News:

The Best Fishing Forum In The UK.
Do You Have What It Takes To Be A Member?

Main Menu
Please consider a donation to help with the running costs of this forum.

Dubbing Techniques

Started by scotfly, August 29, 2009, 12:06:08 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

scotfly

Split Thread Dubbing Loop


Firstly, apologies in advance. Due to the complexities involved in photographing some of the following sequences, some of the pictures are a little lower quality than I would have liked. But, until I can get a couple of extra pairs of arms they are the best I can do. Don?t worry though; they are clear enough to allow you to see everything.
Dubbing loops are the most versatile techniques you can have at your disposal. As you will hopefully see in this and the next three posts, the opportunities are almost endless. We?ll start with the split thread dubbing loop, this is, I think the most useful of the ?loop? techniques. You can employ it to tie everything from large saltwater patterns all the way down to size 32 midges if you want. Its main advantages are that it?s quick and easy to perform, and it adds little if any bulk to the dressing. It doesn?t really have any disadvantages, the only thing you have to be aware of is that because you are splitting the thread it won?t be as strong as the traditional dubbing loop (shown in the next post) but, unless you are try to use coarse dubbing mediums, strength doesn?t really come in to it. Thread is not particularly strong and there is a limit to how much you spin it, it would be impossible for me to demonstrate just how far you can go, but with both the split thread and the traditional dubbing loops you will very quickly learn how much spin you can apply without breaking the thread.
Although the techniques employed to form the split thread and the traditional dubbing loop are different, once formed the techniques employed to apply the dubbing are the exact same for both loops.
Thread choice is important for the split thread dubbing techniques. Basically there are two types of thread, bonded and unbonded. Bonded threads are twisted and stuck together (for want of a better description) Unbonded thread is not stuck together.  The bonded thread that springs to mind is UNI Thread, I?m sure there are others too. What this means is that because of the manufacturing process it is very difficult to split the thread. So for the spit thread loop it is best to use an unbonded thread. Typical unbonded threads are UTC, Benecchi,  Roman Moser Power Silk, Gudebrod, (Gudebrod no longer make flytying threads, but there are plenty of places which still have stock left) Danville?s and Gordon Griffiths.
All of the above unbonded threads are suitable for the split thread loop. For reference I have used UTC70 in the following sequences.
Because you will need to flatten the thread to split it, it is important to know that all threads with the exception of Pearsall?s silks are spun clockwise. This means that to flatten them you will need to spin them anti-clockwise and when you spin the loop to form the dubbing rope you will need to spin them clockwise.

Below is a picture of  bonded (on the left) and unbonded (on the right) threads. You can easily see which one is going to be the easiest to split.



To form a split thread loop wrap a layer of thread to where you want the loop formed, then spin the bobbin anti-clockwise.



If you?re lucky you will have a flat spot where the thread hangs off the hook. When to spot when you have spun the thread enough to take the twist out of it is something you will learn with very little practice. If you don?t get the flat spot next to the hook you can lay the tread, tensioned by the weight of the bobbin, across your index finger, then slide you finger up and down the thread a few times and you should be able to split the thread then.



To split the thread take a dubbing needle or darning needle or similar and preferably one with a blunt point and insert it through the (roughly) middle of the thread. Don?t worry, it sounds difficult, but in reality with a little practice it is actually quite easy.



You can see the split better here.



Once you have split it, gently coax the thread loop open until you can get your finger(s) into it, then continue coaxing it open until you have a loop large enough to work with. If the loop sticks when you are opening it, try turning the bobbing anti-clockwise a few turns, this will usually sort the problem. Occasionally though you will encounter a spool of thread which doesn?t split well. In this case try a different spool of thread.



That?s all there is to it.
You now have several choices on how you apply the dubbing.
The first technique here is to simply twist dub (See the twist dubbing post) the thread on one side of the loop.

Here I am twist dubbing some hare?s ear onto the thread. I am keeping the thread open with the fingers of my other hand.



Once you have enough dubbing on the thread..



Remove your fingers from the loop allowing the loop to close.



Then pinch the loop immediately below the dubbed portion.



Then with the loop pinched spin the bobbin holder clockwise.



When you think it has spun enough stop and hold the bobbin holder, then let go of the loop. The twist will shoot up the loop twisting the dubbing and loop into a dubbing rope. If need be you can ?force? the twist  up the thread by holding the bobbin in one hand and gripping the thread at the end of the bobbin with the index finger and thumb of your other hand, then sliding your fingers up towards the dubbing rope will ?force? the twist up. If you haven?t put enough twist into the thread, simply repeat the process until you have. Once done it should look something like this.



Now it is a simple case of wrapping it to form the body. With practice you will learn how much dubbing to use so that the dubbing will run out exactly where you want it to.



