Contents
How to Set Up a Fly Tying Work Area
Where to Store Fly Tying Materials
How to Clamp the Hook When Tying a Fly
How to Thread the Bobbin When Tying a Fly
How to Attach Thread to a Hook When Tying a Fly
How to Wind the Thread When Tying a Fly
How to Attach Materials to the Hook When Tying a Fly
Winding Materials and Tying Off
The Whip Finish
What to Do If the Thread Breaks
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- How to set up a fly tying work area
- How to prepare the hook, and wind and attach thread for fly tying
- Step-by-step instructions and photos of the entire fly tying process
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How to Set Up a Fly Tying Work Area
Consider the following when you’re setting up your work area for fly tying:
- Space: The ideal place to tie flies is a room of your own—an office or a spare bedroom—that has plenty of shelf space for books and materials.
- Light: Natural light is wonderful for fly tying. A big window at either side or behind you will provide strong, color-corrected light.
- Security: Make sure your work space has a door that you can close tightly to prevent children and pets from disturbing the delicate materials used in tying flies.
- Table and chair height: You should have a broad, clean worktable and a chair that lets you sit closely over a vise without back pain.
If you can’t dedicate an entire room to fly tying, you can use a temporary spot on a kitchen or dining room table if you’re well organized and all of your gear is portable. In this case, get a pedestal vise (as opposed to a standard clamp vise) and store all your materials and tools in boxes that can be moved easily from one room to another. (For more on specific tools you need for fly tying, see the Quamut guide to Fly Tying Tools).
Positioning Your Vise
There’s no one correct height for a fly tying vise. Some people like to look down on the fly and thus set the vise so that it’s at chest level. Experiment to find the height that works best for any vision problems you may have, as well as your back and neck comfort. Adjusting the height is easier with a clamp vise, as the jaws can be moved up or down on the stem. If you have a pedestal vise, you’ll have to find a table that brings the vise to a comfortable height. Your chair should be centered on the vise, and it should be close enough to let you see every turn of thread in detail.
Lighting
You need a lot of light to tie flies: you’ll notice that strong lighting makes a huge difference in the quality of your flies. The best indoor setup is to have natural light from a window coming from one side and light from a strong lamp on the other. For nighttime fly tying, your working light should come from overhead but angled slightly so that the shadow from your hands working on the fly doesn’t fall directly on the hook.
Which Lights Should You Use?
The best lights for fly tying are ones with special bulbs that simulate the natural spectrum of sunlight. These lights let you see the true outdoor colors of your flies and are easier on your eyes. You can buy specialized lamps with adjustable necks from fly shops and catalogs. The next best light is a draftsman’s lamp that combines a fluorescent tube with an incandescent bulb. These are also a pretty close approximation of the natural light spectrum. Cheaper but not as good are high-intensity desk lamps, which don’t give you the full spectrum of light but can be focused on the fly to give you good visibility. Whatever lamp you buy, consider portability. If you don’t have a dedicated fly tying room, chances are the light where you tie won’t be right. And if you travel with your kit, count on motel rooms having the worst fly tying light imaginable.
Magnification
Fly tying requires top-notch close focusing, so if your eyes can’t manage the task on their own, you’ll need magnification aids. For most fly tiers, magnification of some type is as critical as good light.
Types of Magnification
The most common options for magnification are high-magnification eyeglasses, clip-on magnifiers, loupes, and close-up visors.
- Eyeglasses: The maximum magnification you can get in standard reading glasses is about 3 diopters. Going to glasses with 4- or even 5-diopter magnification improves the quality of your flies and lowers your frustration level. You can get half-glasses in this range in some fly shops and catalogs.
- Clip-on magnifiers: You can buy clip-on magnifiers that attach to regular prescription glasses to maximize their magnification.
- Loupes: You can also buy big magnifying loupes mounted on a flexible gooseneck. Adjusting to these can be difficult, though, and they tend to get in the way when you’re winding materials around the hook.
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Close-up visors: These visors have magnifiers that you can flip out of the way when not needed. Some models have two levels of flip-down magnification plus a loupe for very close work.
If you’re extremely nearsighted, try taking off your contacts or glasses. Without corrective lenses, you’ll likely be able to focus at 3–4" very easily.
Dealing with Pests in Your Work Area
Carpet beetles are the biggest destroyer of fly tying materials. Learn to recognize these small insects by the red band in the middle of their bodies. (Also keep an eye out for sawdust-like material in the bottom of a bag, which means larvae have been chewing there.) Keeping the door to your tying room closed and making sure the window screens are tight will eliminate most pest problems before they start. However, sometimes bugs come in with material that you’ve purchased. Tanned hides won’t harbor bugs, but materials such as wing quills and bucktails can’t be tanned and may have bugs in them.
If you find carpet beetles in your fly tying area, inspect anything that they might have gotten into. Remove any bags that may have been infested by throwing them outside in the trash. If you don’t want to throw out the contents of the bags, open the bags, insert some mothballs or crystals, reseal the bags tightly, and put them in the garage for a few months. Though some of your materials might get ruined, you may be able to kill off the larvae before they destroy anything else. Keep in mind that the bags might still have unhatched eggs in them, however, so you should remain suspect as long as you keep them.
| Text and Images from The Orvis Fly-Tying Manual by Tom Rosenbauer. Copyright © 2000, 2006 by Tom Rosenbauer. Used with permission of The Lyons Press, www.lyonspress.com | Acknowledgments & Disclaimer |
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