Question for ScottP

Hello ScottP,
For months you have been posting photos and sbs for a myriad of flies, all of which are beautifully tied and quite creative. And I am very grateful that you are doing that. Please continue! What is intriguing me is the ease with which you form/build the extended bodies. I am an experienced , veteran tier and have never been successful trying to make extended bodies. My problem rests with trying to remove the bodies from the needle without causing the body to become mangled. I am wondering if you coat the needle with a wax or soap or some kind of lubricant to get the body to slide off without being crushed. Do you maybe apply a wax to your thread? I have found a fly shop that is offering a set of needles specifically for tying extended bodies in four different sizes and am thinking that perhaps part of the problem may be the type of needle (regular sewing needles) that I have been using. Would appreciate any suggestions or advice you care to impart. Thanks in advance.
Gerri

Gerri,

Thanks for the kind words. Don't know if you saw the Carnage Hopper SBS http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/s...variation)-SBS but I coat the needle with Mucilin before I brush on the Super Glue and start wrapping the foam; seems to do a decent job letting the foam release from the needle, although it's not foolproof. I do use different size needles, depending on the fly size; thicker ones for 2mm foam bodies and fairly thin needles for ones used for 1mm foam. Keep at it; when I first started I was lucky to get 1 out of 5 to turn out okay. I've been tying up a fair number of the bodies recently and am hitting about a 60% success rate.

Regards,
Scott

ps - been a few years but always loved going to Damascus to get a Jimmie Cone

I'm not ScottP, but I have done my share of Rogue style bodies. I use a regular sewing needle and I don't coat it with anything. The only tip I can add is try pushing the foam off the needle and not grabbing the body and pulling. It takes a bit of force but should not damage the body.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jayatwork

I'm not ScottP, but I have done my share of Rogue style bodies. I use a regular sewing needle and I don't coat it with anything. The only tip I can add is try pushing the foam off the needle and not grabbing the body and pulling. It takes a bit of force but should not damage the body.

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Jay,

Agree, you don't need to coat the needle for Rogues; I thought that Gerri's question concerned the Carnage style extended body.

Regards,
Scott