spinning hair

[metalheadhunter]

i started tying flies last feb. and latley iv started tying alot of flies and am pretty good at the basic flies, but now i think im ready to learn how to spin deer or elk hair heads for a muddler minnow or a daves hopper. any tips or help greatly appreciated.
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[Scruffy_Fly]

muddler minnow is a good fly to start learning something about spinning deer hair.
Use a strong thread. Gel spun polyethylene (GSP) thread is the best for spinning. 50 denier will be good for a muddler. However 3/0 thread will work just fine - you will probably break the thread on the first couple three flies until you get the feel of how much you can stress the thread.

Use deer hair from the backbone area generally works better for spinning. Finer deer hair does not flair enough. Real course deer hair will not pack as dense as medium course hair. However it takes experience or samples of each to distinguish what is meant by fine medium an course. For the muddler minnow any deer hair should work as you really don't need only a moderate amount of flairing and don't need real dense packing.

Trim the bottom first, the top second, and the sides third. Use the tips of your scissors to judge evenness of your cuts. That is; put the tips perpendicular to the shank to judge the height of the cut hair.
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[flygoddess]

Echo everything Scruffy said. I use 6/0 but I have been tying a very long time. The problem with the thread, you get too bulky and that is what you end up with, so don't go too thick.

As far as hair...the more crinkly it is at the base, the better it spins. Nice smooth hair is nice for tails, and can be spun, but not easy.

When stacking, make sure to get rid of all fluff/fuzz. A comb helps big time.

Get some double edge razor blades. They are the sharpest plus you not only get two sides, but you can bend it and get nice bullet heads. Hair is very hard on scissors...so you know.

Keep checking in with us okay?
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[metalheadhunter]

thanks everyone for the tips, one nice thing about school is there is a fly shop just across the street, i'll run over there and get a few supplies durring lunch and when i get home from school tomarrow im going to give it a shot. ill keep posted.
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[Scruffy_Fly]

I was just breezing through an old copy of Fly Tyer Magazine.

The Winter 2008 issue has an article title "What You MUST Know to spin Deer Hair"

Ask the fly shop. They may have a copy in the back room you can look at.
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[Dryrod]

[center][font "Comic Sans MS"][#008000]Thanks for your detailed reply Scruffy_Fly. One is never too old to learn new tricks.[/#008000][/font]
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[doolay]

Spring break is approaching the college world over the next few weeks, as soon as mine hits I will be reunited with my vice. During this break I'm going to work on spinning hair for bass bugs (frogs, poppers and possibly mice patterns). These tips have been very helpful for getting me started and pointed in the right direction. I'll post some pictures when I have some final products.
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[fishingcanada]

Occasionally, some important technique has been left out. After firmly tying in the tail with Monocord and winding the hackle collar the hackle collar and liberally head-lacquering these materials to the hook, whip finish the Monocord with five to six turns. Clip off the Monocord whip finish. Use as little of the bare hook shank as possible.
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