Zonker Width?

[ELHead]

Those of you who cut your own rabbit zonkers please tell me what width you usually cut, or do you cut several widths for different patterns, 9 salt, trout, warmwater). David

[ducksterman]

I cut mine a true 1/8"...nowadays you can get what's labeled 1/8" commercially but the few I've purchased are actually 3/8".

I don't do big stuff and I feel the narrower ones give me more motion.

[Buddy Sanders]

I cut mine to several different widths, and I cut some 'crosscut' as well.

1/8 is my 'standard', but I like a few in the 3/16 and 1/4 widths too, for larger flies.

I'm not anal about it, I 'measure' the first cut, then use the mark one eyeball to cut the rest. A little variation doesn't hurt what I'm tying....

Buddy

[ELHead]

Thanks guys, Nuff sed. I just wanted a starting point. David

[turvy]

Please explain the difference in crosscut zonker strips and regular. I buy at various places but few workers know enough about fly tying to be any help. thanks in advance

[kengore]

Jim, the difference is in the direction of the nap.

Look carefully at a whole rabbit skin and you will notice the individual hairs lay out in a pattern of overlapping layers, like the shingles on the roof. These align in a particular direction, the 'nap'.

Normal rabbit strips are cut out parallel to the nap, when the strip is tied in zonker or matuka style the individual hairs lay down parallel to the hook shank, sloping to the rear of the fly.

Cross cut strip are cut out at a 45 degree angle to the nap (sometimes called cutting on the bias). These are great for spiral wrapping around the hook shank used in patterns like the bunny leach or bunny bugger. The individual hairs on a cross cut strip will slope to the rear when spiral wrapped.

Tying a normal strip in a spiral wrap results in hairs that stick out perpendicular to the hook shank, the won't lay down and form a nice body profile when wet.

Tying a cross cut strip in zonker style results in hairs that all stick out to one side, they won't lay down parallel to the hook shank.