TOUCH DUBBING

[wbailey]

[Eperous]

And.....if you tube of WW gets a bit dry simply put it in the microwave for about 30 second and she be as good as new.

Thanks for the tip, I should have thought of this myself... that said, you must have a nuclear microwave as I put my oldest tube in our microwave for over a minute and the wax was still dead as a doornail... but I purchased that back in the late 70s and probably expecting too much...

But, I did tie a few X-Caddis this afternoon with a "relatively new" tube of WW--- several years ago--- and that was nice...

It brought back many fine tying memories...

Ed

[Hellmtflies]

And.....if you tube of WW gets a bit dry simply put it in the microwave for about 30 second and she be as good as new.

Thanks for the tip, I should have thought of this myself... that said, you must have a nuclear microwave as I put my oldest tube in our microwave for over a minute and the wax was still dead as a doornail... but I purchased that back in the late 70s and probably expecting too much...

But, I did tie a few X-Caddis this afternoon with a "relatively new" tube of WW--- several years ago--- and that was nice...

It brought back many fine tying memories...

Ed

ED,
You may want to scrape or cut off a thin layer of the wax and try the microwave again. Sometimes I lose about a sixteenth of an inch off the top and edges. Then I'm good to go.

[Dwight]

I make my own dubbing wax by combining beeswax, pine resin and caster oil with heat. By varying the proportions, you can get it as tacky as you want. I use a very tacky version that ‘hardens’ at room temperature, but it softens and becomes tacky when held in my fingers. It sounds messy, but it’s not bad to work with. I keep a dab on the end of a popsicle stick on my bench. It really holds my materials together and dubs well. I gave some to a friend to try and he keeps coming back for more

[Althehackleman]

So was just introduced to a new wax for dubbing. A group of us ties flies during the winter months. The shared patterns and great conversations really helps the winter fly bye. So a new member works at a cross country ski place and brought in some of the wax used on the ski’s. The most tacky type worked superbly and was available at relatively good cost. I think the whole group will be using this stuff soon. Give it a try.

[flyty2]

Due to an inordinate amount of snow and cold in the Yellowstone area, I've been getting in a lot of tying time. One of the things I have been working with is " touch dubbing". So far I have tried two Loon products, high tack and low tack Swax. Predictably, the low is not tacky enough and the high is too soft, almost runny, and hard to apply evenly. I'm working mostly with soft hair/ fur blends and CDC. Since there are so many great, experienced here, I would really appreciate your reccomendations. Many Thanks!

Here's a tutorial on touch dubbing with Loon high tack Swax:

http://www.swedneckflyfishing.com/touch ... _steps.htm

[DrLogik]

Or for even more tack, klister...

Would that be red, green or blue? Swix, Rex, Rode? I still have my full wax kit from my racing days back in 1979....

[Salar4me]

Have used a few commercial waxes as well as the toilet wax, cross country ski wax - which by the way is not cheap... I find all of them work much better when warm, as in placing in your pocket, etc. even better if next to skin - which may raise a few eyebrows...

[carl otto]

When I started tying "way back when" Overton's was the recommended tying wax. After 50 years I am getting through my second container of it. I use it only for dubbing purposes (hence its longevity). I tie about 50 dozen flies a year. I have found keeping the cap on fully screwed down retards the noted drying out complaint. AND NOW I see that it is back on the market. I purchased the new product and it is amazingly the same. I have other waxes for when I just need to wax thread, but Wonderwax is the go to dubbing wax.

Carl

[Brooks]

Have used a few commercial waxes as well as the toilet wax, cross country ski wax - which by the way is not cheap... I find all of them work much better when warm, as in placing in your pocket, etc. even better if next to skin - which may raise a few eyebrows...

Crosscountry ski wax! Brilliant! There is every conceivable degree of hardness and tackiness. I’ll try it. I have little collections of different colors of Swix going back almost 50 years.

Might inspire some new patterns: The diagonal strider, The gelande sprung hopper, The Berkie-bender, The kick-and-glider, The Extra-blue fly (works everywhere), Mr. Klister, Polar parachute……

[DrLogik]

Might inspire some new patterns: The diagonal strider, The gelande sprung hopper, The Berkie-bender, The kick-and-glider, The Extra-blue fly (works everywhere), Mr. Klister, Polar parachute……

Hahaha!! Awesome! The Birkie Bender! Love it. I raced the Birkie four times as I recall back in the day. What a fun race. Yeah, one could make some fun fly names up from XC ski waxing. The Hot Waxed Humpy. The Rode Red Rat-faced McDugal. The Lemon Pledge.....