FLYMPH FORUM

That’s a very good point, Bob.

Yet I wonder: why the others brands of vintage black silk in my possession are NOT fragile? Herters, Gudebrod, Champion, Belding-Corticelli, Reed Tackle - all fine. I have come across the occasional sport in all colors that is weak, or has weak spots. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
Mr. Bailey?

Inquiring minds want to know

Theroe

Theroe wrote: Thu Mar 07, 2019 5:37 am
...I have come across the occasional sport [sic, spool?] in all colors that is weak, or has weak spots. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Yes: as the saying goes, there's a weak link is every chain. By extension, there's a soft spot in every thread. Human beings come with both weak links AND soft spots....

bb

I love how spellcheck changes words after the fact

The only thing I can think of is quality control. Pearsall's has been around a long time; well before synthetic dyes were discovered. They may have failed to modernize when the other companies did. I once worked at a mattress company. This would have been around 1980. They were still using wooden machinery from the 19th century. The sound was something like clickety-clack clickety-clack.

Interesting point-thanks Bill. I have noticed that occasionally there are soft spots in the spools that I do have of other manufacturers.
Thanks !!
Dana

That’s one reason I’m a waxaholic. I’ve seen some serious, nearly savage, arguments but to me silk thread needs to be waxed.

Speaking of wax, again: The very first wax I was ever introduced to for fly tying was over in Europe around 1980. A guy in Norway gave me the container in this photo:

That's good stuff, Dana. I have enough Swix and Klister left over from my skiing days to last a lifetime. Some of the Klister waxes were so tacky they were worse than fly paper if you got any on you.

I'm not a wax junkie yet, but I'm really starting to see the benefits of using far more than I do. I've always assumed breakage issues were a result of my Mongo-like approach to thread control.

redietz wrote: Wed Mar 06, 2019 8:33 pm

Mike62 wrote: Tue Mar 05, 2019 8:05 am I've never tied with Pearsall's black; why would black be more 'fragile' than any other color? Is it an unintended consequence of the dying process?

Yes.

Ever wonder why Stewart's Black Spider was tied with brown thread?

Lol, I do now.

The word 'klister' means glue. That might explain something.

dd