Free, Unusual, or Cheap Tying Material Thread

Fly Patterns
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41

Regarding the carpet dubbing…

I used the mat under the carpet, not the carpet itself. I just shredded the mat with my fingers and it was quite easy. Looking at the carpet itself that I also have left over, I don’t think I could get that to work.
Once I dubbed the maton, I just picked it out a little and it looks great to me. Once the Payette River goes down I will see what the smallies think of it.

I am still beating that cold, high, muddy water to death. I figure if I am dumb enough to keep tilting at the windmills of the muddy Payette River at this time of year; there must be at least one smallie as dumb as I; and will impale himself on my fly by accident. So far no suicidal smallies have come my way. Doing pretty good on the crappie at the local ponds though.

This is one fantastic thread;
I have gotten so many great ideas in here it is unbelieveable. That bungee cord Idea for legs worked great; and you were right; I now have enough material from one cord to last a lifetime (a long one hopefully).
Take care all.
Ken

42

Yesterday I made up a dozen fleese fly drying patches…

My wife had thrown out her worn sheep hide/fleese slippers. I saw them in the trash and figured they must be good for something…
I cut one into useable size patches, combed them out, and trimmed the fleese, with the addition of a safety pin…
I’m sure some of this material will make it into woolhead flys also

43

Where I live there are so many dead squirles on the road it is unbeleivable (racoons too). I think everytime I see one “that is a ton of free fur!” but I’m a little leary about diseases and stuff, especially from cutting off the tail. Can I just snip away and not have any issues?

44

I’ve tied a couple of flies with cigarette butts. That’s right, a cigarette filter fly!

It’s actually a Jack Gartside pattern.

Even if you never tie one, you will probabbly enjoy reading his article at:

http://www.jackgartside.com/step_filter_fly.htm

Ed

45

Yes there are disease issues from using wild game and roadkill.

Rabies can be spread from spinal fluid as well as saliva.

Ticks may be able to take hold on you.

Many diseases can only be transmitted within two weeks of death of the animal (Assuming normal room temperatures).

Wearing gloves, salt, borax, freezing, thawing, microwaving are all methods that are touted for reducing the risks.

Be careful.

Ed

46

Hi there,

Here is a photograph of my great source of dubbing.

Cheers

47

Gig,

Aren’t cats a wonderful source of fine quality dubbing. Here’s my sources.

Between them and the Kelpie, I get a lot of free dubbin.

REE

48

They certainly are Ron, its absolutely beautiful stuff ( when I brush her all the fine hair, underfur is collected and kept for later use as dubbing for nymphs etc). For streamers I wait till she is asleep as in the above photograph, sneek in with some sharp scissors and cut longer bits for tails, wings etc on streamers). As long as she doesn’t wakeup I’m safe, otherwise she doesn’t really appreciate the haircut (shes a cranky cat).

Cheers

PS They look like a lovely pair of cats (I need some ginger dubbing) :slight_smile:

49

Gig,

The ginger cat is great for soft underfur and some great long tailing material in Ginger and White. She has been producing fine dubbing for 16 years.

The white cat is a short hair so he’s a dubbing only.

Both are pretty even tempered cats unless the Kelpie is trying to keep them herded up. Cats don’t like being herded.

REE

50

My darling wife, Bless her, was in the goodwill store and found a vintage 80’s patchwork rabbit fur coat. (You remember those, don’t you? Purple eyeshadow, stacked shoes and the rabbit coat with the little chain straped purse over her shoulder?)
I’ve got dubbing, and zonker strips in a whole bunch of colors from near white to near black. Kool-aid provides the other colors as well. :slight_smile:

Kirk

51

Hi Ron.

I’m lucky I’ve spent so many years in the military and I’ve learn’t to be stealthy, she is a viscious old cat which won’t think twice at biting so stealth and caution is the name of the game :slight_smile: I tried Jack Russel hair but not as nice to work with and has less application but where spikey type guard hair is neccessary I can use JR, its just a matter of keeping them still enough to get some hair.

My 2 doing what they do best.

Cheers

52

Make friend with your local Taxidermy studio’s. As they work on doing mounts of Deer, Elk and a million other critter’s they end up with a TON of scrap clippings. I have a great supply of clean skin clippings loaded with hair. You name it . . . Polar Bear, Brown Bear, Elk, Pronghorn, Whitetail, Elk, Moose, Black Bear, Cougar, Stone Sheep and so on. Great stuff!!!

53

I’m glad to see that none of you cat owners are not my bro in-law’s neighbors…Let’s never mind how I can tell… :?

