Finishing a Fly

[Jason]

How does one make the nice tapered look the the head of the fly? For example, chadk's fly seen here:
http://www.washingtonflyfishing.com/gallery/data/508/medium/November_394.JPG

[ceviche]

Sticky button

[ceviche]

Very sticky button.

[ceviche]

The first thing you have to do is leave enough room between your materials (body, hackle, etc) and the eye of the hook. This is one of the most common mistakes a newbie--or someone with rusty skills (like me on occasion:beathead: )-- makes. With enough room, you can build up the head into the shape you like the best. I like round heads when tying bead-less chironomid pupae. Once the thread head has been built up, a Materelli whip-finish tool helps a lot. Nowadays, I swear by these things.

After whip-finishing the head, I like to use nail polish to seal it off. Yeah, lots of people use head cement, but I find nail polish builds up quicker and makes a more durable head. Clear is good, but sometimes a little color can be fun. BTW, British fly tyers swear by Sally Hansen's Hard As Nails polish. It can be a little hard to find, but it does work great. Too bad my mom walked off with mine. Actually, I gave it to her to try. Sadly, I'm still trying to find more. bawling:

[Willie Bodger]

According to Sally (http://www.sallyhansen.com/shop.cfm) There are a number of local retailers that sell it. Like Walgreens or K-Mart to name a couple. Probably about the same thing as the Hard as Hull that I use.

[chadk]

I picked up a bunch at wally world last time I was there. Black, white, clear, clear+nylon.

That fly in the pic has black on the head I think.

[Skilly]

WalMart has had it for at least the past 4 years. So do most Rite Aid Drug stors Look for the two pack special.

Skilly

[Davy]

Lately I have been finishing my flies in waterever color my wifes nails are that week.Unless green gets chosen that week anyway. Just don't work well on the head. Hard as Nails is what I use.

[ceviche]

Sorry, guys, but I don't shop "MallWart." I hate them too much to give them my dollars. There's a Walgreens up the street. I scope them out. Thanks for the research, Willie B.

[Brian P]

Albertson's normally has Hard as Nails too. I always remember these things when I am grocery shopping for some unknown reason. I probably remember because I would rather be fishing than shopping.

[Les Johnson]

Sally Hansen's Hard-As-Nails is excellent for finishing heads and strengthening tinsel or wire bodies. to my knowledge its use goes back to the 1970s at least when it was given high marks by California tiers who worked the steelhead streams of Del Norte County. I just picked up a new bottle at Bartells' They had lots of it.
Good Fishing,
Les

[Don Stracener]

If you want the head to look smooth then the last step before you whip finish is to flatten the thread by spining the bobin in reverse. That would be counter clockwise for a right handed tyer. then finish the head, do the whip finish and apply whatever - sally's - head cement, etc.

[ceviche]

I'm wondering if most people stick to clear or if there are favorite colors being used. I've been using this "midnight" forest polish my mother swung me (a freebie she got from some people--stuff she'd never wear). It has these tiny metal flakes in it. Kind of interesting. I'm hoping the stuff makes my Careys that much more interesting.

I think this deserves its own thread.

[James Mello]

If you want the head to look smooth then the last step before you whip finish is to flatten the thread by spining the bobin in reverse. That would be counter clockwise for a right handed tyer. then finish the head, do the whip finish and apply whatever - sally's - head cement, etc.

Listen to Don, he is good, he is wise... I didn't know about this trick until recently. I did it on my flies from the last swap (okay on 1/2 of them!), and there were a couple that seemed to have that "professional" look to them because of it.....

[Norseman1]

Making the thread flat like a ribbon rather than a twisted rope is a very good tip Don...Most tiers don't realize that for every turn you take you put a half twist in the thread. Just let your bobbing hang and it will begin to unwind itself, you will actually see the thread flattening out. It is a great technique used by many exhibition tiers.

Another tip is to make your thread wraps contiguous...in other words...each wrap lies next to the previous wrap...don't pile the wraps on top of one another, it doesn't hold materials any better. You will get better holding power with a flat ribbon like thread that uses three or four wraps, than 15 bound on top of one another.....binding thread on top of thread makes bulky heads

Dont crowd the eye of the hook...it is easier to cheat forward if you leave too much room, than to cheat back if you crowd it.

Remember....3-4 good tight contiguous wraps will hold most materials...if you are using an especially slippery hair like polar bear or squirrel. Place a small drop of head cement on the hair and thread after two wraps, then pull the butts to within two more thread wraps and finish with a couple more wraps.

Try these few tips and watch the heads shrink tremendously.

If you want to see a master at producing small heads get Alec Jacksons Steelhead flies video, by Watts and watch his magic....he is an awesome tier.

Good tying
Paul