M'ole Grey Hen

[Hans Weilenmann]

Welcome back, John.

Cheers,
Hans W

[William Anderson]

Curious....has anyone else heard about or seen this technique? I have.... just saying.....

I just call this a touch dub. Is it not? I unspin the thread wax it and very lightly brush the thread with mole without actually "applying" the dubbing in a mechanical way. then give it a spin (respin). That's a touch dub to me. I see there are a couple more pages on this thread and I'll be curious to read further.

The hook caught me attention, but only after seeing a wonderfully sensible and elegant construction. I love the effect of this spider.

w

[William Anderson]

(I guess I have decided to resume posting, at least for a while.)

[William Anderson]

Most of my thread is Uni-thread and it just doesn't split well at all. #24....wow!

Tom

Tom, you probably know better than I, but I believe Uni-thread is still pre-waxes and doesn't want to be split. I know when I first tried the split technique years ago I mentioned that my tying thread was the Uni 8/0 and was informed that the best threads for the technique were unwaxed. I've been using Griffiths Sheer 14/0 for so long I don't know if Uni is still pre waxed, but that would make it a difficult choice for this technique.

Wayne...killer little fly. I love all the small stuff you've been tying lately.

w

[Hans Weilenmann]

William, it is not wax which makes Uni a pain to split. It is a bonded thread - a resin is present which bounds the filaments together. As such, unless you first break the bond, it will not wind flat, and it will not split (worth beans).

Cheers,
Hans W

[UC Steve]

Curious....has anyone else heard about or seen this technique? I have.... just saying.....

Sure. It's called 'twist dubbing'. The effect is similar to split-thread dubbing, but quicker & easier. And yes it does lock the material twisted into the thread. I like it better than patch dubbing or a dubbing loop for smaller patterns. The twisted dubbing can be left as is for a shaggy effect, or smoothed with the fingers before winding to produce a harder profile. Works best with finer dubbing like mole, & works okay with rabbit, but much courser than that & it won't twist into the thread very well.

Very nice fly.

[Old Hat]

Never heard it called twist dubbing before. Like William always just known it as the technique for touch dubbing. But I have never used it for heavier dubbing.

[Donald Nicolson]

I like it, what we'd call "a braw wee flee". Should be a sure fire catcher.