As with the other dubbing techniques, with practice, you will be able to affect the final outcome by varying the amount of dubbing you use.
Another technique you can employ is to insert a dubbing noodle into the loop. This dubbing noodle is slightly different to the one shown in the noodle dubbing post in so much as the noodle is formed completely in the hand.
To form the noodle take a pinch of dubbing, hare?s ear here.



Then place it in the palm of your hand and using the index finger of your other hand gently roll it and work it?



Until you have a loose noodle like this.



Now form your split thread loop exactly as before and this time insert the noodle between the two threads of the loop.



Then, as before withdraw your fingers to close the loop.



Then grip the thread loop just below the dubbing noodle.



Then spin the bobbin clockwise to form the dubbing rope.





Finally wrapping as before to form the body.



This next technique is great for forming legs or, in this case, a hair hackle.

Form your loop exactly as described above. Then take a pinch of guard hairs, I?ve taken these ones from a fox squirrel pelt, in a bulldog type clip.



Then insert them into the loop. Once you have them in the loop, close and grip it, then release the guard hairs from the clip.



Adjust them for length by gently pulling on either the tips, to make them longer, or the butts to shorten them. Then carefully trim the butts close to the thread.



Then, again, exactly as above, grip the thread and spin the bobbin to form your dubbing rope.



This time when you wrap the rope, stroke the fibres back (to the left) with each wrap of the rope.



When you?ve done it should look something like this.



So there you have three techniques you can employ with the split thread loop. There are a few variations, (which will appear in future step by steps) but these three are all that you will need to master the techniques involved.
You can use one, two or all three techniques in a great many flies.
Here is one example of a hare?s ear type nymph where I have twist dubbed the thread onto the loop to form the body. Then I?ve inserted a dubbing noodle into the loop for the thorax. Finally forming a hair hackle to finish the fly.



Here?s one simple variation though for you.

Try dubbing both sides of the loop with different dubbing. To let you see the effect better here, I?ve dubbed one side with black beaver and the other side with white beaver.



Spin the loop as above and it looks like this.



And wrapped it looks like this.



Here is a fly I?ve tied as above, but this time I?ve used olive and yellow beaver. The thorax was formed from a split thread loop with a noodle of olive hare?s ear blend inserted. The effect is subtle and, I think, attractive.



If you want to get complicated you can combine the dubbing loop and split thread loop!

Here I have formed a dubbing loop then split one leg of the loop and inserted an orange and a black slf dubbing noodle into the split thread. Then I inserted a pearl ice dub dubbing noodle in the dubbing loop.



Then gave it a spin for an interesting dubbing rope.



Wrapped to form the body.



Then a rub with Velcro for the resulting body.



As you can see, once you?ve mastered the basic techniques involved you can let your imagination and creativity run wild.



scotfly

NOT A LOOP

Hopefully what follows will provide you with some inspiration and encourage you to sometimes ?think out of the box?
Most of what is here is a direct result of the inspiration I have received looking at the techniques subtly introduced to us in the many recipes and pictures of flies posted here (and elsewhere) by, among others, Hans Weilenmann
The following are variations on the dubbing loop technique that opens up a myriad of possibilities, only a few of which I?ve shown below. As with the techniques shown above the only real limit is your imagination.

Here I have inserted some natural seal?s fur between two plys of sparkle yarn. Then gripped the resultant ?loop? in a pair of rotating hackle pliers.



Then using the hackle pliers as a dubbing twister I?ve twisted it into a dubbing rope which I have wrapped to form, in this instance, the whole fly.



The result when you add water is..



Doesn?t really look much like a fly though! But notice I left a portion of the yarn at the head free of dubbing.
A quick wipe or two with a brown marker pen and, I think, a very passable sedge pupa appears.



Here I have inserted a hare?s mask blend of dubbing between 4 strands of pheasant tail fibres.




Then twisted them with my rotating hackle pliers.



The result is an interesting fuzzy body.



Finally one here using 1 strand of green copper wire and 1 strand of red copper wire with a clear Antron noodle inserted between them.



Then twisted with the rotating pliers again.



And wrapped to form a body.



Finally a rub with Velcro.



The effect when wet is interesting to say the least.



Once again you can see some of the interesting results that are possible when you let your imagination run riot.
Have fun!




scotfly

DUBBING NOODLE

This is a technique I rarely use, but it is a useful technique to have in your armoury. Its main use is for bodies on larger flies. This technique is only really suitable for dubbings mediums with a medium to long staple length. Mediums such as Hare?s Ear, Mole, Squirrel, Seal?s Fur, etc don?t really lend themselves to this technique.
For reference the dubbing I have used here is WCB flytying supplies ?Easy Dub? a synthetic dubbing.

Wind the thread half way down the hook shank.



Take a wad of dubbing and pull some out, then twist the end to a point.



Then tie it in.



