preparing wax for fly tying - davie mcphail

[Fish Finder 0]

I am new to this forum but a long-time fly tier.  I have to assume the wax in the video is cobbler's wax not dubbing wax and used normally with silk thread, especially when tying soft hackle flies.  But I am curious about the thread I saw in the video.  It looks like synthetic thread.  If so, why would wax be used on synthetic thread?

[flykid 0]

12 hours ago, Fish Finder said:

I am new to this forum but a long-time fly tier.  I have to assume the wax in the video is cobbler's wax not dubbing wax and used normally with silk thread, especially when tying soft hackle flies.  But I am curious about the thread I saw in the video.  It looks like synthetic thread.  If so, why would wax be used on synthetic thread?

Welcome! Yes, I believe it is cobbler's wax as you say. You'd wax synthetic thread for the same reasons you'd wax silk thread, to provide extra grip to the thread and durability to the fly. I know a lot of modern synthetic threads come waxed, so waxing that may be redundant. However, many modern classic salmon fly tyers wax their synthetic thread for the reasons I mentioned as well as because that's what the old texts tell you to do. I wax synthetic thread when tying classic salmon flies and it does help with tying in some of the more finicky materials like cheeks and horns. I've recently switched to using silk thread for those types of flies to stick closer to tradition and do notice that waxing that is definitely helpful.

[Moshup 0]

Wax on ! 🤓

[Fish Finder 0]

flykid, I tie a lot of soft hackle flies, esp. UK North Country spiders.  I do use cobbler's wax if I don't want the thread color of silk to change.  Before I whip-finish, I usually coat several inches of silk thread, because it seats and holds the knot better.  I never use an adhesive with silk thread.  I never use cobbler's wax on synthetic thread.  Often, I use an adhesive on synthetic thread.  But I have no worries about just securing the fly with just a five-turn whip-finish.