Whip Finish

[panfishweird 0]

Ok so I finally found a pattern that works for me. But I want to know if I do a whip finish with 5 turns does it always need something to seal it down such as super glue or something? I hate having to do it every time and I'm afraid if i don't the string will come undone and my fly will be ruined...

 

Oh and its funny how some tie flies because they think it will save them money. =)

[mitch821 0]

Sometimes I do sometimes I don't. What I found that works(time wise), after whip finishing, put the fly down and finish the dozen or so that you are tying, then put your cement on when they are all finished. :dunno: just my thoughts...

 

bob

[panfishweird 0]

So if i did a whip finish or even two whats the chance of it coming undone?

[flykid 0]

I whip finish about 4 or 5 turns and I never add head cement. They haven't come undone yet.

[Soft-hackle 0]

panfish,

A professional tier I know who ties for the market uses two whip finishes of four turns each with no head cement. It works. I however, believe that's fine for dry flies and prefer coating my wet fly heads with Sally Hansen's Hard As Nails. It's not expensive and can be found at almost any department store or drug store where they sell nail polish. It thins easily with acetone.

 

Mark

[camoham 0]

also depends on how much abuse you want the fly to take.

 

3rd weekend on my mutant adams............

 

tail is gone now.

 

wings, remarkably are still on tight.

 

50% of the dry fly dubbing got ate.

 

head finally blew up this last weekend. (it was coated via bodkin with sally hansens).

 

i think i got an idea of how much abuse a fly can take now.

 

:headbang:

 

camoham

 

 

[binfordw 0]

I don't often coat the heads of my flies, simply because if they last through more fish it leaves me less flies to replace in my "off-time"

 

I do normally use cement on more time consuming patterns, but its normally geared towards tail and wing wraps than the head.

[JSzymczyk 0]

I say use head cement if at all possible. I use Hard-as-nails. It's a tiny little step that adds insurance.

I don't want to worry that my whip finish is going to slip, or whatever, when I'm fishing. It will depend somewhat on the individual fly too, if it's a streamer with a significant head, then it's more likely the knot will slip than if it's a tiny dry with almost no head.

 

You need to try a few each way and see what your results are!

 

I don't buy the argument "because a commercial tyer does it this way..."

 

[Guest]

Once I whip finish (either a 3 or 5 turn whip) I don't put anything on them and my flies haven't fallen apart yet.

 

Fatman

[madkasel 0]

I generally do a 3 turn whip finish and then hit it with a bit of flexament or head cement. I end up throwing at a lot of bluegills and can catch 30 fish on one fly so I need it to stay durable. On bigger flies I'll do a double. If I knew that a series of flies were just going to the trout stream, I wouldn't bother with the glue because I lose the flies about as fast as I can tie them on.

[flyboyutah 0]

I usualy do a three to four turn whip 2x , and as for cement or glue , I usually use a nail hardner . A quick tip I found, on a good holding whip is NOT to cross the wraps, try to lay them next to each other. I also like to start my first wrapping from back to the eye, tie, than the second whipping , eye back to the body than ,tie off ,cut. steve

[7wt 0]

I haven't used head cement on my trout or blue gill flies in over five years with out a problem. I do however use epoxy on all of my salt stuff but that's a whole different story.

[RoyalWulff 0]

Because I fish a lot of streamers I use a coat or two of thin head cement, then at least 2 coats of black laquer. I like the shiny heads on my streamers. It is also a habit I took up from learning fly tying by learning Atlantic hairwings first. As for my dries I always put a drop of head cement on the thread wraps, but I have had success not putting anything on them. I know alot of guys get away without any, but for me I loose a couple flies to trees and shrubs.

 

So i reason this way. In my box I only carry a couple different flies of a wide varitey, so if I loose all but one fly of a certain style, then I dont want that last fly to fall apart. Anyways, a little drop of head cement cannot hurt your fly, even if it is overkill!! So why not?

 

I agree that, I look forward to wrecking a few flies so I can replenish my fly boxes. (Just an excuse to tie) But I will let you in on a little secret, I was given a head cement applicator bottle as a gift from a special person( ) So that is one reason I use head cement quite a bit. I dont know what she would say if it wasnt on my tying table!!

 

A little head cement cannot hurt your fly even if it is overkill!!!

 

Phil

[flytyingscotsman 0]

Oh and its funny how some tie flies because they think it will save them money. =)

 

Of course I'm going to save money !

 

By my calculations I'll have broken even by the time I reach the age of 102.

 

Of course if I buy that rooster neck I had my eye on then that'll push the break-even age out a little ....

 

 

 

 

 

 

[WYKnot 0]

I am of the "no cement on dry flies" school of thoguht, just too much going on (hackle, fine dubbing, trim little heads) to risk dabbing glue everywhere. Two 4-wrap whips work for me. I do, however, add a bit of Sally Hansen to my nymphs and streamers.