Types of Tying Hair

SELECTING the proper HAIR for a fly is one amongst the hallmarks of associate degree accomplished fly tier. when years of attachment with all forms of hair, you may begin to develop a way of however differing types react on the hook after you apply thread tension.

For our functions here, i will be able to refer hair from ruminant, elk, and moose, and calf hair. Greenland caribou and bovid each have useable hair for fly attachment, however i feel the sole ones World Health Organization realize these things helpful square measure the Greenland caribou and bovid. These hairs tend to be soft and have largely broken tips, rendering them useless for wings and collars. whereas these soft hairs do spin nicely, I realize nice thick ruminant hair to be far better for spinning. alittle additional talent is also concerned in spinning ruminant instead of bovid and Greenland caribou, however the result's additional sturdy and positively appearance cleaner to my eye.

Hair and Tip Characteristics

While deer, elk, and deer hairs float well, they're not hollow sort of a tubing. Instead, they're cellular in nature, additional sort of a piece of cork within a tubing. The variations in texture between differing types of hairs results from a mix of the hair’s diameter and wall thickness, typically stated because the hardness of the hair. the surface wall thickness determines what proportion the hair are often compressed with the thread and also the degree to that it flares on the hook. Thicker walls forestall the hair from being fully compressed below thread pressure or simply don’t compress the maximum amount as thinner-walled hairs. Thicker walls conjointly build the finished fly additional sturdy.

The larger the within diameter, or additional air area you've got within the center of the hair, the higher it'll float. an excessive amount of within diameter, or air area, and also the hair flares wildly. Thick hair (large outside diameter) with skinny walls and plenty of within diameter like ruminant rump associate degreed hair is nice for spinning however exhausting to tame into an honest trying wing on a fly like an cervid Hair Caddis. Hairs with a thick wall and tiny within diameter, like {moose|elk|European cervid|Alces alces|deer|cervid} and elk hock, flare little or no or not the least bit and square measure nice for tailing dry flies as a result of they're manageable and type a straight, stiff tail that supports the serious hook bend while not deforming.

When choosing hair for any fly with hair tips used as a wing or tail, opt for hair with quickly tapering, short tips. These short-tipped hairs square measure additional hollow (have an even bigger within diameter) toward their tips, providing air area and adding buoyancy to the finished fly. Long tips square measure usually dark-colored and solid, adding no floatation to the fly and creating the hair tougher to compress. Broken hair tips square measure completely unacceptable in my book, and that i head to nice lengths to avoid them. I continuously rigorously take away any broken tips I see in an exceedingly stacked bunch of hair before attachment it to the hook.

All hair is nice for one thing, however it's going to or might not be good for what you've got in mind. after you obtain a brand new chunk of hair and sit all the way down to tie with it, scrutinise of its attributes and perceived applications. after you realize a bit that works splendidly for this or that, write it on the rear of the hide with a permanent marker. I actually have a full box of hair labeled  with things like “Stimi,””EHC” (Elk Hair Caddis),”Humpies,” and “spinning hair.” This labeling system keeps Maine from having to travel through that trial and error on every occasion I sit all the way down to tie a brand new fly. Also, it’s not a nasty plan to go away alittle hair left on the patch after you square measure running all the way down to the top. Bring the remaining chunk of hair with you after you head to the fly search to shop for a brand new piece to match the recent with the new match up the colour and textures. Eventually, you may be ready to choose hair by trying it over and feeling it in your fingers, however till you've got worked with a spread of various textures and consistencies, trial and error are going to be your ally.

Types of Hair

Elk Hair

Elk hair is probably the foremost useable of all hairs for fly attachment. whether or not from a bull, cow, or yearling cervid, this versatile hair contains a lovely vary of colours. i take advantage of cervid in each application that I will, as a result of it's therefore ordinarily obtainable and customarily sturdy and of excellent quality. There square measure textural and quality variations between the hair from a bull, cow, or yearling cervid, and that i can try and make a case for them here.

Natural Bull cervid

Natural bull {elk|European cervid|moose|Alces alces|deer|cervid} hair is lighter in color and slightly longer than cow or yearling elk hair. whereas this hair is hollow and buoyant, the wall thickness close to the ideas prevents this hair from flaring a lot of.This thick wall makes the hair sturdy, and it's my hair of alternative for several downwing patterns just like the cervid Hair Caddis. this is often a tough hair, significantly close to the ideas, however as you meet up with to the butt ends of the hair it gains within diameter and flares well on its base. Its longer length limits it to larger-than average flies. an honest piece of bull cervid hair ought to have lovely tips that taper to short, abrupt points. once stacked, the dark tips type a putting band of color on wings. Bull {elk|European {elk|European cervid|moose|Alces alces|deer|cervid}|moose|Alces alces|deer|cervid} hair contains a slightly smaller outside diameter than cow elk hair however a thicker outside diameter than yearling elk.

