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haziz

Necessity of Waxing Silk Thread?

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As I am tying North Country Spiders (AKA Soft Hackles), e.g. the Partridge and Orange, I tried with and without waxing the thread. At least during tying I am not seeing much advantage to the wax. I have not fished with either the waxed or unwaxed fly, so I can't tell if one will literally fall apart when fished. I am not noticing much better "grip" with the waxed silk. Waxing the thread seems to deposit a fairly heavy layer of wax and dulls the thread.

I am using mostly Ephemera silk (and some Pearsall Gossamer), and Semperfli Prepared Fly Tyers Wax.

Thanks.

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I would continue to use the wax, although for a P&O, I might use a lighter colored wax.

Dulling the thread is one of the points of using wax.

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I can't speak of wax on the body of a thread body fly because I don't wax there. But I do wax the thread of the whip finish before whipping and non of those flies ever unraveled on me.  I think the wax melts into the knot as you pull it down tight making an effective head cement in it own right that is strong enough to be effective..

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I agree with using a light colored wax for that grip that it gives.  Also, a hint I learned to make my soft hackles last a few more fish is when you tie in the silk keep a tail of the silk out the back side of the fly and use it to tie in "shellback"  when the body is done.  This helps keep the silk from fuzzing out after a few fish chomps.

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I like the idea of using the silk tag end as a shellback.  I do it with all floss tags/tips, but never for the entire body.

THANKS,

Bob H

 

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I love using wax during the whole tying process.  I use wax all the time, I'd be lost without it.  My biggest preference for using wax, is it really helps keeping the thread from unraveling while tying. 

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