Dubbing Brushes

All about flies Fly Tying
1

I have been reading with interest the articles on dubbing brush machines. I decided to do experiments of my own. I find dubbing brushes made with wire core useful to add weight as well as a nice body to my still water trout flies.

I have a big coil of copper wire which I got for ?1.00 from an old electronics shop. Its fairly fine gauge but thick enough to add weight to flies and it winds well. I thought about what I could use to twist this wire into a loop and make it tight trapping the dubbing. First I tried my dremmel. I took a salmon hook, cut off the point and barb, and the eye, and fixed this in the dremmel to hook the wire loop onto. My dremmel is a single speed tool, and in my experiments I found it worked really well! Except that because it goes so fast, I ended up covered in green and pink dubbing!! Not a cool look to have pink fluff in your hair!!!

Next I remembered that a while ago at my local petrol station I had been given an electric pepper grinder as a customer incentive!! One of this handy gadgets you never use and stick in a drawer somewhere. Could I utilise the motor of that? I took off the outer casing and the bit the pepper corns go into and was left with a rotating motor and a square hole that the grinder fitted too. I waited till my wife had gone to bed!! (Important guys!) then epoxied my cut down salmon hook in the middle of the square hole. After drying and some tidying up it made a perfect tool for twisting the wire. It runs slowly but is powerful enough to easily twist up the copper without spraying dubbing fluff everywhere.

I have a tying bench which is about three foot long and has a piece of 2 x 1 waste wood at the front to stop the table being scratched and act as a stop etc. To this piece of wood, I stick in three map pins. (those coloured plastic pins that you put into a cork notice board or into maps to mark places). I have one at the end on my left, one at the far right and one in the centre. They need to be fairly well lined up. I take my copper wire and attach it under the left hand side pin wrapping it around and pressing the pin so it hold it reasonably securely. I then pull the wire along and around the far right pin. Pulling it under the plastic and around the nail part. Wind it around a couple of times and keep it tight. I push the wire under the middle pin but don’t wrap it around. The wire should now be single stranded and flat against the wood or bench.

Take your choice of dubbing or underfur and put small pieces on top of the stretched wire. I have found that sparce if better that having too much. Spread it along the wire until you reach the centre pin. (IMPORTANT: DO NOT SNEEZE AT THIS POINT!!) You can now if you wish add other materials, crystal hair, flashabou etc etc. Hair mask guard hair works well if you like a nice spikey leg like look. When you are happy, put one finger on the wire just in front of the middle pin and hold it tight. Get the end of the wire from the right side pin, and pull it around the middle pin, keeping it tight and press it down over the dubbing. Secure it at the left hand pin winding it around a few times. You should now have a double strand of wire with dubbing material in between the loop. (SNEEZE NOW IF YOU NEED TO!)

Take your chosen twisting tool. (my pepper grinder). Keep your finger on the wire just in front of the middle pin, and pull that pin out. Don’t let the wire go! You should now have a loop which you can hook your tool onto. Keep the wire taut and switch on your spinner. The wire will twist together with the dubbing in between. With my dremmel this was a quick switch on and off again! With the coffee grinder a minute or two. You can twist it till the wire breaks or stop when you are sure the copper has wound itself tight enough.

You should now have a great looking dubbing brush or hairy wire! At this stage cut off any end loops or twists and IMPORTANT pull the wire and dubbing between your thumb and forefinger. This will remove any surplace dubbing that has not been trapped in the wire. (If your using the dremmel you can skip this stage cause the surplace dubbing will be in your eyebrows and hair!!)

It literally takes me two minutes to make a great brush. You can experiment with materials and colour combinations, make them as sparce or course as you like. I don’t need complicated or expensive machines. If you have a multispeed dremmel I guess this would be perfect, otherwise just adapt any small motor you may have available. Go for a small motor that can be hand held and doesnt need to be mounted.

Have fun and happy tying !!!

Mick Porter

2

i think dubbing brushes have their place in fly tying, but i dont tie enough flies to warrant using a brush nor the monetary funds needed to buy a dubbing brush making machine. a simple dubbing loop will suffice for the quantity of flies that i tie.

theres also been alot of talk of dubbing brushes on this site that may be useful

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/search.php?searchid=244394

3

Thats my point, you don’t need to buy a dubbing machine. You can do it with three map pins. You don’t even need a drill or motor you could put a pencil or something in and twist it yourself.

The advantage of the dubbing brush over a loop, is that your making a much more robust fly and also weighting it at same time.

I have used gold wire and silver wire, which even gives you a ribbed finish.

4

That’s a great project! And you are right, I have found far more success using fine wire as my dubbing loop instead of the thread!.

5

I’m a big fan of dubbing brushes…and have made a number of dubbing brush platforms. I do like the type of body I can create, etc. and enjoy just sitting and watching TV with a cutting board on my lap and making brushes.

However, Norm is correct… and if you like the wire you can use wire to make a dubbing loop on the hook.

Some of us like doing some things different ways just because we can:cool:.

6

sorry but i gotta disagree with that statement. i can always tie in a loop of wire and get the same effect as a dubbing brush made with wire

again i dont tie enough to warrant dubbing brushes. ducky has a good idea to sit down in front of the telly and twist up a batch of brushes.

