After reading Charlaine’s post, I thought about all the materials I bought back when I was starting to tie and found out they were duplicates of something I had under another name. And actually I’m running into something like that now, looking for Lazer Wrap, but found Edge glo and Edge Brite. Should we write a book about what you can use instead of what is called for in a recipe?
no.
people use whatever “stuff” they want to tie on a hook anyway
Herefishy,
The problem is due to todays fly fishing materials marketplace. We’re relying less and less on dead animals for our tying materials. Synthetics and materials that are used for other tasks, products, and procedures are finding their way into our flies. What happens is that when a fly tyer or agile minded individual finds a material that has a use for flies, they don’t always just tell everyone what it is. They buy it and repackage and rename it. I get the concept. They found the stuff and want to sell it and make a profit.
Problem is, there is nothing to prevent anyone else from doing the same thing with the same material. So you get Lazer Wrap, Edge Glo or whatever name is used for the material you are looking for. It’s not ‘standardized’ since most of these materials weren’t invented or produced by the person tying with or selling them. They have no patent rights except to the name they picked to use. So, while a material might be called ‘bulk sheeting’ and come in one foot X 1,000 yard rolls from a manufacturer who intends it for keeping oil off of duck eggs, the guy who finds how to use it for fly tying can buy it, cut it down to 1/4 inch by three feet pieces, repackage it, call it ‘Magic Fly Plastic’ and sell it to fly shops. Eventually, someone else will find the ‘bulk sheeting’, want a piece of the ‘Magic Fly Plastic’ market, and decide ot offer a 1/4 inch by four foot piece for less money and call it ‘Mystical Tying Polymer’. It’s the same stuff…but gets a new name.
It’s rare to find a synthetic material on the shelves of a fly shop that was actually produced by the company who’s names on the package. Most of it is on it’s second or third ‘turnover’ from the factory that actually ‘made’ it. Much of it was produced for a completely different industry or application.
I enjoy ‘sourcing’ materials. I find that as I move slowly up the chain of disribution, I find fewer ‘names’, lower prices, and ultimately actually find where the stuff is ‘made’. Unfortunitly, I also often find that it comes in serious ‘bulk’, way more than is practical for even a materials junky like me…
Good Luck!
Buddy
With all the stuff people use as substitutes that would probably something you’d want to keep on-line so you could update it as needed.
Regards,
Scott
It would be great to put together a searchable data base to cross reference materials for substitution, and that people could add to as they find new material. I hate to think what a pain it would be to build and maintain, though.
Buddy,
I’ve been looking for some of that Magic Fly Plastic! I will settle for some of the Mystical Tying Polymer, if you have any you can spare. I can trade you for some Invisible Inchworm Polypro that I bought on EBAY. I can box some up and send it to you. A word of warning though, this stuff is very hard to see, and the last person who bought some from me opened the box and thought it was empty and threw the whole thing away! There must have been enough Invisible Inchworm Polypro in that box to make at least a 1000 flies!!!LOL!!! Of course my policy on returns is: NO Money Back Guaranteed!
Best regards, Dave S.
Dave,
Sorry, I just use cut up plastic sandwich baggies in place of the Magic Fly Plastic, and my supply of invisable inchworm polypro is sufficient to my needs.
However, if you coild come up with some Krinkled Flashy Metally Wing fibbets I might be interested.
Buddy
It’s great to see that I am not alone in being frustrated bythe merchandizing gimmic process being applied to our materials. In the past I have attempted to encourage the use of generic terminology to describe materials and even hook details . The most commen objection to this approach was that doing so would require a more extensive material description than to merely saying something like “Flashysparkle”. I would have agree with those who want to tie exact replicas of a classic . But I would comment that the main reason that some of us hesitate to properly detail a material is that we don’t know what it is in the first place.
Buddy,
I’ll have to check with my supplier, but I believe the Krinkled Flashy Metally Wing fibbets have been discontinued! Something about the source - the Krinkled Furry Fibbet , was put on the endangered species list. From what I understand, there is no current substitute either! Sorry to break the news to you!
Best regards, Dave S.