Natural Cow cervid

A good piece of cow cervid hair could be a fly-tying staple. Cow {elk|European cervid|moose|Alces alces|deer|cervid} hair is slightly darker and shorter than bull elk hair however conjointly slightly larger in outside diameter. the feel and color of an honest piece of cow cervid hair is comparable to it of ruminant hair, however the wall of the cow cervid hair is usually a lot of thicker. Cow cervid are often used on patterns just like the cervid Hair Caddis, Stimulator, and also the Humpy and produces robust, sturdy flies with a darker tone than if you tied them with yearling cervid hair. the general diameter of the hair is larger than each the bull and yearling hair, and that i realize this hair somewhat giant to use on smaller flies. just like the bull cervid hair, an honest piece of cow cervid has tips that taper quickly to sharp points. Short tips build wings that finish dead identical place and make a stark edge instead of longer wispy tips that lead to a wing that simply form of fizzles out close to the ideas. Cow {elk|European cervid|moose|Alces alces|deer|cervid} hair flares over bull elk hair.

Yearling cervid

I have fallen soft on with yearling cervid hair. Yearling cervid epitomizes what I hunt for in an exceedingly piece of hair to use for wings on flies of all sizes. The soft texture in addition to the quickly tapered tips makes this hair nice for nearly all winging applications.The somewhat dilutant wall thickness and dilutant overall diameter makes this hair simple to compress on the hook, nevertheless it's still thick enough to stay the hair from flaring out of bounds after I apply thread tension. Yearling {elk|European cervid|moose|Alces alces|deer|cervid} hair is longer than cow elk and sometimes as long as bull, creating it useable for a variety of fly sizes. the ideas of an honest piece of yearling cervid hair taper quickly to a degree even as an honest piece of cow or bull hair can, forming clean color bands on the ideas of hair wings. i take advantage of yearling cervid on patterns just like the Humpy and Stimulator, as its skinny wall and diameter permits Maine to anchor it to the hook and fully compress it with serious thread tension. Hair that compresses fully on the shank creates way less bulk than hairs with thicker walls. an excellent piece of yearling cervid hair evokes Maine with its hidden potential, and that i are familiar to hoard the nice stuff to excess. i'm a nasty man.

Elk and deer Hock

Elk and deer hock return from the animals’ legs and could be a fine hair with sharp tips and extremely very little within diameter. This solid texture prevents the hair from flaring and makes it nice for tailing dry flies. The exhausting texture of this hair makes it simple to use and sturdy and immune to bending and breaking. I actually have even used this hair for tailing on nymphs, significantly on patterns that have distributed two- or three-fiber tails. {moose|elk|European cervid|Alces alces|deer|cervid} hock contains a slightly larger outside diameter than elk hock and is usually a lot of darker (dark brown to jet black) in color. close to the highest of the moose’s leg, you'll realize patches of hock hair that have silvery tips, that makes nice tails on very little flies. cervid hock is usually somewhat additional patterned than deer and contains a chocolate-brown color with tan tips. These square measure each lovely hairs and square measure the sole hair i take advantage of to tail dry flies just like the Humpy and Royal Wulff.

Moose hair

There was a time once deer hair was all the fashion for fly tails on patterns like Wulffs and Humpys. I actually have replaced deer hair with deer hock for my tailing applications and expect most different smart tiers have conjointly. deer hair is far longer than deer hock and is significantly larger in diameter. deer hair is at the best a fairly even mixture of white and black hairs, and at the worst consists of hair that's white from the bottom up to regarding the halfway purpose wherever it then turns black.The butt ends of deer hair square measure thick and spin like ruminant hair. These days, I most typically see deer body utilized in steelhead dry flies owing to its giant diameter, patterned coloration, and simple procurance. My biggest issue with deer hair is that the ideas square measure typically ragged and split, creating them useless as tails on the proper flies I attempt for. apart from the less-than-adequate tips, the larger overall diameter of this hair causes it to flare over i prefer, even after I use simply the terribly tips of the hair.

Deer hair

Deer hair is long and has patterned tips, a skinny wall, and an oversized within diameter. ruminant hair will return from the body of a Odocoileus Virginianus or burro deer, and there square measure vital variations within the color of the hair from either species. burro deer hair tends to lean additional toward a mousy grey brown color with dark patterned tips, whereas Odocoileus Virginianus hair is additional of a creamy tan shade with lighter tips. I’ve continuously browse directions in different books that notify use hair from on the rear for this use, and hair from on the flanks for that use and puzzled what percentage folks extremely leave and obtain a whole ruminant hide? usually, you’re round-faced with a wall of hair at the native fly search, all take tidy very little rectangles with no indication of that part they once occupied. Knowing what to appear for in these very little chunks can serve you far better than learning the complete anatomy of the ruminant.

