Whip finish by hand

[DUB]

30 years of tieing flys and I finally forced myself to sit down and hand whip finish.
Took about 30 minutes of watching Youtube and practice, and I can do it!
I was stoked. No more whip finish tool..The time I will save now! Wow!

Wait, I have to put my scissors down to whip finish! Thats gonna eat the time I saved learning to not pick up and use the whip finisher. Gotta be something wrong.
Checked youtube. All the videos are whipping without scissors in their hands.

If I try hard, bet I can whip with scissors in my hand. Do I wanna learn? Nah, maybe in another 30 years.
Whats cool? I can look cool hand whipping when I have NuB's around. LOL

[Buddy Sanders]

Dub,

At one point I actually believed that you had to be able to whip finish by hand to consider yourself an accomplished fly tyer, so I learned how to do that..

I also actually believed that you had to be able to tie without putting down your scissors to be an accomplished fly tyer...so I learned to do that, and even to whip finish by hand with the scissors in my hand....

Now, I keep my scissors on the bench where they don't get in the way or stab anything unless I want them to. I can pick them up quickly enough, and I often need ALL my fingers to control materials, sometimes two or three of them, as I apply them to the fly with the vise.

I whip finish with a tool. I can place the wraps more accurately and turn it faster. I've timed it. I'm WAY faster with the tool, even putting down the scissors and picking up the tool, and I was pretty quick by hand...

I wrap 'backwards' when I tie, too. Since I use a rotary vice, I like to rotate the vise like a reel handle with my left hand..so that means wrapping 'backwards' for the small amount of wrapping I do by hand. Feels more natural to me anyway.

And I'm faster and the flies come out better.

So now I finally realize that what makes you an accomplished fly tyer is doing the job the way that works best for you.

Nice to learn new techniques...but you have to decide whether or not you really want to use them.

There is no wrong or right way to tie a fly if it pleases you. (and maybe the fish, but they're pretty dumb and I wouldn't take their endorsement as any kind of a quality statement).

Good Luck!

Buddy

[LadyFisher]

The late Al Campbell and I had a little 'feud' going over my not using the whip finish tools....so I did a column on how to do it by hand. It is still here: http://www.flyanglersonline.com/arti.../ldy110298.php
I'm not sure Al could do it by hand! So there.

[DUB]

The late Al Campbell and I had a little 'feud' going over my not using the whip finish tools....so I did a column on how to do it by hand. It is still here: http://www.flyanglersonline.com/arti.../ldy110298.php
I'm not sure Al could do it by hand! So there.

I dont see any scissors in your hand.

[DUB]

Dub,

At one point I actually believed that you had to be able to whip finish by hand to consider yourself an accomplished fly tyer, so I learned how to do that..

I also actually believed that you had to be able to tie without putting down your scissors to be an accomplished fly tyer...so I learned to do that, and even to whip finish by hand with the scissors in my hand....

Now, I keep my scissors on the bench where they don't get in the way or stab anything unless I want them to. I can pick them up quickly enough, and I often need ALL my fingers to control materials, sometimes two or three of them, as I apply them to the fly with the vise.

I whip finish with a tool. I can place the wraps more accurately and turn it faster. I've timed it. I'm WAY faster with the tool, even putting down the scissors and picking up the tool, and I was pretty quick by hand...

I wrap 'backwards' when I tie, too. Since I use a rotary vice, I like to rotate the vise like a reel handle with my left hand..so that means wrapping 'backwards' for the small amount of wrapping I do by hand. Feels more natural to me anyway.

And I'm faster and the flies come out better.

So now I finally realize that what makes you an accomplished fly tyer is doing the job the way that works best for you.

Nice to learn new techniques...but you have to decide whether or not you really want to use them.

There is no wrong or right way to tie a fly if it pleases you. (and maybe the fish, but they're pretty dumb and I wouldn't take their endorsement as any kind of a quality statement).

Good Luck!

Buddy

I made up my mind to learn to whip finish by hand. I did it. Not all that impressed with it, but I can officially do it. Looks neat to some. Now that I did it, I will stick with my Materilli (sp?)

[ohiotuber]

What a never ending debate this one is. I'm a lousy tier & use a tool & always felt a little "lesser" for doing so. Then I bought the book "Charlie Craven's Basic Fly Tying", & Charlie uses the tool. He maintains it is far more efficient.
I guess it boils down to "to each their own".
Mike

[shorthaul]

I learned how to whip finish by hand as a kid and never had a reason to buy or learn how to use a tool.

[kbproctor]

I whip finish by hand. I haven't been able to make sense of the tool for some reason.

[JeffHamm]

Hi,

I've always felt a bit under trained because I could never figure the tool out all that well. I mean, I can make it work, but it never seems very natural to me while doing it by hand seems pretty straight forward.

- Jeff

[Ron Eagle Elk]

Used to whip finish by hand for years. Arthritis in the hands and the Materelli style tool is my best friend.

REE