Bulk tubing for tying tube flies?

[trez 0]

Does anyone know where to buy bulk tubing for tying tube flies? What plastic type is used. There are a lot of sources for plastic tubing like...

http://www.mcmaster.com/#tubing/=7lixu5

but I don't know what exactly I should be looking for. My local fly shop sells tubing but it is like 9 bucks for about 3 feet. I know that that will tie a lot of flies but 9 bucks would buy you like 50 ft of the stuff at the above site if it were the right stuff. I'd rather buy the lifetime supply once or share the excess.

Any thoughts??

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

Contact someone at the website and ask them to send you some sample pieces, they may tell you no but who knows. Then take the samples into a fly shop or just remember what the characteristics of your samples are and compare to the product on the fly shelf.

 

 

[Henry 0]

Hi, why not get some "Q-tips?". They're available in plastic-tube...and rolled paper construction so you have to be carefull which you get.

 

Henry

[c-denby 0]

When I first started tying tube flies, I couldn't afford to buy Eumer or HMH tubes so I did the Qtip thing and still occasionally tie on one and they come in a decent assortment of pastel colors. However, I found that it is alot of work cutting them up and you really only had a certain size to work with. Plus, some junction tubing did not fit the size of the tube. If you are in desperate need of a bunch of tubes and/or don't have alot of money to spend on them, then get a big bag of colored plastic tubed Qtips.

 

I have found that it is just as cheap to buy from McMaster and get an assortment of tubing sizes and styles. You can get brass or copper in quite small sizes from them. Plus you can get silicone tubing, EVA tubing, delrin, polycarbonate, nylon, etc, etc, etc...... So you will have all kinds of tubes to tie with and at anywhere from .09cents up to $5.00 per foot of material it is still much cheaper than anywhere else. If you think about how much you actually get in a $10 pk of brass tubes from a company like HMH. You would get SIX FEET of brass tubing for less than $10 from McMaster-Carr. I'm not affiliated with them, Just really like the products that I have bought from them for fly tying..

 

 

Cheers,

Chris

[Guest]

I use Eumer and HMH tubing, I know it cost more but I know what I get will fit on the pins. When I'm tying I don't want to have to jury rig or monkey around making a tube adapt to the vise. My time is more valuable than saving a couple of bucks on q-tips or industrial tubing.

 

Eumer has some great stuff and it all comes in great colors. A meter of tubing is $4.99 and their specialty tubes are very cool and easy to tie on. I buy my Eumer supplies here Spey Flies

 

[Voodoo 0]

go to your local big truck shop and ask for some "airline" its the same stuff as most suppliers use. You will have to find the softer tubing for the hook keep aswell. I have been using this for about 2 years now and i have never had them crack or shatter on me and i fish em down to -20C

 

hope this helps

[Ronn Lucas 0]

You want the local fly shop to be there when you need something? Buy it there. 50ft is not bulk in the grand scale of things. $9 will barely get you a decent lunch these days.

[trez 0]

There are three major shops and a couple smaller ones, within an hours drive, ( "The Fly Fishing shop", "Kaufmann's Streamborne", and "NorthWest Flyfishing Outfitters") and I buy from each of them. Just thought to save some money on the stuff that I can. It's either that or don't get into tube flies. Since I am not tying commercially, 50 ft is bulk to me... With the cost of extrusion molding my guess is that the tubing used is being made for some other commercial purpose, Just thought someone might know what kind it is. It sounds like it might be the airline/vacuum tubing mentioned above.

 

Right now I'm not working steady as my boss has work and then he doesn't and then he does. Contracting, you know the drill.

 

Ronn,

Actually, though I didn't know it until I looked at your website, you are within an hours drive as well. Maybe I'll meet you sometime. I live in Sandy, Oregon up off of HWY 26 towards MT Hood.