Whip finish direction

[DUB]

I notice Hans makes quite a heavy tug before he cuts his thread. Do you suppose that is an integral part of his whipping? I frequently break my thread as I'm finishing the whip, and ruin everything. Guess I need to use 3/0 thread.

He also pushes hard against the wraps with his finger nail. If you notice, he also maintains perfect tension on the thread at all times. That will do more for your fly durability than how you want to make the head.

[whatfly]

Double, triple whip finishes towards the head is my solution. Have had problems when tied the other direction with usual 5 turn knot. Nothing wrong with half hitches per se. Use them myself. They just lack elegance...

[Fishin' Jimmy]

Byron
Pardon! Why are we discussing the direction in which way we tie a whip finish knot?
Because the knots we're not holding and the flies were unraveling. Hence the original discussion where this direction question came from was about head cement. Now today it's direction is going in to why my thread breaks when I tie a whip finish. This discussion also lead people reading this discussion to believe that all threads are waxed today. That is incorrect. May I suggest Reading the article on thread by the late Chris Helm on the Whitetail Website.

All I am suggesting is there is a lot more that needs to be examined more closely into why a finish knots fails. I hope we can all learn a lot more about how to construct our flies better by keeping an open mind and sharing our successes and failures with each other.
I for one will still use a belt and suspenders to keep my pants up and double tie my shoelaces for good measure. That means I will use a bonding agent when I tie a finishing knot on my flies. Fishin' Jimmy
PS I said finishing knot, a whip finish would be included in a finishing knot type of knot.

[Steven]

why my thread breaks when I tie a whip finish.

I can't tell you why it breaks, but I can tell you that if you let all all the torque out of the thread before starting the whip, it will be less likely to break when you pull it tight.

[Byron haugh]

Jimmy,
Sorry, I thought this thread was about the correct direction in tying a whip finish knot.

There is another thread, concerning the use of head cement, in which many discussed other aspects of maintaining an unraveled fly...............

[NJTroutbum]

I do not think it matters at all what direction you wrap in. You should try to maintain uniformity in your head by paying attention to the wraps in streamer heads and such, since it will stand out if you don't. The only think I try to avoid, is making your wraps to far apart (or walking the thread). If you do, when you tighten your whip finish, it will pull them together and form a lump when they bunch. They will still hold fine though regardless.

Ralph