Now place the dubbing next to the thread.



Then pinch the dubbing and thread between your fingers. Don?t pinch too tight, you want the dubbing to feed from the wad as you wrap.



Now start wrapping. With this technique you do not twist the dubbing onto the thread. Any twisting is imparted naturally during the wrapping process.



Keep wrapping and feeding from the wad until you reach the tie-off point.



Separate the thread from the dubbing and then tie in the end of the dubbing noodle.



And that?s it, a quick and easy way to apply a larger amount of dubbing to the hook. It?s also much stronger than normal dubbing techniques.
I scrubbed this much harder than I normally would with a Velcro brush.



Had I scrubbed the same material, twist dubbed, as hard I don?t think there would have been much left! But with this technique..



A simple example of this techniques usefulness..





scotfly

THE DOUBLE LOOP

I swithered on whether to include this technique or not. It is a little used technique, but decided to include it anyway, if for no other reason than it?s here if you want it. This is the double loop, for use with very coarse dubbings. In this instance Deer hair dubbing. This one from Roman Moser is a blend of Deer hair and synthetic fibres. You can also use Deer hair cut from the hide if you like.



As its name suggests this technique utilizes two loops. The obvious advantage is its strength. Its one disadvantage is bulk, though again, in reality it is a really minor disadvantage.
The dubbing whorl used for the dubbing loop is not up to the task for this technique, the sprung wire is not strong enough to tighten the spun rope tight enough.  You need to use a different tool.
The dubbing twister.



This tool differs from the dubbing whorl in that rather than spinning it to form the dubbing rope, you simply twist it with your fingers to form the rope.

To begin, wrap the thread to around the midpoint of the hook shank.



Then start by forming a normal dubbing loop using the dubbing twister as an aid. Unlike the normal dubbing loop you do not take a turn of thread round the loop.



Then wrap the thread towards the bend and over the legs of the dubbing loop.



Once you have reached the bend, wrap the thread back up the body (to the right) for three or four turns.



Then form a second loop. You need both loops to be the same length, so form the second loop using the dubbing twister to ensure both loops are the same length.



Let?s take a little break here and go over how to form and use the double loop in a little more detail. Because of the difficulties of trying to photograph this one with the deer hair dubbing I?m using a synthetic dubbing noodle to simulate the dubbing. The noodle makes it much easier for me to photograph and it will also let you see things in more detail.

So here I?ve formed the first loop and this time I?ve taken the thread much further up the hook shank so that you can see the loops and how to use them easier.



The second loop formed.



As you can see here with the dubbing twister removed we have two separate loops. The dubbing will go between the two loops.



Here the dubbing twister is back on and I've arrowed where the dubbing will be inserted.



Here I?ve re-done the loops closer together and inserted the dubbing noodle.



Before you twist the dubbing into a rope you have to take one turn of thread round both loops to pinch them together at the top.






Next I've taken the thread up to the shoulder of the fly, where the body will be tied off.



Make the first turn of the dubbing rope at an angle as shown so that your dubbed body starts at the end.




Hopefully that?s made things a little clearer for you.
OK, break over, so now it?s back to the deer hair..



Once formed you can insert your dubbing material into the loop.



Then take one turn of thread round the two loops to close them at the top, then  twist the dubbing twister clockwise to begin forming the rope.



Keep twisting until you have the formed rope.



Then wrap the dubbing rope to form the body. Stroke the fibres back with each wrap of the rope.



Then when you have the body formed tie the rope off.




Then all you have to do is trim the hair to shape with scissors.

.

Here I?ve added a wing of cow elk hair to make a simple, but durable sedge.










scotfly

#14
Well finally you've reached the end.  :shock: 
I don't think there's much to add, from me at least! But as always, the experiences and thoughts of others are most welcome.
Look out in the coming weeks for some step by steps directly related to some of the techniques and ideas shown here.
Now go and put some fur on that hook!

I will add related sbs's here as I post them....

Fuzzy Pheasant Tail Nymph

Hare's Ear Nymph (Triple Loop)

Twisted Black and Peacock Spider

BHS (Big Hairy Sedge)


Clan Ford

Dennis,

What a post  :allhail

Just the technical type of stuff I like.  You can fair get your teeth into it :D

Thanks for spending the time and effort.

Norm

scotty9

Wow what a guide, i don't know the first thing about fly tying and just read the whole thing. I imagine that will be amazingly useful when i get around to trying to tie my own flies! Will need to try it at some point. Thanks for making the effort  :D

Wildfisher

Fantastic stuff again Dennis, what a post!

Part-time

As a novice fly tyer I found that really helpful. Much better explained than in any fly tying guide I've read before.
Many thanks.

Pete

A herculean task putting all that together..

Thanks for another excellent post, I hope to put some of it into action very soon.

pete

Go To Front Page