Tying Thread Comparisons

[Wildfisher]

This is quite a useful video

Fly Tying Thread Comparison UTC UNI and Veevus

[bibio1]

Do not ever use sheer.

It should be renamed shite

[Suki1312]

Must admit am a big fan of sheer been using it for all my river flies for a good few years , never had a breakage with it , on the other hand the utc thread now that is a pile of shite .

[Wildfisher]

I use 14/0 Sheer for small flies and have found it very good and very useful.  UNI is standard fare,  but UTC I have not used yet.

[Bobfly]

I certainly agree with the commentary when he said about rough hands being a nuisance with the flat multi-strand stuff and it catching on anything around !

[bibio1]

I use slot of primrose coloured thread. I had to throw out 3 spools of sheer because it had not been spoiled right. Maybe I got a bad batch

[Wildfisher]

I use slot of primrose coloured thread. I had to throw out 3 spools of sheer because it had not been spoiled right. Maybe I got a bad batch

I had one spool of black 14/0 Sheer just like that years ago Paul, 300 ends,  but it's been fine since.

[Darwin]

I use GG 14/0 sheer on my micro flies, some spools are fine and some are crap.  The bad ones are poorly spooled and the thread just falls off the spool in loops.  I am using 16/0 Veevus more now than any other for the small flies and Danville for larger flies.

[Highlander]

Handy wee video, basically an advert for his shop. Surprised he was not sure how to pronounce  Veevus, he after all sells it. Did he call it Vee-Vi-us I must run the video again.
Moving on
Never used  Sheer,Spiderweb & the like or the Uni Trico which is not available in UK or is it?Certainly for really small patterns you might want to think about these really thin threads other than that I would avoid them for "normal" tying. The real knack is using least amount of turns to get the desired effect as to regard neatness & robustness & by that I speak of "normal" thread.

Now the nitty gritty

UTC: I have never really liked this thread, good points though are it lays flat but to me it is far too shinny/slippy as it is a nylon. Nylon to me is a no no in tying although It has a nice range of vibrant colours & is quite popular with some tyers but there is better on the market.

UNI This Canadian based company is probably  the most commonly available thread in the World. It is used by many tyers including myself.  It is a polyester of "braided" construction rather than the floss like appearance of UTC will not lay flat. Very popular in the UK with a good range of styles though quality control is somewhat suspect on occasion. Bit more robust & will not fray as easy as UTC or similar brands like Danville.

VEEVUS I do not know but seems to be a halfway between the first two which could be a good thing & certainly worth a try if you can get it. I would hazard a guess it is a gel spun thread which may put me off but I will try it if I can get a spool.

( Had a look online & it is a Danish company. They do do GSP thread but their standard may well be not.)  Any UK distributors?

Right My thread of choice is Benecchi. I seemed to have settled on this over the last 10 years or so & is my general go to thread. 12/0 being my most used. Being a polyester based thread it is ideal for laying a base down for receiving other materials without causing slipping like the nylon might cause. It is a strong thread relative to it's diameter & serves me will.
Still horses for courses & others mileage may vary.

Tight Lines

[Paddy5]

Another thread worthy of mention is Hends syntron, it is actually to  very fine diameter gel spun threads running parallel , I always found using a split thread very difficult untill I started using it, as threads which leant themselves to splitting tended to be to thick for tying small dries and fine threads a pain to split. The syntron takes all the hassle out of the technique and is good value too only drawback being the spools are quite small.