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One thing we learned in geometry was complements; when tying a 'lock' of synthetic hair into a fly there are two ways to get it to taper - buy a very expensive layering shear (~$30), or use a simple trick of complementary shapes...
Let's say you are tying a strip of chartreuse into a sand eel. If you take the strip of S/H at double the desired length, the you can tie it in folded to cover both sides. But don't fold it yet...
Pull the center fibers outward so that it forms a point, like alfalfa's hair-do. Pull some of the adjacent fibers out so that they feather to a point. The exact opposite and equal effect is occurring on the other end, except that the fibers in the middle are innies instead of the desired outies.
Now take both ends and twizzle them with your finger tips until they blend into two complementary points.
Now fold the length, tie it in at the desired length, trim from the front (toward the hook eye) and no further fenagling is needed.
I noticed that some folks tying with synthetic hair had the square cut across the back of the fly. This isn't a bad thing necessarily but I think the taper is a good thing and it makes the fly more lively and realistic. This even works for long skinny flies like the deep eel, which I tie occasionally this time of year ;-)
Let's say you are tying a strip of chartreuse into a sand eel. If you take the strip of S/H at double the desired length, the you can tie it in folded to cover both sides. But don't fold it yet...
Pull the center fibers outward so that it forms a point, like alfalfa's hair-do. Pull some of the adjacent fibers out so that they feather to a point. The exact opposite and equal effect is occurring on the other end, except that the fibers in the middle are innies instead of the desired outies.
Now take both ends and twizzle them with your finger tips until they blend into two complementary points.
Now fold the length, tie it in at the desired length, trim from the front (toward the hook eye) and no further fenagling is needed.
I noticed that some folks tying with synthetic hair had the square cut across the back of the fly. This isn't a bad thing necessarily but I think the taper is a good thing and it makes the fly more lively and realistic. This even works for long skinny flies like the deep eel, which I tie occasionally this time of year ;-)