Thread Control

[RZBKFAN 0]

Any ideas for learning/practicing thread control. I want to have a good solid basic foundation before I start tying any flies. So far I have been laying wraps down on a hook to get some consistency and just get a feel for things. I have moved on to trying to learn how to use a whip finisher or just use my fingers but I still feel like I should log many more hours to get a good base with thread control before I even think about moving on to tying a fly. Your thoughts/advice? Thank you for your help. Have a merry Christmas!

[mikechell 0]

Just for fun ... I've taken a 4 or five inch long piece of craft foam, 1 or 2 mm thick and about twice that wide. Get a good base wrapping of thread. Then use one wrap of thread to secure a short end of the foam to the hook. Pull on the thread until you cut the foam off. If the thread breaks before the foam cuts, then you've got a good feel for how strong the thread is. If the foam cuts, then you've got a good feel for maximum tension for tying foam.

 

You can do the same thing with a small batch of deer hair.

 

Most other materials won't "cut" so the above two materials are best for tension feel.

 

As for securing material, I don't know if there's a quick way to learn that ... just tie a lot of flies.

[phg 0]

...but I still feel like I should log many more hours to get a good base with thread control before I even think about moving on to tying a fly....

 

To borrow from Nike, "Just do it!"

 

Pick out a couple of simple patterns, like the wooly worm or wooly bugger, and start tying. You'll learn faster by doing, and even sloppily tied flies catch fish.

 

Whip finish, by hand, is a great skill to have, but 3 or 4 half hitches will finish the fly well enough, especially if you add a drop of head cement (or clear finger nail polish).

 

Just keep a single edged razor blade nearby, and don't be afraid to strip off the hook and start again if things get too wonky.

[utyer 0]

Your off to a good start, learn to tie on, then whip finish before you tie anything else. Then like Mike has said, use foam or deer hair to see how much pressure you can put on the thread without breaking it or cutting into the foam or hair. Wraps should in most cases be quite firm.

 

The next thing to work on is making smooth edge to edge wraps down the shank and back up to the eye. By smooth wraps I mean wraps made with an untwisted thread. Most fly tying threads are made up of multiple fine filaments. They will spread out and lay flat as you start to wrap. Each turn around the hook will introduce a twist in the thread. Soon the thread becomes more round, and will no longer lay flat. The round thread won't hold materials as well as a flat thread, and it will add often unwanted bulk in your flies.

 

To see this, start with a size 10 or 12 hook and use a light or bright thread. Watch as you wind from the eye to the bend in touching turns. You should start to see the twists develop and the change in the way it lays on the hook shank. To control these twists, you simply need to stop wrapping, and let your bobbin hang down. The tension from the twisted thread will want to unwind. You will see the bobbin slowly start to spin as the thread untwists. The direction your bobbin starts to turn will be different (clockwise or anti clockwise,) depending on which way you wrap your thread. Once you know which way your thread wants to unwind, just give your bobbin a little spin after every 12 to 15 turns.

 

Tying thread midges will be a good way to get a handle on making smooth edge to edge wraps. Midges can be quite small, but you can start with a size 14. As you wrap down the hook to the bend watch to see that each turn is flat and just touching the last one. When you reach a point over the barb, wind back to the eye, again making flat and just touching turns. On a size 14 hook you may want to make a second pass to the bend, and back to the eye. Look at your fly, if it is lumpy, or has gaps in the thread, unwind and try again. After 2 or 4 passes, you abdomen will be complete.

 

Now wrap back about 20% of the shank and return to the eye, to start building a slightly thicker thorax and head area. Four to six passes on the thorax should be enough. As you make the thorax wraps end each wrap one turn short of the last one to build a slightly tapered thorax. Then finish your head with a 3 or 4 turn whip finish.

 

Sad to say, the fish won't really care if your wraps are not perfect, but your trying to learn thread control here, and precise placement and keeping the thread untwisted is the goal.

 

When your done, look at your work (use a magnifier if you have to,) or take a macro digital image of your finished work. Nothing points out the flaws better than a sharp 1024 pixel image.

 

Not every fly you tie will have to be done this way, but this kind of thread control should be learned so you know how to do it.

[Davidpensfan87 0]

A helpful trick I've learned is to not have so much thread between the hook and the tip of your bobbin. 1.5 to 3 inches should suffice. This is because the bobbin can travel quicker around the hook if you have less thread out, thus making your time to tie a fly quicker. Also, another reason for this is because you have greater control with the thread. From my experiences, a good analogy of this would be slack in a fishing line, same as having too much thread out. Now of course there are times when having that much thread out is okay and needed.
Hope this helps and happy holidays,

David

[Ephemerella 0]

After doing all the exercises in the above postings, try putting tails on dry fly hooks. Tie on at the eye end of a dry fly hook, say size 12. Wrap the thread edge to edge back to where the bend of the hook begins. As the folks above indicated, as you do this leave only 1.5 - 2.5 inches of thread from bobbin tip to the hook shank, no more.

 

Now take a bunch of feather fibers, maybe a dozen or so, makes a bundle about 2x the diameter of the hook shank with the thread on it. Holding the little bunch of fibers in your left hand, fingers covering the good tips of the fibers, place the feather fiber bundle at about a 20-30 degree angle to the hook shank, with the butts crossing the shank. For the practice the length of the fibers doesn't matter, but let's say leave about the length of the hook shank to the left of the point where the bundle and the hook shank cross.

 

Now wrap once or twice, towards the eye, and let go of the fibers. They should snap into place, with the thread tension moving them to be in line with the hook shank. Wrap forward covering the butts.

 

Practice this over and over again, adjusting the angle of the feather fibers and your thread tension until you can make the tail fibers snap into alignment every time. You have now mastered step one of thread control, and are ready to venture forth on the dry fly!

 

Enjoy the journey!

-Peter

[Bruce Derington 0]

counter spinning your thread (while tying) is a great tip,

[fshrmanms 0]

hold the tag end of the thread straight out with your other hand (perpendicular to the hook) and it will act as a guide when laying a thread base resulting in touching turns.

[Crackaig 0]

Any mechanical engineers out there will know where this tip comes from.

 

Learn to run down the hook shank in even touching turns. To test this drag the outside top edge of your finger nail over the wraps. This will show you any lumps, bumps and gaps in it.

 

When I learned modern fine threads were not available. You had to restrict the amount you used to avoid huge bulk, so the first rule was

"Use your thread as if it cost £5 an inch, which, if you buy it from me, it does"

 

There have been whole day workshops just on the subject of thread control. It is one area of fly tying that you will never stop developing.

 

When you get onto the whip finish untwist your thread before forming it. If the thread is twisted tight the whip finish will tighten onto the tightly twisted thread. When you cut the thread the end will untwist and slip out.

 

Cheers,

C.

[RZBKFAN 0]

Thank you so much everyone for your Help! I have my hooks on order and plan to start with the threaded midge! Thanks again and have a happy new year!