spinning deer hair

[Polarbear78 0]

after you have finished tying in and spinning the hair, how do you trim it down? I've seen people use razor blades...so I tried that but when I did that it came out not as I expected...perhaps the blade was to dull? Earlier I tried using a pair of scissors and it looked a million times better, but I am afraid this will dull up the scissors.... any thoughts?

[crowbuster 0]

I use both. I use a two-edged razor from CVS and I have a pair of straight and curved scissors specifically for spun or stacked deer hair. The other element is practice.

 

I generally make the initial cuts with my scissors and cut a flat bottom with a razor. However I always make my initial cuts large, so I have some room for error. I can always take a little more deer hair off, but I can\'t put it back on once I cut it. After that initial shaping with the scissors, I cleaned up with the razor and that gets my fly near finished. Then I can go pack and do the final touches with my straight scissors and get my fly looking neat and clean. Another thing you can do, and I do this with my divers and sliders; Carefully, Flex the razor so get a curvature in the blade.

 

Not trying to be condescending at all, Just trying to give ya what pointers I can. Deer hair aint the easiest stuff to work with. here\'s a pic of my last deer hair bug....and I know of a video i can show that goes over trimming extremely well. It\'ll just be a matter of finding it.

 

 

There's either 2 or 3 videos of this guy trimming. Watching his techinque helped me get started. But then again, you could already be much further along then I was. It may be a waste your time.

[Silver Doctor 0]

Scissors with a curve work really well. Razor blades work great also the old double types.snap em in half (please be careful) and bend them in an arc to get a nice oval cut.

 

[Polarbear78 0]

okay, thanks! I've seen a tool at cabelas...you slide the razor blade in this little handle, but the thing about it it is, is that its curved....to make shaping it easier. I just didn't want to keep using scissors if it would dull them out.

 

This is what I did earlier...not the best looking one, but I'm proud of it...second time ever trying to make a bass bug

[Hairstacker 0]

Here's an article I wrote and pasted on another board that might be of some help, since its subject was how to go about trimming deer hair bugs:

 

http://www.warmfly.com/smf/index.php?topic=3959.0

 

In short, razor blades are best used on densely packed hair, like the underside of a diver or popper, the head of a diver, etc.; scissors are generally superior when and where the hair is less densely packed. And yes, the scissor blades will dull over time.

 

-- Mike

[jbenwa 0]

okay, thanks! I've seen a tool at cabelas...you slide the razor blade in this little handle, but the thing about it it is, is that its curved....to make shaping it easier. I just didn't want to keep using scissors if it would dull them out.

 

This is what I did earlier...not the best looking one, but I'm proud of it...second time ever trying to make a bass bug

 

 

that looks great! i just tried my hand at it and man did it suck. going to give it another go today

[oatka 0]

Here are a couple of videos from smalliestalker on stacking and trimming.

 

http://gotbronze.blogspot.com/2011/01/1-3-...d-tutorial.html

 

http://gotbronze.blogspot.com/2011/01/1-16...rip-divers.html

 

 

He uses both scissors and double sided razors. I think he says in one of the videos that he uses the blade for 1 or 2 flies then it is too dull.

[Curtis Fry 0]

Yeah, my guess is your blades must be dull. I usually get 1 maybe 2 flies out of each side of the blade. I usually use scissors to clean up stuff in tough angles or tight spots. They also work well to rough "mark" a path or contour and then the blades come along and clean it up. With a tight pack job and a good blade, those hairs will just pop right off all uniform. Check out the master as oakta suggested. He's got it down "pat"!

[bad fish rising 0]

i sometimes use the tool from cabelas on my larger sculpin/goby flies

[bluegill576 0]

I normally make dh poppers, so I use a razorblade for the bottom of the fly to make it flat then I have a pair of those serrated scissors that I only use for trimming hair for the top part of the fly.

[Polarbear78 0]

Thanks for the help everyone. I'll try getting a new razor blade, and maybe using one of those tools to pack the hair after spinning it inbetween bunches would also help...on the one pic I posted I used a pair of my tweezers that have a little holes in them to use to push all the hair back...worked good, but I think the actualy tool would work better.

 

Thanks jbenwa- yeah, it took me about 2 hours...kinda slow, and tricky, but I'm gonna keep workin at it...i think spun deer hair is one of the coolest lookin flies out there!

[Bruce Derington 0]

Yes, deer hair is fun to work with, and that first u-tube video is actually part of a class we had here on the forum in the virtual classroom, sorry that it was discontinued.

Hairstacker is right on with his advice, as is crowbuster's, your fly shows that your spinning and stacking skills are there, suprizingly, that is the easy part. Trimming is the thing that needs your total attention. Once you have cranked out several you will find it becomes much easier and will require less time to get it done, Lets see more!

Here is the completed fly's we tied in the last class from our site

[Polarbear78 0]

Yes, deer hair is fun to work with, and that first u-tube video is actually part of a class we had here on the forum in the virtual classroom, sorry that it was discontinued.

Hairstacker is right on with his advice, as is crowbuster's, your fly shows that your spinning and stacking skills are there, suprizingly, that is the easy part. Trimming is the thing that needs your total attention. Once you have cranked out several you will find it becomes much easier and will require less time to get it done, Lets see more!

Here is the completed fly's we tied in the last class from our site

 

 

Thanks! I'll post more pics when I get more done. I "borrowed" a new x-acto knife and extra blades from work today...hoping that will get the job done...

[agn54 0]

Yes, deer hair is fun to work with, and that first u-tube video is actually part of a class we had here on the forum in the virtual classroom, sorry that it was discontinued.

Hairstacker is right on with his advice, as is crowbuster's, your fly shows that your spinning and stacking skills are there, suprizingly, that is the easy part. Trimming is the thing that needs your total attention. Once you have cranked out several you will find it becomes much easier and will require less time to get it done, Lets see more!

Here is the completed fly's we tied in the last class from our site

 

 

Thanks! I'll post more pics when I get more done. I "borrowed" a new x-acto knife and extra blades from work today...hoping that will get the job done...

 

 

The blades from a x-acto knife are not the ones you want for trimming dear hair, they are too stiff. The blades you want are the double sided shaving blades sold at Walgreens and other drug stores for a few bucks per 10 or 12. They are flexible and very sharp

[morfrost 0]

You don't necessarily need a tool for the razor blades. Be careful, the blades are sharp. Using some care you can easily trim deer hair with just the bare blade.

 

The 2 sided blades have 2 sharp faces and the "sides" of the bade are flat and not sharpened. By holding the 2 flat dull sides between your thumb and middle fingers and pressing your 2 fingers toward each other will cause the blade to curve into an arc. Vary the arc by moving fingers in or out until you have the curve you are happy with and go to it.

 

Push the blade into the deer hair and it will be clipped. As the blade dulls it will be useful to wiggle it side to side a little to assist in the cutting action. When the cutting side gets too dull to use ( drags a lot) flip the blade over and use the other sharp edge.

 

Tight lines