Use of Bobbins with Floss?

[Tom Grobelny]

Does anybody use a bobbin with floss? If so are there any types that work better, or should be avoided?

Maybe my fingers are too rough, but it seams like the floss starts to fray and the fiber bundles start to spread out too wide while I am wrapping it using my fingers. I am hoping to find a better way to handle the floss to keep a clean wrap with out getting stray or frayed filaments sticking out of my flies.

Tom G

[FT]

Tom,

You need to have a single-strand, spooled floss for it to work, or else you will have to separate the floss into single strands and put in on an empty spool. that said, their are several single-strand spooled flosses on the market that you can use a bobbin with. The single strand ones on standard size spools I'm familiar with are: 1) Danville's single-strand acetate; 2) Danville's Flat-waxed nylon (which is really their nylon floss with very light wax coating); 3) Danville's single-strand nylon floss; 4) Uni-Floss; and 5) Uni-Stretch.

I use both the Uni-Floss in bobbins on flies like the Ally's Shrimp because there is less waste and it makes the tying a slight bit easier. The Uni-Stretch is terrific for floss bodied streamers and for the bodies on flies such as the Glasso speys because it comes is very useful colors (most of which are flourescent), lays very flat, and is easy to split into two to make a dubbing loop. I've tried the Danville's acetate, but it frays so easily and fast that you end up with fuzzies all over the body, which is why I no longer use it.

However, when I want the nicest floss body possible, I use Japanes silk

[Old Man]

I use unsented hand lotion on my hands before I tie. It keeps the rough fingers smooth so the thread and floss doesn't hang up on the rough spots.

Jim

[Hywel]

Tom,

There are any number of well-known tyers who use a bobbin to apply their floss - and the results are stunning. I mean, lump-free without a single broken filament. It's as though the floss tag or body were painted on.

If you choose to use a bobbin to apply your floss, I think you'd want to use a 'newer' one (irregardless of brand name) that's free of any nicks and burrs, for obvious reasons.

I've tried using a bobbin but it just seems to get in the way while tying so I still apply my floss by hand.

Due to the nature of my job my hands (especially at this time of the year) get pretty chewed up. A pumice stone works wonders in smoothing out all the nicks and rough spots on my finger tips. Silk gloves I understand are also a good way to 'protect' your floss when wrapping it.

I also use Uni-Stretch as a floss or silk substitute as it's very forgiving - although, due to its 'semi-elastic' nature, I have no clue on how to split the stuff for a dubbing loop without making a mess.

Have you thought of trying Glo-Brite flosses? It's a bit finer in strand diameter than most flosses, but like Uni-Stretch, very forgiving.

One tool that I'd recommend (although I'm no Syd Glasso) is a good burnisher. Even with my limited experience I found a good burnishing tool is inavaluable for smoothing out floss work.

Hywel

[Tom Grobelny]

I have never heard of a burnisher for fly tying. Is it something like a blunt bodkin, or a bodkin like tool with a small ball at the end? I will have to improvise something to see the effect it has on some flies.

I will pick up an extra bobbin or two (I am new to this game and only have one so far) and give that a try for the Uni-floss. Even if it does not work out, it sounds like two or three bobbins are not an excessive number to have in your tool kit anyway.

The lotion is kind of a given at this point of my life, but I can’t see myself using silk gloves. At least not until my skills improve by several levels.

Thanks for the inputs. I know there are always many different ways to accomplish the same task. I think that it helps to step back and look at things once in a while and see how others do things. Sometimes I learn a great new technique or time saving trick. Sometimes the new ways turn out to be more work or more awkward for the way that I work. If you don’t explore, you will never improve.

Tom G

[YAKIMA]

Wet the floss first if your not using a bobbin. I cut off what I need, dip it all in a glass of water and it works great. It is a whole lot easier to handle, doesn't snag, and get to go where I want.

[halcyon]

"I have never heard of a burnisher for fly tying. "

Go to a craft shop that sells pottery tools and purchase a wooden pottery shaping tool #JA37. Costs about $2.

Regards,

[Tom Grobelny]

Thanks, I will give it a try

[flytire]

Learning how to tie with floss (not how to tie with floss in a bobbin) will cure your problem with the floss spreading out wide when its wrapped around a hook.

A very good example is to watch a DVD of Don Bastion tying floss bodies on wet flies.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5ce29b3127cce942d118d923f00000015108IcM2rZqzbU

[Hywel]

Tom,

I personally have my doubts about a wood burnisher unless it's an extremely hard or dense wood that's sanded and finished to the consistency of glass or porcelain. I believe that most wood(s) would have a tendency to splinter - and I hate to think of what even the smallest shard or sliver would do to floss of any kind.

While it may be a bit more expensive, Wasatch Tools makes a nice burnisher, and Ronn Lucas sells a great burnisher that was originally used for detailed dental work. Both are of stainless steel construction.

Please feel free to PM me if you have any questions about the Wasatch or Lucas burnishers.


Hywel

[fxp]

as mentioned in another post I make my own bobbins including those I use for floss. I use brass tubing from the hobby store which comes in different diameters, one for thread, larger for floss. To get to the point though, I top them off with a glass bead, also from hobby or craft store, superglued to the end. I call this my "ceramic equivalent" and it simply works. You probably already have some bead heads that will work fine. You need just enough flare in the tubing to let the bead seat down in it a bit so that when winding on the material the lateral force doesn't pull the bead out. I'm trying to scan in a picture to show what I mean but my scanner is not cooperating. I'm sure you get the idea though. I bet you can get a cheap metal bobbin holder to work for this purpose by using the glass bead.

[fxp]

Finally got scanner to work. Bobbin holder pictures attached.