Thanks Donald for the compliments: it was your site that started me tying soft hackles and continues to serve as inspiration. I don't know much about the properties of beaver fur as I just started using it and haven't fished with it yet. I've heard it is water repellant which, if it is true is nice for dry flies and soft hackles that you want to sit in the film or just below it. What I find I like is that the underfur is a nice light brown that matches many insects and by changing the color of the ribbing allows for a pretty good imitation of a wide range of body colors. It also has a nice translucent like sheen adding just enough sparkle without overdoing it and it is a very fine dubbing that can be applied very sparsely. It is the only dubbing I have used yet that I can use on a size 28 hook and still not feel like the body has become too bulky. I'm sure others know more about its properties and would welcome their thoughts/comments.

Thanks Greg for the advice on the needle. I used to do that a lot in the past but started running into problems with the hot needle burning the thread and causing the whip finish to fall apart. Any tricks on how to prevent that? I now just try not to crowd the head but sometimes it still happens that way.

Greg