Good idea ducksterman, they are like a small fly eye.
How about this one: Deer hair. Replace dubbing with deer hair and it comes out looking like one of those brushes in a drive through carwash! Or a branch from an artificial Christmas tree! I got this idea from an Oliver Edwards video where he was tying cased caddis flies. He uses a commercial deer hair brush. I made my own with fantastic results. Once tied in and given a hair cut it looks just like a spun body. (NO NO NO to all those who are now thinking I am suggesting this instead of spinning hair!! It doesn’t pack tight! But it looks great for this purpose!)
Another experiment was to wrap fritz or cactus around the wire a few times before laying dubbing on top of that. Pull your top layer of wire over it, spin it and it looks great. Used it on a Dunkeld sparkler.
I am going to have to stop this now and tie some flies hahaha or maybe even go fishing!!!
I like the fact that I can tie up several brushes at a time. It is then very easy to tie bunch of flies at one time. I have a bout 40 brushes made that I need to get out of my tying stuff and use. Everything is still packed as we are getting to the end of the business closing stuff.
I happen to have a couple of those (one is the same brand as shown in your pic). I don’t think I’d use them for anything that would put a lot of wear on them (or required any permanent modification).
But, it would be very simple to create your own from scratch…just Google a bit for info on treadle lathes and you should find pics, plans, discussions, etc in some of the traditional woodworking forums (another of my hobbies).
Modern ball bearings, a bit of plywood and carefully selected 2x lumber would give you what you need (for brushes or rod making…just change the length of the bed).
In that case I could use my electric drill which can be adjusted to any speed ranging from 0-2800 rpm. I have an adjustable mounting for the drill so I can have the drill run at a suitable speed while having both hands free. This should work out nice, right? :?:
Mine only goes slowly but it does the job fine. My dremmel was much too fast. Someone earlier showed a picture of his setup using a barbeque motor and it works for him.
Jon, You are correct. The drill works quite well…I have used it frequently…just a little cumbersome…when working on one’s lap in front of the tv:rolleyes:…I use a corded since they tend to be smaller…here’s a photo using a Jim Smith platform and the hooks as suggested to me by him for the connection…
Mick, if you are referring to me re: the BBQ motor…I am not using a regular BBQ motor…the one I showed is different and runs much faster…
Many folks use a sewing machine motor since it’s speeds can be varied and aren’t too fast.
A reasonable substitute motor is one of the very low cost battery powered screwdrivers like the Black and Decker for less than $10 at Walmart. The “in-line” version would giv you a nice compact assembly.
