Wool for dry dubbing

[dontheo 0]

Just was wondering if anyone knew the properties of wool for dry fly dubbing? I know it can be stiff but is very plentiful in many colors. Seems to me it may soak water in to the fabric but that is just me thinking out loud. I like to tie with all natural materials only for no other reason then fun. Before some one says that's weird, remember we are fly tyers

[Mickalo 0]

Wool is a great material for fly tying but it doesn't work well for dry dubbing as it will absorb water fairly quickly and sink the fly. I use allot of wool myself for blending with other dub materials and by itself depending on the type of wool.

 

I myself use allot of natural materials. Beaver, Mink, Otter, Muskrat and Possum are some of the natural materials that can be used for dry fly applications. Now if you blend with a wool material, again depending on the type of wool, you can with some degree create a fast sinking or slow sinking fly depending on the amount of the mixture and what else your blending with.

 

As a side note. I found that allot of your acrylic yarns, like at retails stores, give a nice sheen look when blend with other dubbing, i.e. rabbit or squirrel.

 

Many possibilities There almost nothing you can't use for dubbing if prepared correctly. Have fun and experiment.

 

MIke

[Jolly Red 0]

Did you know that sheep can't swim because their fleece sinks them?

[rockworm 0]

Because of its ability to absorb water, wool dubbing is great for nymphs and wet flies. But it will also absorb floatants like Watershed and Hydrostop- thereby becoming a fine dubbing for dry flies.

[Gene L 0]

Sheep can, indeed, swim. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSAZ1t7UcbY

 

Their wool is very lanolin rich which makes them kinda waterproof, and in any case, water in water has no weight. Getting out might be a problem, kinda like flooding your waders...you're ok while in the water, floating easily. Sheep don't like it but can do quite well.

 

I had a friend in the carpet business, and he sent me some wool samples. They had been dyed and were dry and stiff, and don't lend themselves to dry dubbing. Great colors that looked buggy, but I could never quite work out a good nymph.

[skidoosh 0]

Wool is easy to use for sculpin heads and the like. But, it's hard to sink. It might do OK as dry fly dubbing but its pretty course

[perchjerker 0]

I can assure you that sheep CAN swim! My father owned a grain elevator in the mid-west grain belt that was next to the local 'stockyard' from whence locally raised livestock was shipped to market. All sheep had to be dipped prior to shipment. To dip them, in Cresodip, which smelled to high heaven, they were forced to swim from one end to the other of a long deep concrete trough in the ground. There would be a guy standing near the terminal end with a long board with which he forced the head of every animal under, to ensure that no part of the animal went 'un-dipped'. I witnessed this process more than once as a boy.

[shoebop 0]

I use wool a lot for drys, wets and nymphs. I bought some packages of bulk wool (fist size packages) at a craft store a while back. The wool is very fine in texture in long fibers. From those I made several blends with symthetics and natural furs. I am no expert tyer but I just love these blends. The textures range from very fine to very buggy. I can match colors and textures for just about any need. And as already mentioned, floatants can be applied if you are worried about water absorbtion. IMHO...wool is a great dubbing material.

[SilverCreek 0]

I agree.

 

Wool is fine for dry fly bodies.

 

What you need is Royce Dam's book, The Practical Fly Tyer. Royce is the best fly tier that no one has heard of, but he is a legend in Wisconsin.

 

He won the FFF's Buz Buszek Memorial Fly Tying Award in 1994. This the Federation of Fly Fisher's highest award for fly tying. Royce's book has instructions for making wood dubbing and for using it to tie both dry and wet flies.

 

Read the comments below for The Practical Fly Tyer. Both fly tiers specifically mention that wool has worked for them for dry flies.

 

"Wool makes dry flies look and work even better than fur-dubbed flies." and "His wool dubbing method is so simple and quick I have used nothing else since. You can master this wool dubbing quickly and take all the work out of nymphs to drys."

 

Amazon.com: Practical Fly Tier, The (9780811710275): Royce Dam: Books

[dontheo 0]

Thanks to all for the replies and nobody slammed me either:). I like Opposum and have been using it almost exclusivly but may add a touch of wool in for some buggy look and sheen. I love to dye fur too. That's a whole other story and something that is best done when Mama is out oif the house I have found. Casue when Mamas not happy, ain't nobody happy. Most of all, Pappy.

[Jolly Red 0]

Looks like I was wrong about sheep being able to swim.