is try and get the coat on without dabbing and messing about to much . I hold the buzzer by the eye of the hook with the hackle pliers and get plenty of varnish on the brush . Start with the buzzer upside down and sweep the bush all the way along in one movement and then turn the buzzer to get one side and the top and then the other side and the top . So the whole buzzer is done in 3 strokes .
Just my way of doing it and I don't know a lot and am sure others will have some better advise than me .

Thanks for the tip, I have some clips and stand on the way from Scruff (well I hope so anyway :P) so maybe they will help but I may try the Hackle Plier trick in the meantime.

Is it Hard as Nails you use for your coating?

Cheers sweenytodd