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... I like both of your ideas.. especially the dental pick idea..
MacFly [cool]
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Tie off parachutes onto the parachute post, and finish it off with a bit of super glue. No whip finish needed.
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Dry Rod,
What do you do with the dental picks.
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Also use the foam (see my previous post) to make a holder for film canisters. Hang flies on the canister lip for drying of the head cement.
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Mount a light on the underside of your fly tying table. Turn it on to find the feathers, hooks and flies you drop on the floor.
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i dislike having short pieces of wire I have to throw away. I also dislike trying to wrap a rib or such with a short piece of wire that I then have my fingers slip off the end.
thus I put my wire spool in a bobbin holder and use it just as if I had thread in it.
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To cut your thread you do not need to snip the thread with your siccors. Instead hold the thread taught and then slide the sharp edge of one scissor blade against the thread. The thread will break of quickly.
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Alternatively. If you can grasp the thread better than I can you can just snap it off by flicking you hand while tightly holding the thread.
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[font "Pristina"][green][size 4]I use the bottom pick for mixing and applying epoxy. The other one with the sharp curved point helps to snare those elusive tiny beads. Roughing up dubbing and other tasks where one needs a shark curved tool.[/size][/green][/font]
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[cool][font "Pristina"][green][size 4]Scruffy_Fly Styrofoam is a great cheap resource. A furniture store near me fills up their dumpster weekly with all sizes and shapes of this material. I use a block of this material 1½"x3"x18" to hold all of my tools. Originally I had another piece that I inserted short lenghts of dolls to hold my tying thread. Since then I found an inexpensive thread rack at Jo-Anns which hold 60 spools. Another tip for the newbie is to check out places like Jo-Anns, Michaels and similar arts & crafts stores. They carry beads, polyester thread, foam sheets, feathers etc.[/size][/green][/font]
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... keeps it stable?? until you need to use it?
MacFly [cool]
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.. I will attest to the value of this one. Scruffy showed me this on the day we hooked up so he could teach me some basics.. I then used this idea when I tied the flies for the swap.. it amazed me how much wire I saved doing this.. also.. the weight of the bobbin and spool help to keep the wire out of the way while working with other materials..
MacFly [cool]
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... what a great idea.. especially with my fumbling fingers..
MacFly [cool]
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[font "Pristina"][green][size 4]While I like the idea of using a bobbin to dispense wire , was wondering - wouldn't the wire have a tendency to scratch the ceramic inserts? [/size][/green][/font]
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..Im glad you mentioned Michaels .. on a vist there several weeks ago I was looking for a small tray to use to keep hooks and beads etc seperated but available.. I checked out the bead craft aisle .. and several other similar aisles.. I stumbled on the painting supply aisle and found a small tray they use to keep the paint seperated.. this tray is perfect for keeping the beads and hooks etc seperated and easily accessible.. its shallow enough to keep it all seperated but not so deep as to make it clumsy to get the item I need..
.. every time I go to Walmart or Michaels or a like store I find myself wandering into the crafts section to see if I can find something else to use for fly tying..
MacFly [cool]
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It can scratch it. Also if you tie rotary style, it is more difficult to do if you leave it in the bobbin. A spool of wire costs a buck. I trade the ability to tie faster for the waste of the wire.
Another tip. When you are dressing the hook shank with thread, don't bother cutting the tag end of thread with scissors. Give it a good yank and it will break in the right spot.
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[size 1]MacFly wrote: ... keeps it stable?? until you need to use it? [/size]
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[size 1][#0000ff]No - keeps it stable while a Klutz tries to use the bottle.[/#0000ff] [unsure][/size]
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...thats what I meant.. referring to me of course.. [sly]
MacFly [cool]
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