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rich5665

Question about Tying in Calf tail

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What's the best way to tie in Calf tail? I keep pulling it off the hook, even after several good tight wraps. It's becoming messy not to mention frustrating.

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I have been there. If I remember (habits are hard to break) I put the cement on the hair after I have 1 or 2 wraps done , make sure it seeps in, then finish my wrap. I am careful with it for a few minutes but it does allow me to position it with assurance it will stay where placed.

 

How many of my flies fell apart easily before I learnt this is an answer I don't want.

 

This was a solution given to me and it works. I hope this helps. If anyone knows of another way I am also wanting to know.

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Cement it in place.

 

Calf tail fibers like squirrel is solid and slick. They resist compression which makes it

harder to secure the material. You might try laying down a bit of thread first, apply a

bit of a penetrating head cement where you plan to tie it in, wrap more thread to tie

the calf tail in than you would otherwise think necessary, and then add more of the

penetrating head cement.

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I have been there. If I remember (habits are hard to break) I put the cement on the hair after I have 1 or 2 wraps done , make sure it seeps in, then finish my wrap. I am careful with it for a few minutes but it does allow me to position it with assurance it will stay where placed.

 

How many of my flies fell apart easily before I learnt this is an answer I don't want.

 

This was a solution given to me and it works. I hope this helps. If anyone knows of another way I am also wanting to know.

 

Cement it in place.

 

Calf tail fibers like squirrel is solid and slick. They resist compression which makes it

harder to secure the material. You might try laying down a bit of thread first, apply a

bit of a penetrating head cement where you plan to tie it in, wrap more thread to tie

the calf tail in than you would otherwise think necessary, and then add more of the

penetrating head cement.

 

 

I was think about using head cement, I'll give it ago tonight. Thanks for the feed back, I looked like a shedding cat decided to climb all over me by the time I was able to get three ugly as sin flies tied.

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There are a lot of hairs which are slick or stiff and tend to slip out after the fly is used a few times (or even earlier.) The problem with applying cement to the tye-in place before or to the butts after is that the cement often doesn't penetrate to the hairs at the center of the bundle. I find that the sure cure for this is the following: Measure the hair, hold it tightly and cut the butts before tying on. Now apply head cement to the butt ends so that it wicks up toward your fingers. Tye in as usual and remove excess cement with a toothpick.

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wrap a loop completely around the calf tail and then slowly pull it down to the hook shank. It will keep it on top and together. Then pull up part of the hair, wrap then another small part of the hair and throw a wrap on. It will be secure. You can add cement if you need to but don't rely on cement to do what thread should do.

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Try a little Krazy Glue on the butts instead of head cement as described earlier before tying the calf tail on. Don't use the Gel stuff; use the thin glue. It will wick right in. Just use a little bit and it will dry quickly.

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Here's what I do. I make a couple of wraps over the calf tail. Remember to apply tension as you pull up on the thread not down. Then lift the calf tail and make a wrap behind the wing. Slide the wrap foward, snug against the other wraps. Then another wrap over the calf tail and it should be locked in. This locking wrap works well on many slippery materials. You can do more than one locking wrap if you need to. It is very difficult to for the calf hair to slide out with this wrap behind it.

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Measure and cut your hair BEFORE tying it in.

 

A little dab of head cement on the butts before tying in helps a lot.

 

If you are doing everything else well and the hair still slips out, chances are you are using too big a bunch of hair.

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