unless you know of another good way to taper a piece of wood or foam for poppers, sliders, and minnows 
Any suggestions? I am considering getting a dremel tool; that should help.
Nathan
For foam. I often do my rough shaping with scissors, then use a dremel tool to smooth out the shape, and if I do any real fine tuning, I use emery boards.
Which of the dremel tools do you use, and what attachements do you use? I am looking at the new dremel stylus, which looks like it would be the easiest to handle when working on small stuff. of course, itâs also one of the most expensive 
Nathan
I just get the cheapy portable Dremel - kind of a pain to keep it charged if you are feeble minded like me, but will do everything I want to do - one suggestion - buy the set of Colletts, then you can put small drill bits in it. Oh, and they are great for dogs toenails.
I suggest that you read Jim Hatchâs terrific article titled Creative Foam Fly Tying - Dremel Bugs by Jim Hatch. It will change the way you make poppers and sliders.
Jim Smith
On this site, I assume?
/goes off to hunt for the article
Nate
For any size balsa bodies buy a 2x2 x12 inch block of balsa at the hobby shop. Decide the dia body you want,buy a brass tube that size at a model air plane store and sharpen one end. I usually cut a 2x2x2 piece of the 12 inch and push the brass tube thru the wood with the grain, with a golf ballâsaving the palm of me hand. You have hundreds of any size bodies from that block of balsa. The tube also works good in a drill press for foam bodies made from shower shoes. BILL
PS I do have a wood lathe with a large dia swing you could use-------
On this site, I assume?
/goes off to hunt for the article
Nate[/quote]
Thanks for the suggestions so far everybody - Iâve got some reading to do this evening. I have the day off tommorow, so maybe I will make a trip to the hobby shop.
Nathan
Which of the dremel tools do you use, and what attachements do you use? I am looking at the new dremel stylus, which looks like it would be the easiest to handle when working on small stuff. of course, itâs also one of the most expensive
Nathan[/quote]
Itâs the basic tool Sears sells. Not terribly expensive.
Attachments youâll see Iâm a real expert 
Sanding cylinders: fine grit or x-fine grit
Grinding stones: Not sure whether theyâre grinding stones or not. Theyâre conical, round or pointed cylinder in shape with different diameters
A three have a ball shaped head with grooves, three different sizes. I use to make holes for swivels, eyes, run wire through fly etc.
From your question I asume you havent look up Jim Hatch in the Fly Archives. as one suggested Go to the âFAOL Homeâ upper this page. On home page left side pick âFly Tyingâ next âFly Archivesâ Now 2nd Qrt 2006 âThe Jelly Bellyâ For Dremel equip go to 1st Qtr 2003" Creative Foam Fly Tying Dremel Bugs"
We use the plain old variable speed Dremel no sanding disk cylinders or stones. Note he uses two sided finger nail sanding stick one side course other fine.
If you plan on making wooden pensil poppers etc use balsa, The Dremel round head tool for the front mouth and a flat round for the indent for eyes are all you will need. Double edge razor blades and a fine hacksaw blade for those wires
Read it last night - good article. But does anybody know where I can find a set of punches like the ones he mentions? I did find [url=http://www.amazon.com/Hollow-Punch-12-Pcs-Set/dp/B000EPQPB4/sr=8-6/qid=1172550899/ref=sr_1_6/103-1305198-8283860?ie=UTF8&s=hi:995fa]these[/url:995fa], but Iâm always a little wary of buying from a 3rd-party vendor. Also found a set at a local hobby shop, but they were for leather and were too small.
EDIT: I also found a Harbor Freight store (mentioned in the article) near here this afternoon, but I didnât see the punches in the store. I might give them a call tommorow. I would really like to find a larger set like the one from Amazon, though.
Nathan
4th item downâŚ
Go to a mariners chandlery and buy a sailors palm. It is used for pushing heavy needles thru thick sailcloth , much better than a golf ball. IMO
I saw that one last night, and I was going to order it if I didnât find anything else. But I just came across [url=http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/ItemBrowse/c-10101/s-10101/p-100000164861/mediaCode-ZX/appId-100000164861/Pr-p_CATENTRY_ID:100000164861:68ca5]this[/url:68ca5] at JC Whitney. Iâm going to go with that one, I think.
Nathan
Looks like a good oneâŚ
Nathan,
I think that is a good choiceâŚgoes up to 3/4".
I donât know if it was in Jimâs articleâŚan idea I got from him was to have those punches turned down so they all will fit in either a drill press or a cordless drillâŚJim and I both had a friend with a latheâŚa drill press really is a good way to go.
Well, for now the punches will work. I donât have a drill press, and even if I did, I live in a little 2-bedroom apartment - nowhere to go with it
Nathan
Hey Nathan,
I picked up a large set of hollow core punches at our
local swap meet. One of the tool venders sells a
Chinese set for about $10 that covers from 1/8" up to
3/4 inch. If you chuck them in a drill press, they
produce perfect plugs for turning on your dremel with
an emory board. Very practical and easy to do. Youâll be amazed at the detailing possible. Warm
regards, Jim
Nice I ordered that set from JCW last night, and like I said in my reply to duckster - as nice as a drill press might be, Iâve got nowhere to go with one in this apartment. I wonder if or how I could make a small press to put those punches intoâŚ
Nathan