wire and silk brushes

[Ruard]

Ruard,

You've inspired me to go give these wired bodies a spin on the Clark block.

Lance

Looking foreward to see the result.


greeting

[Ruard]

Here is the card with the stored brushes:




Greeting

[gingerdun]

Ruard,

Thanks for your patience, and for inspiring me to wander outside my comfort zone a few steps.

OK. I had some brown wire given to me by Stefan "Daring Duffer" back when he was active here. (I miss him.) Didn't know what to do with the wire until now.
So far I have spun exactly one wire brush using a Clark block, dubbed with buff Australian opossum donated by Mataura Mayfly. Thanks once again Jeff.
I learned that I couldn't spin the body with my fingers, but that the Radio Shack wire clip worked great.
Felt weird to have such a stiff body, but I liked that it didn't unravel while transferring it to the notched card.
Tying this semi-rigid brush to the hook was also an alien experience, but all went well. It was surprisingly pliant while wrapping it around the shank.
The resulting fly is hardly a showpiece, but I definitely see potential here, especially for adding a subtle amount of weight.

Thanks again, Ruard!

Lance

Hook: 14 Mustad R50–94840
Silk: hot orange
Hackle: dark dun hen
Body: buff Australian opossum spun on brown wire using Clark block.

[hankaye]

gingerdun, Howdy;

Thanks for posting your first effort using
a new tecnique. Looks as if you've been doing it
for years... Beautiful fly... excellent pic.

hank

PS. When I worked on aircraft we would use some
of these to twist the Safetywire. I'd recommend the 6"
pair, and experiment a bit to get used to them...

http://www.amazon.com/piece-AIRCRAFT-RA ... pd_cp_hi_3

[tie2fish]

I though I was being really clever using my Dremel tool to spin wire brushes, and then I found out that Ruard had been doing it for ages. Good thing I didn't try to get a magazine article published .

[gingerdun]

Bill,
Have you tried using the tubular wire clip with the little flat copper hook in the tip? It holds the wire ends securely, and being smaller than the diameter of a pencil, it is easy to spin between the fingers. Why bother with the Dremel?

Lance

[tie2fish]

Bill,
Have you tried using the tubular wire clip with the little flat copper hook in the tip? It holds the wire ends securely, and being smaller than the diameter of a pencil, it is easy to spin between the fingers. Why bother with the Dremel?

Lance

Can you spin it at 30,000 RPM ?

[gingerdun]

Can you spin it at 30,000 RPM ?

Bill,
You're funny.
So that's 500 revs per second.
Let's be generous and say it takes 70 rotations to spin the brush. That would take .14 sec with the Dremel.
Now that's fast, and would avoid all those nasty blisters from spinning the wire clip.

I can just see the Old Man rolling his eyes.

[hankaye]

gingerdun, Howdy;

and muttering under his breath,

kids these days ...


hank

[Ruard]

Hi Lance,

I use wire of 0,2 mm that is 0,008 inch. When spinning it around the hook it does not feel to rigid: I can place the brush as tight as I like.

When I will make many brushes (about ten or so) I use my dremel and that is easy because I don't have two loose ends. The loose ends are at the opposite side of my block and on my side I have the loop. With a hook in the dremel it is an easy job: spin till the wire breaks!!



Here is a picture of my block: because of the fruitbag cord I use not the dremel but the handle to do the same by hand: turning till it is enough.


greeting