We will use ruminant hair for the Comparadun wing and also the body on the Robert Hutchings Goddard Caddis. For the Robert Hutchings Goddard Caddis, you would like the hair to spin, therefore hunt for ruminant hair with long butt ends with giant diameters and skinny walls. choosing out a bit of hair with larger diameter butts is simple enough, however making an attempt to see wall thickness needs alittle trick. Press your fingernail into the hair at its base and note what proportion the hair flares fraught. Hair that buckles up wildly is what you want; hair that simply stands up alittle in all probability has walls that square measure too thick for a fly like this.The condition of the ideas of the hair is of very little consequence, as you may be cutting them off before attachment the hair to the hook. I usually choose this hair to possess all of the on top of characteristics additionally as nicely patterned tips.The tips will inherit play on larger flies with spun ruminant hair heads and collars, therefore you'll additionally try and kill each birds with one piece of hair.The large butt diameter of this hair contributes to the floatation of the finished fly, whereas the skinny wall makes the hair easier to compress, flare, and go around the hook.

Conversely, the ideas of the hair you’ll use for the Comparadun got to be quickly tapered to {a sharp|a purposey} point and have a brief overall length with slightly larger diameter butts.This hair is usually sold  as Comparadun Hair and typically comes from a whitetail, though it's typically from coastal ruminant that tally burro deer hair over that of a Odocoileus Virginianus.This short ruminant hair must have quickly tapered tips to create the wing on the Comparadun therefore there's still some hollowness to the hair at the ideas. Hair with long wispy tips is also useable for larger-sized flies, however on smaller #18s or #20s, wherever the proportionate wing length becomes a lot of shorter, these wispy tips give no floatation and don't flare additionally as hair with additional diameter.You want the butt ends of the Comparadun hair to be larger diameter in order that they flare on the shank after you tie them down, spreading the ideas in an exceedingly nice arc across the highest of the shank, that helps the fly float.

Deer Belly Hair

Deer belly hair comes from a whitetail and could be a bright white colourise its wild.This white hair takes dyes extraordinarily well, that produces spirited, colourful hair.The tips of ruminant belly hair square measure usually pretty ragged, however this is often of very little concern as this hair is often used for spinning giant bass bugs and similar flies.This hair is giant diameter with {a skinny|a skinny} wall (but not as thin as ruminant body hair) and contains a somewhat waxy texture. ruminant belly hair is coarser and slightly stiffer than ruminant hair however spins fantastically and creates sturdy hair bodies. Its larger diameter makes it somewhat tougher to figure with than hair, however the somewhat thicker wall conjointly makes this hair additional sturdy. I realize this hair somewhat coarse to figure with on smaller trout flies, however adore it for my larger hair-bodied bass flies. Incidentally, colouring the hair will amendment its characteristics, however this typically stems from a subpar dye job that uses an excessive amount of heat. Quality hair bleached by corporations like Nature’s Spirit could be a pleasure to use.

Calf hair

A good piece of calf hair are going to be one amongst your best finds. Calf hair is okay and sometimes somewhat wavy. the foremost useable calf hair is dense and straight, creating it a lot of easier to wash and stack than its wavy counterparts. Tiers inherit the search all the time repining regarding the general quality of calf hair, and for the foremost half I actually have to accept as true with them. Most commercially obtainable calf hair is extraordinarily short, wavy, and sparse, rendering it maybe the foremost frustrating of all materials to figure with. a nasty piece of calf hair is enough to create you hand over on the hair and appearance for another.

So, what to do? Keep trying. there's some smart hair out there. In my shop, I usually order calf hair 24 items at a time. Out of these 24 patches of hair, alittle over [*fr1] is useable, and also the remainder is often garbage and goes back to the provider. Most outlets simply place all of them on the peg and leave it up to you to grasp what to appear for.The inherent method of elimination leaves these weak links on the peg for eternity, and also the search owner doesn’t order from now on as a result of, well,the peg is full.What’s left for you is that the garbage.Ask your favorite shop’s fly-tying guru to order a brand new batch of hair and maybe even bribe him into belongings you finest through the patches once they arrive. attachment gurus square measure simply bought off with shiny bits of flash and pretty materials, not not like crows or raccoons.

Once you've got a brand new batch of calf hair before of you, hunt for densely packed hair with few clean spots or distributed areas. You’ll wish hair that's as straight as potential, though if alittle portion of the patch is wavy and also the rest is straight, it's still a viable candidate. Calf hair is usually short, however choose the longest hair that you just will realize. If you'll realize a patch with hair that's three-quarters of an in. or longer, you're doing as good as. Check for nicely tapered and intact tips; broken tips about calf hair ruin the general impact you would like on flies like Royal Wulffs and different hairwings.When you realize smart calf hair, grab many items therefore you’ll have them after you would like them.