Dark Watchet II

[tie2fish]

I'll be playing with the new wax for a while ...

Dark Watchet II

Hook: Daiichi 1640, #14
Main Tying Thread: Pearsall's Gossamer #19 (Hot Orange)
Hackle: Jackdaw neck feather
Tag: Tying thread, well waxed
Body: Tying thread (waxed) and Pearsall's Gossamer #9 (Purple) also waxed and dusted with mole, twisted together and wrapped forward

This photo is lost.

[hankaye]

t2f, Howdy;

Nice tye... I'll be Watchet-ing it.

hank

PS. What kind/type of wax do you call it?

How'd you go about making it, if ya don't mind me asking?

[letumgo]

I was surprise to read that this is a size 14 hook. For some reason it appears much smaller to me. I would have guessed it was an 18 or a 20.

Beautiful fly, btw. The wax really compliments the appearance of the fly. I love the color shift of the hot orange thread...

[tie2fish]

hank - I call it "homemade" . I started with a 7-2-2 ratio of rosin (pitcher's), natural beeswax, and olive oil. This turned out to be far too much oil, and I ended up adding both more wax and more rosin until I got it to an acceptable compromise of hardness and tackiness. This required 4 re-heats in all.

Ray - I know what you mean about the hook size, but Daiichi 1640 hooks always look at least two sizes smaller than what the box says.

[letumgo]

Bill - what do you think the ratios of you final mixture is? Are the ratios by mass or by volume?

[tie2fish]

Ray ~ I first heard about the 7-2-2 ratio recipe from John Shaner, and he emphasized that this is based on weight, not volume. What I found out as I kept changing it to get the result I wanted is that there's probably not a single ratio combination that will work for everybody because of differences in the ingredients. There are many grades of rosin, for example, and I used natural beeswax that I got from a keeper rather than the refined stuff that's sold in stores. In addition, I used a specific brand/grade of olive oil as a softener, whereas I'm pretty sure the 7-2-2 formula is based on a lighter oil, such as castor. The one thing I would recommend for folks wanting to try making their own is to use a minimal amount of oil initially; it's much easier to add a little more oil if the cooled product is too hard than it is to crush more rosin or shave more beeswax if it's too soft.

[William Anderson]

Oh, here's the wax recipe. I was going to ask for that in the other post. Looks good here too,

Great little watchet. It does look deceptively small, but nicely done.

w

[willowhead]

Your pretty amazing all around Bill.......great little fly.

[letumgo]

Thanks Bill. That sounds like excellent advice, as well.