7

Sorry if I came across as dismissive it was not intentional. Of course each to their own. I tie flies that work for me. I fish rivers with small dries or wets for brown trout. Larger flies for sea trout or the odd atlantic salmon.

But most of my fishing is done in still water reservoirs for large rainbows. Most often the larger fish lie in deep water and I need to get my flies down quickly. This is why dubbing brushes are perfect for me.

I don’t like using leaded flies so prefer to use a sinking line and a nymph or whatever with a copper weighted body.

8

I think that most people that have read the threads on dubbing brushes know which side of the fence I’ll land on in this discussion. I find dubbing brushes to be a tremendous asset to my fly tying materials. I certainly know how to apply dubbing and to make a dubbing loop, even with wire, but I find dubbing brushes are twisted MUCH tighter and thus hold the materials better and make a more durable fly. I suppose you don’t need to make a dubbing brush twister to make a dubbing brush, but it sure makes it easier. It’s sort of like tying without a vise, it can be done, but the tying vice was invented for a reason; it make the job easier, faster and more enjoyable. Do you need a powered dubbing brush twister, absolutely not, but once again it is faster and easier than spinning one by hand even on a dubbing brush twister. I suspect that people will agree to disagree on this one, but I for one find dubbing brushes to be a great tool to add variety while tying extremely durable and effective flies. Just one man’s opinion.

Jim Smith

9

Since power has been mentioned and since this is one probably not thought of I’ll mention it. It’s a battery powered BBQ cleaning brush… [as seen on TV]…that I got as a gift but it sucks as a cleaner so I removed the brush and hooked it up to a dubbing brush platform.

It’s speed is perfect for me…dremel tools …even variable are just to fast for me …I’ll even use a corded hand drill with variable speed.

Here’s a picture of the BBQ thingie hooked up to one of Jim’s platforms.

10

I have one of those wooden brush makers also but have never entertained motorizing it. I like being able to twist the wire/thread to the tension I like. I think a machine may make the brush tighter than I would want. Brushes make tying just a bit faster and easier and more imprtant, uniform (if done right). Hand dubbing the thread has always been a weakness for me but the brushes help me overcome my sloppiness.
Jim the deserttrout

11

Jim, re: twisting too tight…it’s no problem…you can make it as loose or tight as you want…unless you are using something like a dremel which is too fast…just stop where you want to…as someone else said above…some of us twist till the wire breaks…[unless the wire is pretty thick]…

12

BTW, Mick, thanks for posting your system…it’s always nice to hear how others do things.:cool::cool:

13

Mick -

I’d like to compliment you on how well you wrote up your approach to making dubbing brushes. I haven’t used dubbing brushes partly because I do so few flies where I could use one, and partly because I hadn’t really given any thought to an inexpensive and simple method to make them.

Your post got me to thinking how my handpowered leader furling jig could be easily adapted to your approach to making dubbing brushes. May have to try one just to do it, even if I don’t end up using it ??!!

Thanks.

John

14

Yes it really is easy, and its fun too! You can come up with some crazy cominbations.
All you need is a piece of wood and three plastic thumb tacks to make them.

15

One of my wood lathes is an enormous thing at about 1,000 pounds and lots of swing. But it also has a fully variable three-phase motor drive system that allows me to turn anything from standing still to over 5000rpm at the tweak of a dial. It makes brushes quickly!

I start with about 30" of wire and spread my dubbing on the wire as far as the particular dubbing allows. Then the second wire is laid atop and the motor speed advanced very slowly. When the brush will hold tightly enough I add more material and repeat. Some materials will do almost 30" and some much less.

When the brush is full length the motor speed is advanced to somewhere beyond brisk and short of fly-apart until fully wound.

I do not like the kinks the wrap-around pins or posts make so I just jam the wire into a slot in the end of the platform.
art

16

Hap,

I thought I was going a bit overboard when I rigged up a Foredom grinder to make my dubbing brushes, but you make me look like a light weight. I would imagine that you can make a years worth of brushes in an afternoon, not to mention the wire and dubbing material you’d go through. Talk about a powered dubbing brush twister, wow!

Jim Smith

17

Ive never had any kinks at all. The wire breaks (if it does) always at the far end for some reason which only a scientist could explain. Otherwise a perfect twist…

Urrrrmmm maybe the lathe is taking it a bit too far!! Someone was saying he sits in front of the TV making his… can’t do that in a factory!!!

18

maybe someone could adapt this into a dubbing twister

just think of the possibilities

19

Normand -

Not to steal the thread - but interesting that you posted this, because I was just thinking about how one would adapt one of those to turning a rod for wrapping ??

John

I’m SURE someone could adapt it to making dubbing brushes ( so officially, this thread has not been hijacked ).

20

Mention of the kink thing reminds me…like Mick I don’t get kinks but here’s a use you may not have thought of…

I end up with a nice loop…or call it eye…at the proximal end [end where twister knob is]. This loop and the material in the twist can be used as the extended body on an articulated fly…the loop gives you a means to attach to the hook.