Spinning Deer Hair

[FishyboY 0]

I am working on spinning deer hair with the stuff that i have and i have alot of fun doing it... but what are the materials that you specifically need for spinning deer hair.

 

Thanks for the help

[Fly Tyer Guy 0]

Deer hair, and some good strong thread (GSP is the best) , though I would recommend getting some razor blades (Razors are more of a tool than a material). That is for spinning and stacking, but if you want a list for tying deer hair flies, the I suggest in addition to deer hair, and strong thread, I would get hackle, rubber legs, doll eyes, and mono if you want weed guards.

[Bruce Derington 0]

Call Chris Helm at Whitetail Fly Tieing Supplies(google him) He will set you in the right direction

[Flatwaxed 0]

Hi all, Im new to the site and just took up spinning/packing deer hair myself. Here is a picture of my first few tries. The one thing I can tell you that you will need is a bag of ice to put on your shoulders and wrists the next day, my shoulder is still toast from my first few days of tying.

 

 

As far as tools and thread go, Im with Fly Tyer Guy G.S.P. is great stuff and so is Kevlar Thread. I use both, GSP is hard to cut so make sure you have super sharp scissors as well. You will want super sharp curved scissors and flexible razor blades as well for shaping your flies when you are done packing. Bruce D. has good advice as well, if you can, call Chris Helm. I bought a Chris Helm video and just watched it a bunch of times while tying and thats how I learned.

 

Anyways I thought I would chime in with my first post on this site, hey all, hows it going!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JSzymczyk 0]

Flat, if those were your FIRST tries at spinning deer hair, you are gonna be famous.

 

Don't know what your shoulders are wrecked from, but your flies look very impressive.

 

For what it's worth, in my experience the GSP is far superior to kevlar thread. To me, kevlar is much too slippery and it tends to cut the hair more easily. GSP is slippery, but more controllable. The secret to cleanly cutting GSP is to hold tension on it when making the cut. If you're trying to cut a slack, loose thread it will not be pretty.

[Hairstacker 0]

Fishboy -- When I sit down to tie deer hair bass bugs, aside from the hook, deer hair, other materials to form the tail, and the typical fly tying tools, I feel I must have the following in front of me:

 

1. GSP thread -- I use Wapsi Ultra GSP 200-denier.

 

2. Superglue -- I add a drop to the tail tie-in point and wait for it to dry to make sure the tail doesn't move when I start spinning/stacking the deer hair. I also add a drop to the weedguard tie-in points to make sure it never moves. By the way, the various superglues are not created equally so you may end up trying out several brands until you find one you can live with -- the best are thin so they soak into materials, thread wraps, etc., truly super strong (you'll be amazed how many aren't in this application), and very fast drying.

 

3. Comb -- to remove the fuzzy underfur from the deer hair. A $3 flea comb from the pet store will work. So will various combs you can find in cosmetics departments, although their teeth are often brittle. Griffin also sells a nice comb for this purpose for around $7.

 

4. Super sharp scissors and double-edged razor blades for trimming the fly. They need to be really sharp, otherwise they tend to glance off of the hair to some degree rather than cut through it. By the way, I also use a razor blade to cut the GSP.

 

5. Monofilament for the weed guard, if I choose to add one.

 

Flatwaxed -- JSzymczyk is right, if those are your 1st tries, you are going to be famous. Welcome aboard, very nice flies!

 

-- Mike

[Flatwaxed 0]

Yeah those are the first ones, thanks for the kind words.

 

JS, I agree with what you say about Kevlar, I find that it is prone to cutting the hair as well. Its a harder sharper thread than the GSP but the GSP is a stronger.....I find.

[FishyboY 0]

thanks all for the help... i was watching a youtube movie and i noticed the guy bent the razor blade to make all the hair look equally cut...... and neat.... is there any other way to do that. my razor blades don't bend

 

nice flies flatwaxed

[Hairstacker 0]

Fishboy, if your razor blades don't bend, I'm guessing they are single-edged razor blades. You need to get the double-edged ones.

 

-- Mike

[Flatwaxed 0]

I have found this little beauty to be quite the tool. Its a curved blade holder and really speeds up the process and the bend in the blade is always consistent. Just be careful putting the blade in, the first time I did I ended up with a fairly decent cut. I also find that the Wilkinson Swords are the best blades. :headbang:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hairstacker 0]

Flatwaxed, I've seen that tool but have never tried it. Do you find that it gives you a sufficient curve on the blade for making really rounded heads?

 

By the way, that company (Stonefly) makes my favorite hair stacker -- it enables you to see the hair being stacked and it has a swing-out tube that makes it essentially a 1-piece design, which I find more convenient. Good stuff.

[smallieFanatic 0]

I've never tried Gel spun, but Flat waxed nylon works O.K for me.

 

By the way, FlatWaxed, your flies ROCK

[lykos33 0]

Flatwaxed, I've seen that tool but have never tried it. Do you find that it gives you a sufficient curve on the blade for making really rounded heads?

 

By the way, that company (Stonefly) makes my favorite hair stacker -- it enables you to see the hair being stacked and it has a swing-out tube that makes it essentially a 1-piece design, which I find more convenient. Good stuff.

 

And where can I find these products? A Google of "stonefly" was not very productive.. :dunno:

[Hairstacker 0]

lykos33, here you go -- use the arrow at the bottom to get to page "5 of 8" where they're referred to as an "H&H Hair Trimmer" and an "H&H Hair Stacker," respectively:

 

http://www.anglersworkshop.com/categories.aspx?catid=1479

 

By the way, they also put out a pretty nice free mail-order catalogue.

 

-- Mike

[RoyalWulff 0]

I use a hook, 6/0 uni and deerhair

 

Phil