wrapping lead

[Clay]

I've only been tying about a year and I weight many of the flies that I produce. I work with spools of round lead and put it on a bobbin without a ceramic insert. I use the ceramic inserts for thread. Recently I have been breaking off the lead often, causing me to put lead on once and then put some more on to get the amount that I want.

Can some of you share ways in which you work with lead. I have tried wrapping a few wraps and then untwisting the bobbin as you might when you tie with thread. I tried to add some photos, but I needed to resize them and I after trying that twice it still didn't like it so I am just throwing out the question.

Rick

[joe cool]

I only have experience with larger lead and lead substitute, but I just wrap it by hand. Using a bobbin doesnt seem necessary since its rarely more than 20 wraps, usually half that. The lead doesnt unwind once you wrap it so there is no need for wrapping over itself like you do to start thread.


Just take the end of the wire, set it on the hook and pinch it around, then hold onto that edge with one hand to keep it from spinning around the shank while you wrap with your other hand. Then slide it along the shank where you want it and secure with super glue/head cement/thread depending on personal preference.

[WarrenP]

Clay,

I know exactly what you are going through. I, also, put my lead on a material bobbin which has a larger hole. You can transfer your chenille from the cardboard to an empty thread spool and use it on a material bobbin. The reason for doing a bobbin for the lead and the chenille is that you have no waste. If you do either one by hand, you will be throwing away the excess which could be anywhere from 1/2" and longer. Pretty soon, you have thrown away a lot of lead and chenille that you paid for. If you do not tie a lot of flies, it probably makes no difference, but, I hate to throw away material and I hate having all those little pieces of chenille and lead lying on my tying table thinking I will use them some day. I find that the smaller diameter lead is the one that wants to break off before I am through wrapping. Untwisting it probably does not work because once it is twisted it is weakened. When wrapping this smaller wire I concentrate on wrapping without allowing the bobbin to put a twist in the lead wire. It is a lot like wrapping/palmering a hackle where you concentrate on keeping the hackle from twisting which causes the hackle to be sticking out in all directions instead of all sloping back. When I make sure to wrap the lead and not allow the twist, I have no problems.

Hope this helps...

[Normand]

stick one end in the eye of the hook and wrap the lead around the shank. use a bodkin to pull the end out of the eye and wrap that tag end around the shank

much easier with a rotary vise

[Fly Goddess]

I don't use a bobbin, I just use the spool that it comes on.

[joe cool]

I leave it on the spool as I wrap, so I still don't have any waste. And when I do have waste I usually save the little pieces and tie them onto the shank for patterns that dont need as much weight so it doesn't get thrown away.

[CoachBob]

I hand wrap with the lead still attached to the spool. You lose about 1/4" at the beginning of the wrap.

[ducksterman]

I'm a spool in the hand type also...and I cut it off with a toe nail clipper...as I do all wire.

I like Normand's suggestion..going to give it a try.

BTW the toe nail clipper has a concave cutting edge ...not the usual convex.

[fishbum]

I work off a 1 pound spool. I don't have a bobbin big enough to hold it. The spool of lead just sits to the right of the vice. I pull off 2-3 feet of slack and hand wrap. The only time I cut lead is at the end of the wrap. Easy enough to wrap down the little tag where you start wrapping.

Use your bobbin for thread. It is more bother than it is worth to try to serve up wire of any kind with it.

For what it is worth, make sure to wash your hands after a tying session.

fishbum

[Clay]

I knew that you guys would come through with some good ideas. Sometimes it just takes one person to say, "hey, I'm having an issue with this technique" and you see that more than one person has similar issues.

I was using .30 round lead on the bobbin and it was fine for the 6, 8 and 10s, but I wanted to try a little smaller lead and bought a spool of .20 and it is were the problems started. I think it is like when I tied most with 6/0 thread and then switched to 8/0 I broke it often until I developed the touch.

After posting this question I played with the lead today. I found I had more problems if I tried to wrap more than 4 or 5 wraps because of the twist that is induced by the way I wrap. So I wrapped 4 times, and rotated the spool by hand for another 4 wraps. With the lighter wire it is definately more technique specific than the heavier wire.

I find the bobbin saves material for me too. I never throw away any pieces of lead.

Still open to more comments and thanks to all who contributed.

Note: I have already ordered some .25 lead that should be here next week.