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GSP Thread Problem

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I picked up some brown GSP tying thread and the brown (I assume gel) clumps up when pulling a whip finish tight. It also left brown residue inside my bobbin tube. When I switched to white veevus to do a comparison, the brown sludge came off on the white thread. Is this a problem with colored GSP thread or could it be that I got a bad batch?

 

Thoughts??

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It is my understanding that you can't "dye" GSP or super line. The color has to be mixed in as it's being made. Dyes only coat the fibers. You don't say what brand the brown GSP is. If it's an off brand, I'd say you've been had. If it's a known brand, then you got a bad batch.

 

 

Markers can color it, but it's not actually "soaking in" ... it's just a surface coloration.

 

My sympathies with your plight.

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It is UTC. Beautiful color but not sure its supposed to do that. Ive never used it. They are sending me a new one from another batch to see if its different.

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This won't help much with the thread bunching problem but it might with the color pollution problem.

 

I don't change threads much. I have all my most used threads (about 20 of them) on their own bobbins.

 

I get the bobbins at estate sales and such so they don't cost me very much. If you like the really expensive bobbins, I suppose it could be cost prohibitive to keep each thread on a bobbin.

 

I haven't had much problem with thread bunching unless I have frayed it somewhere along the way. It's a real pain when it happens.

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Thanks Mark. I dont have a problem with thread bunching. The color comes off and clumps at the knot when whip finishing. I have two bobbins and change thread often. It would be nice to have a few more but not many estate sales in farm county have fly tying gear.

 

I guess my point is, if gel spun thread normally clumps and makes a mess, I just wont use it. Just wondered if anyone out there uses UTC GSP. I have black coming along with a new spool of brown to try.

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Sounds like you might do better using white and reserving the gsp for those parts of the fly you need that kind of leverage for. Then you can switch threads from gsp to your normal thread in the color you want when you tie off the head and any other parts that show.

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GSP makes your bobbin nasty no real way around it I've found, I bought a cheap one without the ceramic tip just for gsp, just get the cheapest one you can no real concern of the thread getting damaged.

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I have a spool of brown and I have never noticed the color running out. I'm positive it has never created a color sludge. I'm with Mark in that I have lots of bobbins because I hate changing threads. Never found one at an estate sale so I buy them any time I find myself in a fly shop that has ceramic tip bobbins for 6 bucks or less. I should have stocked up on them when they were only 4 bucks a piece not to many years ago. Terra bobbins I highly reccomend them. Over the years i have built up a collection and not one has worn out or broke.

 

https://www.fishusa.com/Terra-Fly-Tying-Bobbins

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Thanks for all the input. Used it last night for three nymphs and there was enough brown gel in the tube that I couldn't feed the thread through it. I usually keep black 8/0 in one bobbin and black 6/0 in the other and that covers most flies. But I could see getting 2 or 3 more. Dedicated bobbin or not, I think it's not supposed to do gunk up like that. I will try the new one and the black and if they have similar issues, I can at least say I tried it. There are many other choices out there including using white thread and coloring it if needed for the head.

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There are several fixes for the tube on your bobbin crudding up... First let's look at the probable cause.... If it's anything like those "super braid" lines it comes in white and is later dipped in both wax and a coloring agent. I'm betting that the wax is the problem (as in too much of the stuff - something I encounter occasionally since I buy my spools of thread by the box of a dozen spools at a time (3/0 monocord, Danville's flat waxed nylon, as well as some the new Uni threads...). The easiest fix with a crudded up thread tube is simply to drop it into boiling water - allow it to bubble around for a few minutes then drain.... Most of the wax should be gone - as well as any coloring agent that's blended in with it... The only problem with that method is that you might degrade the bobbin in the process...

 

Here's a safer way.... start with a bit of stainless steel wire (standard trolling wire in size # 3, fold a short piece to double it for about three or four inches then shove the doubled wire all the way in and out of your thread tube... Now you have a genuine homemade bobbin threader... use it to pull a bit of string through the tube then anchor one end of the string to your vise (or any vise...) pull it tight with one hand while you work the tube up and down the thread to clean it out... That first bit of string will need to be pretty thin - the next one you'll want to fit the tube pretty closely - then repeat working the tube back and forth until it comes clean...

 

Once you're done... keep that GSP so that you can send it back to whoever sold it to you...

 

You should see my fingers after I power load new quality super braid onto a reel spool at high speed - my hands and fingers have these dark green stripes on them from the new line... Many think that when super braid fades - it needs to be replaced but it's just the coating wearing away - the line underneath is just fine...

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Thanks much Bob. I bought the UTC GSP in brown and black along with a spool of Veevus from Hook & Hackle and when I explained the situation they shipped a brown from a different batch. The black is on back order. If it happens again, Ill just stick with white if I ever try it again.

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On more than one occasion while filling an order with lots and lots - of the same thing... I've made do using another color thread for the pattern - then ending with a simple whip finish or several half hitches - then come back with the color that was supposed to be there and did a quick over run of that color... so that the pattern looked the way it was supposed to....

 

No, not a great solution - but when you've got orders to get out and not enough of the right color thread you make do if you're knocking them out to make a buck... Glad I'm not doing that any more since after 30 years or so I found myself taking orders - and not filling them...

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