Deer Hair Flies

[TossinFlies15]

I bought that beautiful bag of rabbit patches for $3.99. Still haven't found a use for any of it........ What was I thinking.

Ahh the joy of feeling the need to buy material that seams really good at the time then finding out you have no use for nor do you know anything to tie out of it.. I guess this explains why im in this mess of going $7:99 in the hole on my FF tab..

 

[whheff]

If you really want an education on deer hair, call Chris Helm at whitetail fly tying and he will answer all you questions. I always got great advise and the exact hair I needed for what I was tying. Just tell him what you want to tie and he will send you the right hair.


www.whitetailflytieing.com/

 

[TossinFlies15]

Woww, thats a score of a place. just ordered some NATURE’S SPIRIT BLEACHED SPINNING HAIR for a very fair price. Thanks alot for that link

 

[whheff]

TossinFlies15 wrote:
Woww, thats a score of a place. just ordered some NATURE’S SPIRIT BLEACHED SPINNING HAIR for a very fair price. Thanks alot for that link

Your welcome. He's very good to deal with.

 

[TossinFlies15]

Is that where you order your fur from because depending on the quality of the fur which I expect to be very high i see no reason to always buy from him.

 

[j_man]

The key is hollow hair, belly hair is the best. Pack the hair as tight as you can and till you get the hang of it trim the bugs slowly so you don't waste all your hard work.

 

[gfen]

For trimming, a "safety razor" blade, an old timey style shaving blade, is best. Snap it in half so you can use both sides without cutting your fingers to shreds, and use it to shape. It'll slice that hair off like nothing else, and you can bend it in your fingers to get gentle curves.

One blade is good for about two bugs.

 

[whheff]

TossinFlies15 wrote:
Is that where you order your fur from because depending on the quality of the fur which I expect to be very high i see no reason to always buy from him.

I don't buy everything from him. If I am looking for a specific color or something that the locals don't have, I know that he will have it. I can trust him to give me a nice piece of hair for what I need.

If you are just starting out, don't use your best hair to learn spinning and thread control. I use average hair and just took a hook and practiced spinning and packing hair till I felt confident to tie a fly. To me, the trimming was the harder part of dear hair. You take a little off here and a little there and soon you realize you cut to much off.
:-( But that is how you learn. I have a hair trimmer that I put my blade in so I can flex the blade safely while trimming. There many good tips from the other poster too.

 

[gfen]

But that is how you learn. I have a hair trimmer that I put my blade in so I can flex the blade safely while trimming. There many good tips from the other poster too.

'Splain more!

 

[snuffysmith]

I won't use kevlar anymore, gave it all away. Along with ruining scissors and bobbins, it also cuts the material to often especially hair..Gsp or 6/0 or 3/0 now.

 

[TossinFlies15]

a "safety razor" blade, an old timey style shaving blade, is best. Snap it in half so you can use both sides without cutting your fingers to shreds, and use it to shape.

I'm fairly certain the images that I tried to put together are illegal in more than 7 states.. How does one construct said mechanism..?...

 

[midnightangler]

if you want to spin deer hair, get Gudebrod gx2 thread. its fantastic. you'll never use anything else again for deer hair flies. Its sort of like floss, so you can put a fair bit of pressure on it without cutting the hair, and it will never, ever break.

You may want to cut it with junk scissors. it will ruin a good pair of scissors for sure. I usually cut it with my junk razor blades. Once you trim the hair on a few flies, the razors get dull and won't work as well.

 

[osprey]

For me the two most important things about spinning deer hair are 1. Use monocord or similar thread (strong) for putting the pressure on , and 2. you have to spin on a bare hook , not over thread , this is hard to explain , it's easier to demonstrate , maybe next years jam.

 

[gfen]

TossinFlies15 wrote:
I'm fairly certain the images that I tried to put together are illegal in more than 7 states.. How does one construct said mechanism..?...

Carefulyl grab big, flat parts of a blade, one side ine ach hand and bend it til it snaps along the thinner middle pieces.

Then, carefully place fingers on outer edges and flex it. Viola, curved for your bass bug's pleasure.

 

[TossinFlies15]

Minus a few stitches and a pint of blood loss Things worked pretty good. Bare hook works really well too.