Do you wax on or wax off?

[Paul Arden]

I met Davie many years ago when I was working for Guide Fly Fishing. Top bloke and an excellent angler.

Personally I use superglue.

Cheers,
Paul

[flickingfeathers]

Both superglue and wax have their place I think.

[Boisker]

Like anything there are always split opinions... some well known fly tying ‘celebs’ like wax, others nearly always say not to use.
In most cases I doubt it matters one iota, although I do think you shouldn’t need to use it in most applications of dubbing....
When I first used seal dubbing I found it a pig to get a really thin noodle, so started using wax... the guy I bought the seals dubbing from (he did some stunning colours) advice was learn to apply dubbing properly
Obviously for certain applications, like touch dubbing, it’s pretty essential

[askel]

I like watching Davie McPhail tying flies and he always has a thumbnails worth of veniards fly tying wax on the base of his index finger and use it to maximize grip every time he puts the thread on the hook and when he ties in feathers and deer hair and a few other things. He mostly uses uni thread.

I watched him tying flies and I noticed he holds amount of wax on the outer side of the middle finger and applies it every time I'd normally do nothing or use superglue.

[flickingfeathers]

I like watching Davie McPhail tying flies and he always has a thumbnails worth of veniards fly tying wax on the base of his index finger and use it to maximize grip every time he puts the thread on the hook and when he ties in feathers and deer hair and a few other things. He mostly uses uni thread. I sometimes use pure bees wax for the same things but I believe the Veniards wax is better since it is mixed with rosin and maybe other stuff. Can't get it in Sweden though...

Get a hold of Barry Ord Clarke "the featherbender" he maxes excellent wax from his hives and it comes in a skull shape .

[Viking Lars]

I use wax quite a lot, and find it makes a big difference in some instances. When I tie North Country Spiders, which I do quite a lot, I like to use real silk threads (both old Gossamer and modern variants), and they require wax to get the right colour, and, more importantly, to preserve the thread.

My main tying thread is UNI in 6/0 and 8/0, and even though UNI is prewaced, I find wax makes a difference sometimes. As Davie McPhail always advocates, it gives a little more grip, which I agree with. But the Devil's in the detail, because one thing is better grip on (some) materials, but equally important is better grip on the thread itself. When tying in some materials (most often slippery materials that don't compress), I find wax is important, because it can prevent the thread from slipping off the cut ends.

I use both Veniard's flytying wax, which is very nice, and a dark cobbler's wax - the main difference being the colour the darker wax adds to the thread.

Lars

[t.z.]

I use swix blue ... that's skiing wax. brilliant stuff

[Viking Lars]

I’m sure blue Swix does wonderful thing for the shade of Pearsall’s silk threads on a Waterhen Bloa or a Greenwell’s :-).

[flickingfeathers]

I use wax quite a lot, and find it makes a big difference in some instances. When I tie North Country Spiders, which I do quite a lot, I like to use real silk threads (both old Gossamer and modern variants), and they require wax to get the right colour, and, more importantly, to preserve the thread.

My main tying thread is UNI in 6/0 and 8/0, and even though UNI is prewaced, I find wax makes a difference sometimes. As Davie McPhail always advocates, it gives a little more grip, which I agree with. But the Devil's in the detail, because one thing is better grip on (some) materials, but equally important is better grip on the thread itself. When tying in some materials (most often slippery materials that don't compress), I find wax is important, because it can prevent the thread from slipping off the cut ends.

I use both Veniard's flytying wax, which is very nice, and a dark cobbler's wax - the main difference being the colour the darker wax adds to the thread.

Lars

Absolutely agree! By the way have you tried the semperfli silks (not nano silk) yet? I'm going to get a few spools to try next time I order stuff from the UK

[Viking Lars]

Nope, I haven't tried the Semperfli-stuff. Let us know what it's like.

Lars