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Which hand do you tie with?

What hand do you tie with?  

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This is an interesting thread and I think the point of it was not so much of "are you left handed or right handed?", but if you are right handed do you still tie right handed? As many folks are aware, I tie left handed. I am naturally right handed however. I write right handed, can shoot either way, but most things are right handed.

 

I started tying lefty when I wa a kid because the first vise I had had a wingnut on the left side and I thought that was the side that should face me. I often teach beginning tyers to tie left handed, working the thread with their left hand, that is, as I have found that so much of the intricacies of tying hinge on the material placement. Placing small materials with accuracy and controlling them during tie downs is a job for the dominant hand, while the thread work is the easiest job in fly tying and is more than adequatey handled by the non-dominant hand. I have been toying with using this idea for an article and will really start into it in the near future.

 

Tying lefty when you are really a righty also gives the advantage of splitting up the scissors and bobbin, scissors in the right with the bobbin in the left. Materials that need to be tied off precisely can often be tied off more easily by switching to your right hand to wrap the thread while holding the material taut with the left. There are many advantages that I have seen through the years, the angle of cuts on wings and wingcases, access to the hook from the back with the scissors, being able to simultaneously wrap the thread and clip a material...the list is long. It goes against all tradition and does to some degree make following written directions a bit tougher, but I think the advantages are great enough to warrant the difference. And for the record, I can tie quite well right handed too.

Just my thoughts here, hope they added something to the discussion.

Charlie Craven

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Charlie, I suspect you are ambidextrous. You have my respect. No way could I tie with my left.

However, if you have properly sized scissors, you can remove your thumb from them while tying and also hold the bobbin in the same hand to save time tying right or left hand. Just let the bobbin dangle while you re-insert your thumb to trim with the scissors. You can have your clip and bobbin too.

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Boba-

Thanks for the response.

 

I do, indeed, keep my scissors in my right hand while I tie. Have you ever been pulling tight on the thread, while holding your scissors, only to have the thread break, sending your hand and scissors back up at your face and eyes? There's another advantage to righty turned lefty...LOL

Do you (Not you specifically, but you in general, as in everyone) really think that the delicate maneuvers required in fly tying are best suited to the weak hand? I'm curious as to everyone's thoughts on this. think about it, and don't let the fact that you tie differently sway you. It really makes sense, and I realize the change is nearly impossible to make if you have tied the other way for any length of time, but I can't see too much fault in the theory...

Charlie

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I write left handed, and do most everything else naturally right handed. I can eat with either hand, which is great when they bless me with two forks.

 

That being said, I tie right handed and am very comfortable that way. I have to agree with those who have mentioned the ease of holding materials in place with your strong hand (if you have one over the other). While the bobbin takes certain coordination in wrapping, it is a big, clunky object to hold on to compared to materials as you are wrapping them.

 

In the end it is like adapting a pattern to your own use - whatever works for you and the fish.

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All my fine-motor skills must be in my right hand, because that's the one I use for at least 90 percent of the motions of fly tying.

 

Though I'm mostly a righty, I find that in baseball I have considerably more power when I bat left-handed than when I bat right-handed. I can also shoot a basketball left-handed when the need arises. Just don't ask me to do a fingers-only left-handed whip finish. I'd get so tangled up in the thread they'd have to cut me loose! :hyst:

 

John

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Ok, for you lefty people.....Right handers tie away from themselves which would then mean they wrap clockwise. Do you also wrap away from yourselves which would then mean you tie counterclockwise? :huh:

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