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Clearing the fluff from deerhair to spin...

2K views 10 replies 6 participants last post by  GregS 
#1 ·
Anyone have a good method for clearing the underfur from deerhair before stacking and spinning? I have a good method but can't keep using it in the house...

Holding the tips, I fan out the hair a little and blow the fluff out while using the fingers to loosen the fluff at the same time. Works like a charm but after 6 muddlers you've created a heck of a mess in the house.

There must be some kind of comb or brush for this purpose?
 
#3 ·
Great to hear from you Pete! Let me know what your Cape schedule looks like. They're here real good right now.

I picked a large stacker, does a good job. My first stacker was so small I had to use multiple batches to get around once on any big deerhair bugs and that never works out well.

While I got you on the line, how about techniques for compressing the spun hair before the next cluster is spun on? I just push it back with the fingers before making the wraps thru the hair and the final on the hook shank ahead of the last hairs. Doesn't really compact the head as much as I would like sometimes. I've been thinking about gluing a small fender washer to the top of a ball point pen body to make a plunger device.
 
#4 ·
Juro--- Re spinning and compressing deer hair, clump or prepared hair laid on hook shank, at an angle off horizontal. 3 light turns arround the bundle, increase tension on bundle andrelease slowly, hair spins , move thread to front of spun bundle, compress to position, 4or 5 wraps in front and repeat procedure compressing with fingers. If you wrap through the sections you may fet the bundles too tight and they will not compress any further. Trim and shape from here
saltRon
 
#5 ·
Great description of the process, I have it down pretty well but the compression of the hair seems to require something more than my fingers. I should check AK Best's book on this process, he's da' man when it comes to tying tricks with household appliances ;-)
 
#6 ·
On the topic of deer hair, what separates the men from the boys is the trimming technique. Any thoughts there? I have my scissor tip method but it take a lot of time and effort. I use a fiskars squeeze scissor with the precision tip parallel to the shanke facing the rear to taper. I works well for diver deer heads. The rotary vise really helps.

I've heard about curving and snapping razor blades to speed this up, anyone try it?
 
#8 ·
Juro, the latest issue of Fly Tyer has an article on tying deer hair flies. Among the points were: use a wooden spindle (it looks like a pawn from a chess set) with a 1/8" hole in the flat end as a packer. I believe they recommended the razor double edge razor blade for the cutting.

Sorry I can't add any first hand knowledge, my attempts at spinning deer hair have led me to tying with foam.
 
#9 ·
First step in the trim to shape of the deer hair stack is best acomplished at my bench with a single edge razor blade hand held and the finish with nippers ,scissors or what have you.
Ready made single edge razor blades are aviable in hardware stores and are easer to work with than spliting a conventional one
Good Tying
saltRon
 
#10 ·
Another thought on stacking..
Depending on the size of the bug, large bass bugs Vs. spun head on smaller flies, the selection of hair really makes a difference. Since I hunt a lot of White Tail and Mulies, I get hair from various parts of the body and this can make a difference on the coarseness of the hair. We also hunt for does to cull the excessive deer populations and I intentionally try to get a very small deer. One that will not survive our winters. The hair is excellent for smaller flies and stacks real tight. If you hunt or know someone who hunts, get an entire hide and collect different coarseness. Some patterns I use a mixture of coarse and fine hairs alternatly to get that real tight stack.
 
#11 ·
Juro,

Cleaning the fuzz out of deer hair, I use a dog brush. Hertz mountain I think, it has fine diameter bent wire bristles. I picked up this suggestion, along with many others from the Jimmy Nix video on tying bass bugs. Jimmy explains and demonstrates all the how to's with deer hair and wool. He also has some other very useful tips on this video. Get this tape, follow his instructions, and you will be creating some unbelieveable spun hair and fur flys.

You should also try some these flys in the salt, the stripers and blues will be pleased...

Greg
 
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