Was just wondering if there is another outlet to purchase the round lead that you use to tie your flies instead of purchasing from a fly shop? I need finer diameter lead such as .010 and even finer if possible. There are many items in fly tying that are best purchased outside the fly shops because you can get great quantity at a much cheaper price. Is the fly tying lead that most of use available from other sources?
Thanks Bohemian Bob
I used solder,you can get it pretty thin. Try radio shack.
bob
BB,
I’ve not found a supply for the very ‘thin’ lead wire outside of fly tying suppliers.
That being said, if you go with one of the larger mail order houses, you can get it for a reasonable price.
A one ounce spool is only a couple of bucks, and that is quite a bit of 010 or 015 wire. Depends on how many flies you intend to tie with it, of course. If you are doing production/professional tying, check with the distributors about getting it wholesale.
For the larger diameters, thin solder, as SunBob mentioned, is a good substitute at a decent cost.
Good Luck!
Buddy
I don’t really reply to your question, but instead of using lead, why not using copper instead?
Copper has a density of 8.9 versus lead d: 11.34
That means for the same weight you have to use 25% more copper wire. Instead of 1" of lead wire, 1 4/16" of copper wire.
And you can get all the copper you want from electrical cords.
Buy lead core trolling line. It has a fine diameter lead core that can easily be pulled free from outer nylon sleeve. It come in 100 yd spools. Cabelas will have it.
I buy mine in bulk spools that are one pound in size. I tie for a living so I will use it all up.
I would suggest getting 4 people together and getting it in the one pound spools and then splitting it. You only need two or three sizes for most flies. Should be enough people on here that you could get a group together and buy it that way. It runs about $21.00 dolors per 1 pound spool so it would cost you about $5.25 per quarter pound. Not to bad of a price. And that amount should last you a long time. Ron
I normally flatten my round weight wire, so it is more of a thick ribbon, this will reduce the thickness. It also will help reducing the bulk created from securing the weight using thread. The thread will not slip in between wraps of the ribbon wraps[as it would with round weight wrap].
Just need a solid surface and a something to iron the wire flat. I use a screwdriver, using the shank on the screwdriver, having a secure handle grip.
I do not use lead, as there are many waters that have banned lead.
C’est vrai! You can really wind the copper wire tightly and yes it is free from many sources. I have lead but when it is gone I will use copper only.
go to a electric shop ask for fuse wire. the half amp is .010 1 amp is .015 there is a lot of fuse wire up to about .045. we can fish lead in new york state , as i am from pa an fish steel there, that is one dump law. flyman 3
what i did was i took the sheet of “twisty-ties” from the box of garbage bags (they have them at the grocerey store in the produce section for tying your bag of fruit closed too) and i melted all of the plastic coating off of them, reveling extremely fine steel(not lead sorry :roll: ) wire. i tied a copper john with this method and it worked great!