I’ve noticed after tying up several flies, my finger and finger tips get all dry and cracked, sometimes cuts from the thread. I was wondering if there is a good lotion, or cream, made for specifically for fly tying?
I’ve tried a couple of regular hand lotions but they don’t seem to help, or last very long, especially for the finger tips … man they get sore after a bit :-?
You must be tying a lot of flies for it to make your hands dry and rough. I usually get rough hands from other types of work and then it messes with my fly tying. I use my wife’s hand lotion but can’t remember the brand. If I know I’m going to be tying a demo or something, I make sure I keep my hands clean and oiled.
If you get cuts that the thread slides into, try closing them very carefully with superglue. Very carefully being the key words. It’s a bugger to get fingers apart!
Somewhere in the past, from some group of fly tyers, I’ve heard rave reviews for Corn Husker’s Lotion. I bought some because of hand roughness several years ago and it seemed to work pretty well. I haven’t needed it since then so it was a one shot thing. 8T
Since I don’t work out in the weather any longer, I usually don’t experience rough, chapped and split skin. When I was younger, I worked for Fish and Game in NH. Back then we always used Bag Balm to keep our hands from getting too rough and chapped or having the skin split from getting our hands wet with snow. Bag Balm is actually intended for cows udders and it works great for preventing what you’re describing.
Normand and JC aren’t kidding (and heavens knows I hate agreeing with JC all the time…G)when they say it does what they said. I didn’t believe it either but I had to try it and just in case I liked it I bought two so it’d last me awhile. I hate the re-order thing and I have a son who could try it if I didn’t go for it.
I still have the 1st little tub (hardly dented) and I should’ve bought 5!
It’s seriously good stuff! A little goes a long way. Use it sparingly!
And their Hand & Palm Treatment to keep your hands soft. I carry a jar in my fishing bag to use on my hands after a day fishing; especially this time of year!
for some reason I didn’t any email notices of responses to the thread here, but thanks for the great suggestions. I talked with our local drugstore guy here in town yesterday and they got some type of balm lotion that should help, they also said chapstick on the fingers may also help
Somewhere I read of tyers using the tacky material bank tellers use to “wet” their finger tips to separate paper money. I’ve seen the stuff at stationery stores such as Staples and come in small containers.