Hare's masks

[josko]

I have a hare's mask and snip of a bit of fur to tie a hare's ear now and then; but I just learned I'm supposed to shave the whole mask and put the fur in a blender first.
Could someone tell me what tool (razor?) to use to shave a mask and what the advantage over my snip'n dub approach would be?

[Humber Brad]

I'd say a razor blade would be your best bet...that or a nice pair of fine tip scissors(just a guess cause I've never done it)

To my knowledge the main purpose of the grinder is to make the hairs smaller and to mix the hairs together so you get more shades throughout the dubbing...however, if you like the hairs to be the length they are, you don't "have to" do anything other than what you're doing already. Being able to do things the way you want to do them and change patterns and materials is one of the joys of fly tying. (for me, anyway)

[Midge Man]

I have never shaved a rabbit. When I tie hare's ear I just, like you said, pull out what I need and then work it with my fingers. I think it would be a gawdawful mess to shave. Plus, how then do you seperate the guard hairs from the underfur, etc.

That is interesting though. Does everyone out there shave their rabbits first?

[Normand]

Get yourself a "dubbing rake" like the one shown in the link. Use it to rake the fur and guard hairs off the mask instead od shaving.

http://www.flyshack.com/DisplayItem.asp ... rc=froogle

[RonMT]

Most people tie the Hair's Ear wrong. THey use the whole skin as the dubing. The correct way to tie the Hare's Ear as in the Old Pattern is to use the center pole of the Hares ear. In other words the short salt and pepper dubbing on the ears. You can get this off with the edge of a spoon. Just scrape it off.

As for the rest of the mask. I just use Scissors and trim it close. Ron

[Jed]

Hey Josko,

I don't see the hairs in the Hare's Ears I've bought being that fine. They look similar in length to the ones I snip off with scissor or that I pull off. I wonder if you grind them up does it get too blended in color to the point of becoming monochromatic and do the Hairs get too small to dub with.

I've never done that with any of the one's I've tied, but maybe this kind of detail is why people like you catch 10 times the number of fish that people like me catch.

jed

[Jim Slattery]

Josko,
Sissors work great, for the finer hair ( ears) I like to use a knife. I slide the knife on a angle until it bottoms out on the skin - base of the hair then pinch my thumb up against the hair and blade and pluck the trapped hair. It's not the fastest way to do it but it works on the small stuff, try not to rip off the skin along with the hair.

Here's a link to a previous post here on FAOL that you may find intersting:
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/v...ic.php?t=12977

[ducksterman]

I might mention that the coffee grinder does not make hairs shorter...just blends them....

[Jayatwork]

What Duck said. The blender just mixes the dubbing so all the fibers are randomly oriented and all the colors are mixed. It might chop up a few fibers but not much.

[Ray Kunz]

Other than to make a big batch of dubbing I see no reason to clip or shave an entire mask. When you do this you lose the option of choosing from all the color variations available to you. You really have colors from darker brown to white. If you really want to clean off the hide you should at least blend up batches of various shades. And don't forget to try using wet blending as the results are a more thorough mix and is much easier to store and handle.