Quote Originally Posted by iso View Post
Any thoughts as to whether it'll be stronger or weaker when furled?...
... the "multiplier effect" in the past.

It seems clear to me that furling thread does make the furled strands stronger than the combined strength of the individual unfurled strands. I haven't tried to do any tests, as such, to confirm this because my anecdotal evidence is good enough for me.

At the tip end of my leaders, the tip ring has three strands of Danville 210 Flymaster Plus tying thread passing through it before the leader is furled. I've seen a couple different tensile strengths ( I think that is the right term ) posted for the Danville 210. Taking the highest claimed tensile strength and multiplying it by three, it comes out much less than 10# test.

When finished, the tip ring has a furled section of three strands passing through it. On a number of occasions, I've had to break off 2X 10# test tippet material ( e.g. sticking the fly in a place that I can't reach to free it ) and the 10# leader material has broken with no damage to the tip ring nor the furled leader.

It is my thought that in the twisting and furling process a multiplier effect takes place as the individual strands are shortened during twisting adding mass and strength at any and every point along the furled leader. My experience seems to confirm this since three strands of material with a combined strength less than 10# strength will break off a 10# tippet material.

I've not seen anyone else post their thoughts on this issue when it has come up in the past. Perhaps now that we have a Forum dedicated to furling, some others will join in with their thoughts and experiences.

John

P.S. I have never lost a trout or whitefish ( well over 10,000 since I started using furled leaders six years ago, and counting ) due to a tip ring or furled leader failure. Maybe if I ever do lose a fish because of such a failure, I'll rethink this subject - more likely, I'll just put on a fresh leader and get back to fishing.