Along with the usual assortment of fly tying tools at my desk, I have this …
little red wire.
It’s a piece of brassie size ultra wire that I use to be sure the eye of the hook is clear of material and head cement before I put the fly in the fly box. Since I started using it, I very seldom am frustrated while on the water trying to tie a fly onto the tippet.
So what do you use ??
John
Thats a good idea!
I use the tip of the bodkin to make sure the hook eye is unobstructed. But I generally don’t tie smaller than size 12 flies, so maybe a bodkin doesn’t work on smaller hook eyelets?
i use a feather. insert the stem end in the eye of the hook and just pull thru. head cement is gone.
hi john
i use the tipe end of a hackle. i clean the first half inch of the stem of barbs and just push it through the eye of the fly. when the barbs remaining on the tip are pulled through they do a thorough cleaning of the entire interior of the eye.
grumps
Most of my ties are without head cement and if I do need to clear an eye I use a sewing needle.
Tim
Norman and grumps -
Never would of thought of that !! Got to give it a try. Thanks for the tip.
Dave -
I don’t tie very many flies over size 12. The tip of the bodkin will work, but it tends to not go far enough through the eye on the smaller hooks to really clean it out. The rougher edges of the wire and the fact you can pull the entire length through the eye make the little red wire more effective, at least for me.
John
Put me in the feather group…of course you have to do it while the cement is still wet …but it cleans better than metal.
u can make a bodkin using an old mechanical draftsmans pencil (thats kinda funny since i’m an old draftsman but i dont use the mechanical pencil anymore. thank god for computers and drafting software!!) in .3 and .5 mm and a needle that fits in place of lead.
John, I am like you I do clean the eyes out mostly with a small piece of wire. John
I’ve always used a left-over piece of saddle hackle with the fibers still attached to clean hook eyes. I usually strip the quill for a quarter of an inch to make it easier to insert into the hook eye and then pull the rest of the “feather duster” through. I like the idea of a piece of wire but I would be tempted to insert the wire into a wooden dowel for ease of handling and loss prevention. Just my 2% of a dollar on a good idea. 8T 
For those of you who need a ‘handle’ for a bodkin, piece of wire, or whatever:
All the ‘dollar stores’ sell a kit of really cheap, crappily (is that a real word) constructed exacto type knives. Usually one or even up to three handles in different sizes and few blades.
You can use these handles to ‘hold’ all kinds of things.
A needle (since they aren’t very well made, the slop in the center of the crimping head is larger than the ‘real’ ones, even a good sized needle will fit just fine), a piece of wire, a double edge razor blade (great for trimming deer hair-they often have these blades at the dollar store as well), etc… They will also hold a pull through loop if you are ‘whipping’ anything.
Best thing is, they are cheap so if you want more than a couple, you can get them. And did I mention they don’t cost a lot…
Lots of neat stuff for us at the dollar stores…
Buddy
I do exactly as Normand describes.
I used to use a piece of left over hackle, but it seemed that whenever I needed it, I couldn’l lay my hands on it or the butt stem of the hackle was too large to fit through the eye of the hook I was using at the time. About 6 years ago, I happened across a better solution (for me at least). There is a flossing product called Super Floss which should be available at your neighborhood pharmacy or grocery store. It comes in a box of 20 long strings of floss material. One end of this string fairly stiff to allow the floss to be threaded between teeth, followed by a 4-5 inch section of thicker absorbant material something like ultra chenille. The end of the string is thin, round floss so you can wrap it around your fingers to floss your teeth.
I make a loop out of the thin floss material and leave it looped over the stem of my vise. Now, whenever I need it, it’s right there where I can get my hands on it. The stiff section easily fits through the eye of any hook I use and a quick swip with the thicker absorbant material and all the excess head cement is cleaned up. Each piece Super Floss lasts me at least a year so a box of 20 should last me well past the age when I will still be able to see well enought to tie.
Jim Smith
Same Same, hackle stemmmm.
Now we’ve got to find out from Buddy if they have them at the “dollar stores”.
Hackle stem
Glenn
I use safety pins. Both for putting on head cement, and blocking the eyelet from getting clogged.:rolleyes:
Panfisha…I love it …you are a master of the obvious:cool:
I also use the wire.
-unless I’ve really cleaned up the work area. Then there aren’t too many pieces of wire laying around and I use a hackle stem until there is wire laying around again.
And yet, the bodkin-thing that came with my first fly tying tool kit just sits there at arms reach in the tool block…
i use ether a bodkin, which is a number 2 pencil with a needle stuck in the earaser, or a piece of monofilament line which i pull thru the hook eye. larger hook heavier mono smaller hook lighter mono.