Using Hare's Mask Dubbing

[Njardar 0]

I'm a beginner fly tyer and I have a fundamental question on hare's mask dubbing. How do I prepare the dubbing? I have a hare's mask and in my first attempt I cut off some of the under fur and attempted to separate the longer guard hairs from the short under fur. I ended up with more hairs on my table then in my hand. I figured I'd ask the experts before I have a bald hare's mask with nothing to show for the effort.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

- Charlie

[angler by choice 0]

Charlie,

i just bought a new hares mask and i was still unsure what to do with it, after reading my new christmas present (the fly tyers benchside reference) i just grabed a pinch from the cheeck area. if im correct your dubbing comes mostly from the underfur with some guard hairs to make it more buggy looking. also some tiers just trim all the hair off the mask and throw away the skin. its up to you if you are looking for just dubbing purchase this seperatly.

[utyer 0]

If you do an image search for hares ear nymphs, you will find that most of the patterns shown, will be very spikey, with lots of random guard hairs sticking out. There is really no need to seperate the guard hairs from the under fur. Pinching off a tiny bit of fur, is a very inefficient way to tie. It is usually better to use a blender to blend up a large amount of dubbing from a mask or hide. I cut off a golf ball or larger ball of hair, and run it though a coffee grinder. This will give me a large ball of dubbing with and even distribution of fur and hair. Fur from different parts of the mask will give you lighter or darker shades.

[Guest]

I usually just grab pinches of fur between my thumb and first finger with my left hand, I then snip it off as close as possible to the hide. I put it in one of the little plastic containers you get when you buy flies at some places, It's open very wide at the top. I'll put one or two dozen snips of the fur in the container , I then start pulling the fur apart, basically seperating all of the fibers and just keep pulling it apart and mixing it. That's all I do and it works out great for me. I always have the container handy on my tying bench and I just add to it as needed. Now I have a couple of different colors as well, I really like the olive rabbit masks, they tie beautiful Hares Ears with a gold bead and gold rib. One of my best go to fly's. Have Fun and Happy New Year!

[JSzymczyk 0]

I just use synthetic like Ice Dub, because rabbit fur makes me sneeze like hell. The fish seem to like it just fine.

[DrVette 0]

I am starting to feel old here... i remember something called a dubbing rake. You drag it across the mask and most of what it digs up is the under fur. I have been searching for a good replacement after my brother dropped my porcelin one on the tile floor...it shattered. :crying:

[DeweyGreen 0]

I am starting to feel old here... i remember something called a dubbing rake. You drag it across the mask and most of what it digs up is the under fur. I have been searching for a good replacement after my brother dropped my porcelin one on the tile floor...it shattered. :crying:

Wow you are old DrVette lol j/k

[Njardar 0]

I am starting to feel old here... i remember something called a dubbing rake. You drag it across the mask and most of what it digs up is the under fur. I have been searching for a good replacement after my brother dropped my porcelin one on the tile floor...it shattered. :crying:

 

 

Thanks! FYI - a quick search in Google doe "dubbing rake" brought up a number of places selling them.

 

- Charlie

[UtahAngler 0]

I'm just a lurker here, but I thought I'd say that you can make a pretty good dubbing rake with bit wooden dowel and small piece of an old hacksaw blade. That's what did and it works great. At least until you find a nice one.

[Njardar 0]

I'm just a lurker here, but I thought I'd say that you can make a pretty good dubbing rake with bit wooden dowel and small piece of an old hacksaw blade. That's what did and it works great. At least until you find a nice one.

 

Interesting... I was thinking about what I had in the house that might work. I'll give it a try.

 

- Charlie

[FrequentTyer 0]

I remeber reading somewhere that a moustache comb could be used as a dubbing rake. Not that I think it would be any easier to find a moustache comb... I like the hacksaw blade idea and might try and make one of those.

Mike.

[BassBugs3366 0]

Charlie Craven show me his method for making dubbing . He takes a Ziploc bag and pokes a few small holes in it with the tips of his scissors. Next you cut all the hair off between the eyes from forehead to the tip of the nose, and put in the bag. Then you take a can of air and put the nozzle in a corner of the bag and seal it tight to the nozzle. Hold the bag around the opening where the nozzle goes into the bag and give it a shot of air. You now have a bag of dubbing. You can use this method for making all kinds of dubbing.

[Firetiger 0]

I like to keep my mask intact and pinch just a small amount of fur at a time - this way I am able to pick the length of hair according to size of fly I am tying. For the smallest fly sizes (and all North Country soft hackles, where I am bound by tradition) I use hair from the ears, where it is the shortest. For medium sized flies I use fur on cheeks and for the biggest and scruffiest nymphs I use hair from between the ears and back of the head.

I found the dubbing rake unnecessary - pinching a bit of both guard hairs and underfur works OK for me and makes for more scruffy body, which I like.

 

I am blessed to be allergic only to ragweed pollen and fungus, not animal fur or bird feathers

[Njardar 0]

I'm just a lurker here, but I thought I'd say that you can make a pretty good dubbing rake with bit wooden dowel and small piece of an old hacksaw blade. That's what did and it works great. At least until you find a nice one.

 

I tried the hacksaw method and it worked very well. I broke off about a one inch section, held it between my thumb and forefinger and ran it through the mask with a scraping motion. I now have a nice amount of dubbing and the guard hairs are in place on the mask for futue use.

 

- Charlie

[cjfishing 0]

i whipped a peice of velcro on to a peice of hazel branch.cost nothing and it works!!!!