How Important is a Hair Stacker?

[rotaryflytyingdotcom 0]

Wow, I'd love to see a picture of those flies. Any chance you have a picture you could post?

 

The American Museum of Fly Fishing would love to add those to the collections they have. I like to browse the ones they show on their website under flies:

http://www.amff.com/flies.html

Love the Gartside Gurgler with the rainbow colors tied and donated by Gartiside. Love that guys flies. They have a lot of Lee Wulff's also.

[flytire 0]

pretty simple device and easy to use

 

[RCFetter 0]

I've been attempting to tie a mickey finn. When I use the hair stacker (I have 3 -s-m-l) on the bucktail it does not appear to really do anything. I mean the tips look the same before and after using the hair stacker. Then last night I used the hair stacker on elk hair I was amazed at how it evened up the tips.

 

Is it me or the deer bucktail,

[phg 0]

It's probably the bucktail.

 

In my experience, I've noticed two characteristics that impede "stacking" in an inertia hair stacker. First is the fineness of the hair. Coarse hair stacks better than fine hair, and straight hair stacks better than kinky hair. Second is the amount of oil. Many natural tails have fairly high oil content. This oil keeps the individual hairs for sliding freely when the stacker hits the table.

 

So, if your bucktail has fine, kinky hair with a lot of oil, it will be impossible to stack in an inertia hair stacker. If it is coarse, straight and free of oil, it will stack easily. Most bucktails, of course, are somewhere in between.

 

The work around is to actually stack the hair by hand. You simply take a pinch of bucktail in one hand, and, with the other, pull out a few of the longest fibers, and restack them on top so the tips are lined up with the bulk of the hair. You keep repeating this process until the tips are reasonably even. It's not hard, but a little time consuming.

[mikechell 0]

You might also be "wimping" out on the impacts. I sometimes have trouble stacking hair ... when the wife's asleep. I don't want to bang on anything too hard. I try using the palm of my hand, the carpeted floor ... nothing really works other than good solid hits on a hard surface.

 

Also, the tips of the buck tail are relatively soft, they may bend. If you don't need long lengths of hair, try trimming them a little shorter before stacking. By removing a little of the "weight" from the hair, the tips won't bend as much, and you can get a better evening. Maybe ...

[RCFetter 0]

Thanks for the advise.

[mikechell 0]

As usual, for me, I am reviving an old thread rather than starting a new one.

I've been using my stacker for Raccoon hair recently, and realized a problem that's always bugged me, has a pretty simple fix.

Problem: The fine tips of the hair is a pain in the neck to get it all into the stacker. Even with the flared end, I always end up with some of the hair twisting up, flipping out or fouling the process.

 

 

Instead, I started putting the clipped ends (neat and even) into the other end before inserting it into the outer tube.

 

 

It's then much easier to slide the whole batch of hairs into the tube.

 

 

After stacking, lift the inner tube 1/4 inch or so, hold it there and lightly tap a couple of times.

 

 

This addresses the other problem I had, pulling the hairs out after stacking. Tapping them down before separating the tubes, leaves the ends out far enough to grasp.

 

 

This might not be a problem to many ... but they make it easier for me to stack the fine, light Raccoon hairs.

[rstaight 0]

Deer and elk body hair I stack. I have 6 different stackers and use all of them at different times. When I use bucktail I try to get them as even as possible before I cut the hair from the tail. Just give it a pinch pull it perpendicular. It usually does a fairly decent job for me. I never stack bucktail.

[Bruce Norikane 0]

 

Instead, I started putting the clipped ends (neat and even) into the other end before inserting it into the outer tube.

stacker tip (2).JPG

 

It's then much easier to slide the whole batch of hairs into the tube.

...

This might not be a problem to many ... but they make it easier for me to stack the fine, light Raccoon hairs.

 

Awesome tip, Mike!

 

I've been reading tying tips, books, videos, etc... for over 20 years, and I've never heard this one. When I can't fit flared hair into a stacker, I usually reach for a bigger one, but often, the big stacker is too big for that amount of hair.

[mikechell 0]

Thank you.

[RickZieger 0]

Looking at cutter for caddis wings, I notice that the ends are not even. Why do we do it with hair wings?

Just curious.

 

Rick warmwater most of the time.

[mikechell 0]

I even up the ends on the Raccoon hair. From the longest to shortest hairs, there about 1/2 inch length. It's almost impossible to "fit it to the hook" when there's so much difference in length.

[josephcsylvia 0]

Another great tip is to wipe the inside with an anti static dryer sheet.