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804ScottC

Lead Wire

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I think you mean lead wire is 50% heavier.

Copper and brass wire are both lead free, and common in fly tying.

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I work in metric. What gets me is some of the trainers at work would say .010 is ten thousanths of a millimeter. Not the correct terminology of 10 micron.

 

I guess this is the kind of stuff you have to put up with when the country is based on imperial and manufacturing uses metric.

I worked on construction of a factory once where the plans were partly in engineering dimensions of tenths and hundredths of feet, partly in feet and inches and partly in metric. I had to carry a calculator and a cheat sheet daily as conversions were constantly required. Yet the pages maintained the same system throughout the entire page and did not give a measurement in, for example so many feet and a metric fraction, as in 12'14mm.

 

It was helpful that at the time I could buy tape measures in each of the systems.

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What gets me is some of the trainers at work would say .010 is ten thousanths of a millimeter. Not the correct terminology of 10 micron.

I'm not disagreeing with you ...

It's my understanding that a micron is terminology used for particle size, or roughly "diameter", and 0.001mm would be used to describe a linear distance.

Yes, they are the same thing (linear distance through the center of an object is diameter), but the term "a micron" negates the need to say "One thousandths of a millimeter in diameter".

Just as the term "one liter" is used to describe 1000 cubic centimeters ... both being a measure of volume.

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I think you mean lead wire is 50% heavier.

 

 

 

Yes,

 

Thanks for catching that. I made the correction.

 

I made my views about lead used in fly fishing in this post.

 

https://www.theflyfishingforum.com/forums/general-fly-tying-discussions/565180-use-lead-wire-lead-beads-eyes.html?posted=1#post1119662

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I really didn't mean to start a debate on measurements but will throw this out there. Traveling the world working on jets, you might use imperial, metric or even one most have never heard of British Standard but everyone uses 1/4, 3/8 or 1/2 drive in my dealings which I find ironic.

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Great discussion about metric versus real American measurements. As for scales, like flytire showed I have a simple and cheap one the measures grains, grams, ounces or something else. With the thousands of them being sold for drug weights the price is very low on ebay. I use mine to weigh my nymphs as I place them in box. NO, I don't keep track of the actual weight but do want them layered by heaviest to lightest when I use them.

 

I also use mine to weight fly lines all the time. I carefully fold 30' in tight loops and bind with a small hair binder. I know what binder weighs and get a solid weight on the fly line, which will often surprise you in comparison to what it is supposed to be. DT lines tend to be very close to median weights from major mfg'ers but WF almost always half a line weight heavy. With 40' of line out getting the WF into the lighter running line they often even out with the DT. It's a crap shoot if you use many of the lines marketed today for particular fish since they play with the lines and weights as they feel fit.

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In any standard a lead wrapped hook is heavier then one with no lead. Simple works best.

It happens a lot on this site ... but this one just cries "HELLO, Capt. Obvious !!!" wink.png

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Vicrider said, "Great discussion about metric versus real American measurements."

 

What in the world are "real American measurements"?

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good God, just go fishing. This is fishing, not splitting the atom.

 

I'm all about particulars, but please provide a real-world scenario in fly fishing where it is critical to know the MASS--- weight is not mass--- of two inches of .035" lead wire. Yes is casts differently and sinks differently than a differently tied fly, but it is all relativity in the field.

 

What if you put two more turns of hackle on a fly with exactly the same mass of lead wire as the next one? The hydrodynamic drag and the buoyancy of the fly will change, making it perform differently. Put some lead on the hook, make it sink. Put some more lead on the hook, make it sink faster. Put some more turns of the same diameter lead, make it sink faster. Use larger diameter lead with the same amount of turns, make it sink faster.

 

To me part of the beauty of fly tying and fly fishing is the analog nature of it... SO MANY variables at play during each presentation that individual bits of data are nearly irrelevant... only the situation as a whole. The very next cast, enough variables will have changed to make the last cast, and most of the static factors, reset.

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