The host of the tying program on KWSU tv, (the Washington State University Public TV Station) has a whip finisher with the end sharpened for cuting off the thread when he finishes the fly, is this factory on a finisher or did he sharpen it himself?
Eric
KWSU Tv website has great video clips for beginning tiers who cant get to lessons or cant afford them
Tis bettter to have hooked and lost, than never hooked at all.
Eric-WD,
I don’t believe it’s necessary to sharpen the end of the whip finish tool. Just keep the thread taut and press the butt of the tool to the thread at the knot.
Several years ago I saw Craig Matthews (Blue Ribbon Flies) do just that. When I returned home I tried it. It works! I don’t usually use the tool to put on the whip finish (fingers are faster), but occasionally I use it for awhile just to keep the technique alive. That’s when I use the butt of the tool to snap the thread. Taut thread and push the tool on it. Pop!
Bill
Name indicates where I fish and for what I fish.
Oops,
Perhaps your whip finisher is more finely finished than mine. Mine was inexpensive (but very functional) and the bottom of the tool looks like the round wire - a bit less than 1/16th inch - was just cut off and the end flattened so the handle wouldn’t slide off. HTH
Bill
I have a friend who uses the whip finisher with the butt end flattened like a scredriver head or chisel. I asked him it it came that way. He said no, he had to do it. He said “I Think” he said he had to hammer it down and the material was extremely hard. Put dents or almost put dents in his anvil.
Gem
The person who uses the finisher in the videos works one day a week at the local fly shop, I will have to go in and ask him. just thought someone here would know, and I have forgotten to ask him both times Ive been in when he was there.
Tis bettter to have hooked and lost, than never hooked at all.
Eric-WD,
I have a fly tying DVD at home that shows a tyer using a whip finisher with the end sharpened to cut the thread with. He showed this as a tying tip and I am led to believe that this is something that you the tyer can do and is not a whipfinisher that comes this way. I cannot remember which of the 6 DVD’s this was shown in. It is a good tip and it does work rather well.
Warren
[This message has been edited by WarrenP (edited 19 June 2006).]
I have seen people that have filed a sharpened ‘V’ notch in the end of their whip finisher. Looks like it works great.
OK, I went and asked. He is at the fly shop on Mondays so the owner can have a day off.
He didnt realize what I was asking at first then he remembered (the shows are reruns and havent been made in a few years) He had taken a hammer and flattened the back of his whip finisher and then used a triangle file and cut a notch blade. It worked well but he does not use it any more.
think Ill try it
Eric
Tis bettter to have hooked and lost, than never hooked at all.
OK, so now we not only have a tool that we didn’t need in the first place, we have a modification to the tool so it can do something that we didn’t need to do in the second place. You may, without tools of any kind, do a whip finish by hand, and then do one of two things after that. You can cut the thread with your thumbnail, or, open your scissors and with tension on the thread, cut it with the flat blade. The scissors were right there in your hand anyway, right? Talk about speed! You never even have to pick up a tool!
Eric
“OK, so now we not only have a tool that we didn’t need in the first place, we have a modification to the tool so it can do something that we didn’t need to do”
“The scissors were right there in your hand anyway, right?”
Once again we have the my way is right your way is wrong school of thought, Im glad you find it comfortable to tie with Scissors in hand and whip finish with out a tool, I on the other hand don’t.
I am sure when the first tying vice came out people said the same things about them.
Just beceause somthing is different doesn’t make it better or worse for everyone. Just Different.
Eric
Someone can state that there is a very famous tool available everywhere and almost everyone has at least one…it is not needed? WOW!
Well, I need it. I can hand whip as well as anybody. It is not the technique that doesn’t work or is hard to understand. I have rough hands and the thread will NOT slide around on my hands and down off my finger to finish the knot. For “me” it is not and cannot be made to be a swift and smooth operation like the show offs who can do it. I am not impressed. I can do that. But the texture of my skin prevents it’s use. What works for one person doesn’t always work for another. The whip finish tool works excellent for me. The hand whip does not.
What a closed minded statement. One way fits all. Ever see Leroy Hyatt tie a fly? Some of the most famous fly tiers in the world use a whip finish. Whip Finisher is a tool that is not needed…geeez I cannot believe it. One man’s feist can be another man’s fodder. I can understand it works for some and not others. But to say it is a tool that is not needed…wow
Well maybe then it is ok to say even whip finish by hand is not necessary. Ever heard of Randall Kaufmann? Pretty big name in fly tying. He does NOT whip finish. Two half hitches and head cement.
Gem
[This message has been edited by Gemrod (edited 19 June 2006).]
Gem, Leroy Hyatt is the person I was speaking of in the first post who sharpened his whip finisher, He works at the local fly shop on monday. The first time he was working when my 9 year old daughter went in with me, she walked back to the back of the store were Leroy was working the counter then came back to me with huge eyes and said "Dad, that man looks just like the man on TV, and sounds like him too.
Today when I went into the store he was trying to tie Elk Hair Caddis but wasnt having much luck as too many people were coming in. I had left my wife in the car as I was only going to be in there for a minute.
If she hadn’t been in the car I would have hung around for an hour or so just to watch him tie.
Eric
Tis bettter to have hooked and lost, than never hooked at all.