Dubbing Brush Problem

[Elder 0]

Making some brushes for pike flies. The material is 7 inches long.

Why is my material wrapping around my wire when I spin it?

Is it speed? Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

[TheCream 0]

I make a lot of brushes, not with materials that long but I have done a lot of them with craft fur that were lengthy. The material, in my experience, always gets wrapped around as the wire is being spun. I'll usually spin mine tight enough that the materials shouldn't come out easily and give it a light brushing to free the trapped stuff. Then, spin about 2X tighter (or more) and stop to brush it out again. Depending on the material, brushing it out twice might be enough, maybe more. Even short dubbing fibers I put in brushes always get picked out. I use two "tools" for this job. On the first brushing I usually use an old toothbrush that I have trimmed the bristles really short on so they are pretty stiff. This seems to be pretty gentle on material. After that, I usually will use a pet slicker brush with metal teeth.

 

[shoebop 0]

Making some brushes for pike flies. The material is 7 inches long.

Why is my material wrapping around my wire when I spin it?

Is it speed? Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

"The material is 7 inches long."

You need to find a way to spin it more carefully I guess. Take the time to untangle as you spin. I am just shooting in the dark here as I have never tried to spin anything that long but I can imagine it is quite difficult. Maybe not take so many spins. I am guessing that you want long flowing fibers and not so much of the dubbing effect.

[rockworm 0]

This is out of the box and way out in left field but: IF you could put a static electricity charge on the brush the fibers would all repel each other and stand out from the wire. I know its a crazy idea but it might be worth a try. You probably don't have a Van Der Graff generator sitting on your workbench but a ballon-rubbed-on-the-head might be all you need.

[Kudu 0]

Make sure it's not hitting the table that has caused it to wrap for me. Also, like others have said brush as you wrap. A pet type brush works well. Those will be some big brushes, tell us how it goes.

[FIN-ITE 34 0]

Check out this video from Niklaus Bauer. At the 46:55 mark in the video you will see how he makes a dubbing brush with long flasabou material and how he picks it out every so often with a dubbing needle as he is twisting it up. https://youtu.be/l1YlKoEyK1U

[mikechell 0]

+1 on Kudu's comment. I don't do "separate" dubbing brushes, but I have spun many in a dubbing loop on the hook. I find the long fiber ones will wrap up as I spin.

Sometimes, it's because some of the fibers are touching something on the fly or vise.

Usually, it's just gravity. The long fibers don't flip over the top of the wire, and just wrap up as you continue to twist. If you could spin in front of a fan, that blew the fibers up and in the direction of rotation, maybe that would cure it. With fibers that long, I think the only way to not have any wrapping, might be to figure how to put the system vertical after the first two or three twists.

[flytire 0]

The material is 7 inches long.

 

do you really need 7 inch long fibers?

 

there are probably better ways to tie on that long of a fiber

[Dave G. 0]

With fibers that long and wanting a full body I'd be working on reverse tie skills vs a brush.

[fishinguy 0]

Check out this video from Niklaus Bauer. At the 46:55 mark in the video you will see how he make a dubbing brush with long flasabou material and how he picks it out every so often with a dubbing needle as he is twisting it up.

This would be my recommendation as well.

[vicente 0]

When I do dubbing loops and I want a brushy,buggy,leggy result I load the dubbing on the loop then before I start to spin it I cut the ends off with a pair of scissors. I've going that often the strands are over lapping or intertwined at the ends causing it to wrap give it a try no your loop won't be quite as big but mitt look a little better.

[bass master 0]

If you could take a pic and show what your dealing with would probaly help alot.

[Hatchet Jack 0]

If you could take a pic and show what your dealing with would probaly help alot.

Ditto!

 

Also, I'm reading Elder's info as fibres being a total length of 7".

Divided in half by the wire, that should be do-able.

All the advice above and some practice can make a nice brush.

 

I've found that there's a lot of 'waste' coming off on the brush during

the intial wire twisting but thems the breaks.

[Bimini15 0]

I have seen a recent video by Gunnar Brammer, where he was doing dubbing loops with looong fibers and he addresses that by spinning it just so at first. The idea was to generate just enough centrifugal force to make the ends of the hair move away from the wire, or thread in his case.

 

https://youtu.be/gzvLVnBU3nw

[Poopdeck 0]

I've been tying up and using lots of dubbing brushes for my saltwater flies. First off it's going to foul when you twist it, that's normal. I simply brush it out with the brush cream mentioned. It s dog underfur brush that can be purchased at any pet store.

 

I make the brushes because I can get material densely packed so I can trim to shape much like spinning deer hair. I don't use 7" long material but I don't see why the length would be an issue. Personally I think 7" is to long for a brush. If I want long flowing fibers I would just tie them in with a reverse or hollow tie rather then doing a brush. I watched the posted video and I'm convinced that a reverse tie is a better method then a brush for long flowing fibers.

 

I can't comment on the speed since I use a hand wheel for my brushes. A motor seems overkill for spinning a brush but I assume you have a motorized brush maker if you think speed is an issue. I attached a picture to show my brush machine, the underfur brush and the trimming that I described.