feather wings

[moskito_01 0]

I tied some march brown, wet ones at that, last night. All of them turned out, well, let me say "not satisfactory".

 

One problem was that I could not get the wings set properly. The angle would be perfect. But the two feather segments would mariculously become one and it was impossible to "mold" them back into being two.

It seems by holding them down with my thumb and index finger to fix them I would completely destroy the segments integrity. They would kind of "split open" and stay that way.

 

On one of the flies the wing even came off after I had finished the fly. I was holding it by the wings to put some head cement on and at the first touch with the needle the fly fell to the table leaving the wings between my fingers and myself

 

You fellas got any good advice on feather wings?

[5wt 0]

moskito,

 

I'm not an expert by any stretch so my advice may not be what you are looking for, but here it goes.

 

I have experimented with a lot of different ways of tying on wings. One way that works for me is to make sure you strip enough stem and kind of make an X of the shank when starting them. With wet ones point the stems toward the eye when starting them don't worry about standing them up until you have the stems well anchored in place and then wrap behind the feathers in order to make them stand up. After that figure 8 the wraps through and around a couple times for the seperation. I always remember figure eights by thinking rear left to front right and rear right to front left ( if that makes sense).

 

Hope this helps.

 

[Guest]

I love featherwings but the are the toughest streamer for me to "make pretty", and setting the wings correctly is the whole problem. I find that mine come out best when I forst match the wings, concave side in, strip the stem of barbs, hold them just barely behind the point where the thread will hold them, lay them (practically hold them slightly above) on top of the hook and hold them in the position I want ehm to be in as I lay the first several wraps of thread.

 

After laying a couple of moderately tight wraps to attach them, I let go an get them in the position that I want them to hold, then I add the securing wraps.

[maty31373 0]

I have not been tying for very long, but as it all pans out, it seems that I have an affinity for tying wings. here is what I do.....

 

The hardest part is selecting the feathers for the wings, make sure that they are of mostly identical size and shape. When I tie them in initially, I tie them in a little long then pull them through to the proper length and separate them some before cinching them down tight. to get them to stand up, I alternate wraps to the front and rear of the wings (this also helps build a base to tie parachutes I have found.)

 

I hope this helps.

 

mt

 

also, check this out...

 

 

http://www.flytyingforum.com/index.php?showtopic=9523

[Guest]

I don't want to sound like a smarta$$ but this isn't tough to do.

 

Match the feathers left and right. Count the barbs you want to cut out; run your bodkin between the last one off and the one above it to separate them. Hold with your work hand and cut off at a severe (45) angle to the quill. Do the same with the opposing feather.

 

Match the tips, grasp both slips in your work hand between the tips of your index finger and thumb - take them to the hook and place your fingers.

 

Come from the bottom up on the front, working the thread between your thumpad and the slip. Go over top in a loose arc and work thread down the other side against the slip and your fingertip. Go underneath the hook and do it again, making sure to not cross the thread over itself.

 

Here's the trick -

 

Start back up a third time through the front. Stop at the top.

 

Now, with your fingers pressing the slips and thread together, snug the thread from the top, closing the loops down over the slips and hook. What this does is crush the feathers in line with the thread, compress the crush to the hook in position and bind with the second loop- if you do it with one pass it won't hold- it requires two passes to lock before you let go.

 

That's the "right" or "old" or "trained" or "book" version.

 

There are ways to cheat while doing this as well, but it's good to learn to work the materials together.

[Guest]

Smarta$$....

 

 

 

[ratfacedmcdougal 0]

Hi, Iv'e been tieing for about 15 years now and I also tie the victorian salmon flies. But i'm brand new to this site, wish I had found it years ago.

1) One of the best ways I know to set wings is to first match them so that you have a feather from each side of the bird as all feathers on one side of a bird curve one way and all the feathers on the other side curve in the opposite way.

 

2) Next take the feather (s) you are going to make your wings with and measure along the hook shank for length. useing your thumb nail and pointer finger indent the feather at the tying point so that you create a crease/ bend in the feather shank at the tying point.

 

3) take SHARP FINE sissors and trim the hackle along the hook shank up to the tie in point where you made your crease trim the barbles as close as you can up to the tieing point along the hook shank leaving some bare stubble, this stubble helps secure your fly on the hook.

 

4) wind your thread to your tie in point on the hook, match the wings up side by side pinching with your thumb and fore finger right at the tie in point on the feather.

 

5) Make sure your looking straight down on the fly hook instead of from the side so you can tell when your wing is straight with the shank.

 

6) wrap a loose loop around the shank and tie in point of your wing and as you go around the second time and you bring the loose thread back to the top at that time make sure you have a good hold of your wing and pull the loose loop you created STRAIGHT UP and tighten. Follow this with another loose loop around the wing and shank until you make a complete circle again on the second round as you reach the top pull straight up.

