I finally figured out why my 8/0 thread kept breaking! The bobbin. And how did Ol’ Sherlock deduce this? I switched to a ceramic tip bobbin and tied 3 times the flies as before in the same time. Now, is there a way to smooth the inside of the bobbin without making it worse?
Thanks,
Mike
I have smoothed the inside of the tube on an inexpensive bobbin twice (two different bobbins). Both times the tube became worn again and started breaking thread. My final solution was to pitch them in the trash and buy new ones. I am sure the ones I trashed were old and just worn out. They are inexpensive enough to just replace. And you figured out as I did, that the ceramic tipped ones are the way to go.
Use your old “cut the tread” bobbins for wire and lead.
IMO, Save yourself the hassle. As mentioned above…Junk it or use it for wire.
Nothing worse than spending quality time tying a long lost pattern and having shredded/broken thread because of a bobbin!
My vote for ceramic tip bobbins.
Mike,
When one of my S&M bobbins acted up like that, I just touched up the inside of the tube with a bit of 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper; no more frayed thread.
Regards,
Scott
Thanks all. The wire idea came to me also. I’ll try a little touch up Scott also.
Mike
I’ve had some luck restoring scored bobbins. touch up with fine sand paper as suggested, then super glue a glass bead of the appropriate size to the tip of the tube and voila’ a new ceramic bobbin! Works for me.
If you use the sandpaper idea I might use him in a finer sandpaper to polish the inside with. It comes up to 1500 at Ace Hardware they sell it by the sheet A metal polish call Flitz would be a good way to finish the job Fishin’ Jimmy
You could probably put some Flitz on a cotton swab on a low speed dremel and do the job pretty quick, auto rubbing compound, maybe toothpaste could do the job.