Lead wire size conversion?

[DWSmith 0]

3 hours ago, Poopdeck said:

Don’t get wrapped around the axle about trying to match how somebody else tied a fly. Fly pattern recipes are nothing but a guide to get you started.  Trying to tie a fly exactly how somebody else tied theirs is of little concern to me.  If I happen to have everything somebody else tied a fly with then I’m not going to reinvent the wheel. If I don’t have something, I’m simply going to substitute something in its place. You should concern yourself with how fast and how deep you want YOUR fly to sink where YOUR going to fish it. Use whatever lead, hook, thread, feathers, fur…… that you have without fear of your fly not working, because it will. 

Sorry.  I'm just wondering what he meant.

I know I can use more or less of the wrong stuff to approximate the right stuff but I don't know what the right stuff is in the Skip Morris book.  And as I get experience I'll be able to adapt better.

Yeah, "wrapped around the axle".  I liked that too.  :D

[flytire 0]

In Skip Morris’s book “fly Tying Made Clear and simple” there are 2 patterns that list No 1 and No 2 lead wire and also which hook size each should be used on. The patterns are “Rick’s Caddis” and the “Gold Ribbed Hares Ear”. The book never describes what the diameter of the lead wire are.

 

 

 

I would personally disregard what the book says and use the basic rule of thumb to size the wire to the diameter of the hook shank or use a published lead wire to hook size conversion chart.

 

[DWSmith 0]

👍

[cphubert 0]

12 hours ago, DWSmith said:

Sorry.  I'm just wondering what he meant.

You can contact Skip and Carrol and ask them if you need to satisfy your question. I have tied for a long time and never used a number for lead wire only for hard or trolling wire. All reference for lead were given in diameter.

Contact Us (skip-morris-fly-tying.com)

[ScienceGuy141 0]

I already emailed them and will pass along any response I get. I got an automated reply saying they typically follow up within 48 hours. 

[johnnyquahog 0]

These are old fuse wire designations. 2 is .025… and 1 is close to .015.  I remember a production tyer giving me a small spool of #1 that he took off a large spool. I’m not sure when they started packaging and marketing these small lead (and non lead) spools for fly tying.  Alexa/echo told me the diameter of 2.

[ScienceGuy141 0]

3 hours ago, johnnyquahog said:

These are old fuse wire designations. 2 is .025… and 1 is close to .015.  I remember a production tyer giving me a small spool of #1 that he took off a large spool. I’m not sure when they started packaging and marketing these small lead (and non lead) spools for fly tying.  Alexa/echo told me the diameter of 2.

Thanks! Now we know Skip's flies only work if you use fuse wire 😄

[cphubert 0]

Still buy it in 1 pound spools never heard of it sold as #2 lead or #1 lead used to buy .015, .025, .035 in bulk. Thanks Johny learn something every day.