 

7) After that you can wrap two or three more times to finish setting your wing and whip finish your head.

Hope this helps, I can send some pictures if you like.

[moskito_01 0]

Thanx you guys,

 

it seems as though I have not really pointed out enough, that I have trouble tying in feather wings made out of SEGMENTS.

Not tips, not feathers with stem.

 

There is no stem to work with when using only a cut out segment. DFix got it right and I will try again tonight. I have been doing it pretty much the way DFix describes. I have just been using one loop instead of two. I will see what the second loop does for me.

 

What I am still trying to figure out though, is how you can make the barbs stay "in line" on each segment. I will try and post some pictures of my results later to show you what I mean.

The link Maty posted showes the type of wing I mean. And when I tie them in the segment doesn`t stay the way you see in that lonk. It just dissolves into one big cluster of barbs and it ends up looking like a hairwing pretty much.

[Guest]

moskito,

 

Check out the tip below from gilly about a simple wing tool, and believe me it takes lots of practice for wings like this.

 

Wing Tool

 

Hope it helps,

Fatman

[Guest]

QUOTE (moskito_01 @ Jul 11 2005, 01:55 AM)

Thanx you guys, it seems as though I have not really pointed out enough, that I have trouble tying in feather wings made out of SEGMENTS. Not tips, not feathers with stem. There is no stem to work with when using only a cut out segment. DFix got it right and I will try again tonight. I have been doing it pretty much the way DFix describes. I have just been using one loop instead of two. I will see what the second loop does for me. What I am still trying to figure out though, is how you can make the barbs stay "in line" on each segment. I will try and post some pictures of my results later to show you what I mean. The link Maty posted showes the type of wing I mean. And when I tie them in the segment doesn`t stay the way you see in that lonk. It just dissolves into one big cluster of barbs and it ends up looking like a hairwing pretty much.

You weren't misunderstood.

 

Match the feather length; match the barb lengths side by side.

 

Cut the segments out. Face them together and make your pinch between the fingertips. Leave enough cut butts to extend outside your fingertips. Go to the hook.

 

Make the thread pass one complete loop up, down and back up. Snug between your fingertips-

 

This is where you do not let go - you snug the thread so the barbs crush down on a line under the thread onto the hook shank- between your fingertips-

 

then you go over top and make another complete pass, staying forward of the first, but butted to it. After this second snug loop you should be able to let go, see the crush, look for alignment and so forth.

[Guest]

QUOTE (moskito_01 @ Jul 8 2005, 06:20 AM)

One problem was that I could not get the wings set properly. The angle would be perfect. But the two feather segments would miraculously become one and it was impossible to "mold" them back into being two. It seems by holding them down with my thumb and index finger to fix them I would completely destroy the segments integrity. They would kind of "split open" and stay that way.

You don't hold them down- you press them together, face to face and let the thread compress the barbs down onto the hook shank.

[moskito_01 0]

Fatman: "Check out the tip below from gilly about a simple wing tool, and believe me it takes lots of practice for wings like this."

 

Man, you are SO right. Tried again last night and, well, your tips helped somewhat, but I realized my nerves aren`t very good right now. ;-)

But I can at least say that I thoeretically understand how it is done. Now all I have to do is get theory to wander down to my hands...

 

Sounds easy enough.

 

And once again, this forum rocks!

 

Thanks to all you guys. Can`t wait to come up with my next problem and see it solved here.

 

Andy

[Guest]

Andy - got any fine gauge solid wire hanging around?

[ratfacedmcdougal 0]

I hate to see someone get frustrated. Send me your address and i'll make a tape of me tieing in married wings, whole feather wings and segmented sections like for your march brown or a lead winged coachman.

My e-mail is [email protected]

 

The problems you must be doing to have your wings turn out that way though are:

 

1) Your holding your wings DIRECTLY on top of the shank. You want the ends over the body directly over the shank but at the tie in spot they actually set just a lil over the sides of the shank. This seperates your wings.

 

2) Your pushing down on the wing when you tie it in. NO DOWN... squeeze sideways. Once you start pulling that loop through your fingers increase the SIDEWAYS pressure of your thumb and fore finger.

[moskito_01 0]

@ ratfacedmcdougal: Sending that tape would make my day, but first, I live in Germany, so sending it would probably cost a bunch and second, your tapes don`t work here.

 

But don`t worry, I`m not frustrated just yet. With all of ya`ll tips I`ll figure it out eventually.

 

@ DFix: fine gauge solid wire ? Uhm, not sure but I probably do have some somewhere. Why?