54

I picked up at my local craft supply store packages of raw wool from Tandy for $2 for a very large package. I bought 3. I took many a small batches out of one of the bags to dye each batch a different color using Kool Aid to dye the wool with. I have been having lots of fun spinning lots of wool flies for the past month. I have done Sculpin heads, Frog bodies and perch bodies so far as well as heads on some salt water bait fish from that raw wool. A little different then spinning deer hair but the cut off trimming from shaping the bodies can be used as dubbing later on wet flies. Also once water logged the wool sinks unlike the deer hair.

Picked up a small package of red and white seed beads for a quarter the other day at a estate sale. The white work great for Chronie heads. The red makes interesting blood worm bodies.

Picked up a spool of brown and another of pearl macrame yarn at Goodwill the other day for $2 for both large rolls. So far I been using the brown only to make indicators with but I came across the other day a hopper pattern with brown macrame yarn for the body. The pearl will give me winging material for the rest of my life. Any one want to trade me some damsel fly blue for either some of my brown, white or pearl {off white}. I am still looking for macrame yarn in the blue damsel color for furled bodies for my damsel dry flies.

Course the above is just some of my more recent finds.

I to have been eyeing the cat lately for dubbing but so far its been safe since I already have lots of old coat rabbit skins in the cats colors.

55

In the Wedding section of Michaels, get 1/8 irridescent ribbon. Great for flashback on flies, picked apart looks like crystal flash. If you can find them KooshBalls. The rubber is a little stiffer than most bungee material and does not catch back in the hook gap so much. Small foam flowers from a craft store broken apart make a great blue damselfly body, a needle (eye) pushed into a simple wooden skewer ( in different sizes ) works great for bodkins. ( Wrap end of skewer with thread and super glue liberally. ) The insulation off telephone wire strands makes for stiffer legs on hoppers, talk to a turkey hunter to get turkey feathers. Black sparkle yarn at hobby lobby really moves a lot in the water, hobby lobby also bought 10 continuous yards of white and 10 continuous yards black of rabbit strips for 75 cents each on close out.

56

Hikepat,

Is there a Tandy’s in Des Moines? I might make the trip for some wool.

REE

57

Hi Alan and All,

Most of the “free or cheap” materials I use have been listed, so I will only repeat the ones that have been the best sources for me.

Hair of all sorts such as deer, elk, moose, bear, etc., etc. from a taxidermist. Feathers from all sorts of game birds from my own hunting and hunting friends. (Quail is excellent soft hackle, but is not as easy to wrap as partridge.)

I have made many colors of dubbing from a couple of white rabbit skins and either Rit or Kool-aid to dye them. I bought a couple of white bugger saddles, plucked the feathers I wanted in each of several colors, and again used Rit or Kool-aid to dye up a supply in each color I wanted. There is no need to buy several different bugger saddles in different colors when one or two will hold me in bugger feathers for years, given some inexpensive dye.

My head cement is lacquer from the lumber yard, and it is EXACTLY the same thing that comes in the little bottles at the fly shop. A pint will keep you in head cement for years. Buy one bottle from the fly shop, and when it is gone fill the bottle back up from the pint can.

I am planning to tie up some GRHESHFBs soon. The soft hackle will likely be quail, and the flash back will be metallic green (on half) from the wrappers that Easter (chocolate coated marshmallow) Easter bunnies, or red for the other half that came from Braums Easter decorations (they gave some to me the day after Easter) that has worked well in the past. The red is metallic and is in strips like mylar tinsel.

Most of my poppers are cut from flip flop sandels from Walmart…a big number from one pair. My foam spider are from fun foam sheets, again from Walmart or craft stores, and these foam spiders often have rubber hackle from bungees. (I finally have bought most of the rubber leg materials from fly shops, but used bungees for years…works fine, but sometimes it is hard to find in the size and colors I want…so I just buy it now.)

Starlings are a pest bird and totally unprotected, they can be shot at any time, and are great dark soft hackle for smaller sizes of flies.

Regards,

Gandolf

58

i was at walmart yesterday and got a roll of this stuff called disco yarn! that stuff is amazing. very easy to work with, EXTREMELY good action in the water…makes a nice minnow immitation. and its cheap! like $5 for 50yards. what it is is just like boa yarn except instead of nylon frills hangin off, its mylar tinsel!

59

heres a pic of the flies i made with disco yarn:

60

Llama hair anyone???

My neighbor gave me a bushel of it. Most of it is brown, some white. He owns a couple of llama and a few beef cows etc.

Just send me a SASE and I will fill it.

PM me for my address if you wish to get in on it.

Llama is just a little bit stiffer than mohair. I’ve been tying with it for a year. It is nice!

Also

I’enjoy tying with Disco Yarn mfg. by Bernat. It is an eyelash yarn. I especially like the brown (Mr. Brown) and the green aka Jungle Jive.

I just got back from a tying show where I tied with these.

My local dollar store has various yarns for sale for, you guessed it, a buck. One type is called feathers and I use it tie what I call a syntho-bugger.

Ed