If You’re Going To Trim…Leave A Little

Feathers - Tips, Tricks, & Common Mistakes / /

This is the second installment of  Feathers – Tip’s, Trick’s & Common Mistakes, which can be downloaded FREE from www.saltyflytying.com

If you are using really webbie feathers, you can trim a section of the quill, but make sure you leave some of the barbs attached to the stem of the feather. Although there is not a large volume of bars left attached, this added width will provide more surface area and help to keep the feather from sliding out of place or spinning when thread pressure is applied.

Often, fly tying beginners will strip away a section of barbs from the quill in order to make it easier to see their wraps when tying in a single or multiple feathers.  This exposes the bare quill or Richis of the feather.  Depending on what type of feather is being used, the round or triangular quill of the feather is cinched down against other round feathers and a round surface of the hook and you guessed it… the feathers roll every which way.  Keeping those barbules on the quill is crucial to securing the feathers in the position they were intended.

Download my free eBook by clicking the icon to your right to read the rest of my tip’s, trick’s & common mistakes.

Keep Your Wraps Tight & Feathers Straight

-Drew

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Flatten Your Thread

Feathers - Tips, Tricks, & Common Mistakes / /

This is the first installment of  Feathers – Tip’s, Trick’s & Common Mistakes, which can be downloaded FREE from www.saltyflytying.com

 

Flatten Your Thread

First and foremost, when you are working with feathers, you need to make sure your thread is flat!  Fly tying thread is made up of multiple filaments or fibers that are twisted together.   There are situations for using a tightly twisted or compressed thread, but this is definitely not one of them.

Compressed Thread

If you are a right-handed tier, with each wrap you are twisting the thread, and eventually it becomes round like a rope.  For right-handed tiers, spinning the bobbin to the left will untwist it and cause the thread fibers to lay flat. Flattened thread has more surface area and is more efficient at gathering and locking materials in place. After every few wraps you make and before you add any new materials, it is very important that you spin your bobbin until your thread is flat.

 

Download my free eBook by clicking the icon to your right to read the rest of my tip’s, trick’s & common mistakes.

Keep Your Wraps Tight & Feathers Straight

-Drew

 

 

 

 

 

 

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