If anyone is interested in improving their tying speed here are some tips I picked up from my experience at tying flies commercially. - Prepare all your materials needed for the pattern you are going to tie, including counting out the number of hooks required, and have them organized on your tying desk. - Keep your tying desk clear of any unnecessary items. THE LESS CLUTTER THE GREATER THE PRODUCTIVITY - Set a goal for the number of flies you will tie at a session. Once you start tying, stay with it until you have reached your goal. Over time this will help you focus and improve your tying speed. Never stop in the middle of tying to count how many flies you have tied. - Only use the minimum. If three wraps of thread will do don't use more. Each extra turn of thread or other material takes time. The seconds add up to minutes. Over time you will learn to put the maximum amount of pressure on you tying thread without breaking it. Most of the time I break a thread now is when I nick it against the hook point. - Have extra bobbins strung with tying thread. If a thread breaks in the middle of tying a fly it is easy to grab another bobbin and continue as opposed to trying to re thread a single bobbin. - Have your vise set up so your elbows are held as close to a 90 degree angle as possible and your hands are not held to high this will help reduce strain on your shoulders and back. A comfortable chair with back support is also important. - If you don't do it already, learn to tie while holding the scissors in your hand. You are always using them. If you have to take time to pick them up every time you need them you are wasting valuable time. When I started to tie commercially this was a tip I got from another commercial tier. It seemed awkward at first but now I can,t comfortably tie unless the scissors are in my hand. - Lighting is a key factor in reducing eye strain and fatigue. I used a combination of fluorescent and incandescent which I found satisfactory although I am sure there are some specialized lights which may perform better.
These are a few tips that have helped me. I am sure there are other commercial tiers that can add to this short list. Would like to hear from them. Mel ----- Original Message ----- From: Allan Fish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, November 10, 2003 6:33 PM Subject: [VFB] Selling Flies - WAS Professional Fly tying (was How do yousupport...) > Mark raised an interesting question: > > >Haven't most of us sold a fly or two? I'd say so. > > Actually, I never have. I've tied many flies for people, but I've > never sold them to them. > > >I tye flies for "FUN" relaxation, to be creative, and simply because > >it's hugely theraputic. > > Me too > > >When i'm on a roll and have everything set out and prepared in > >advance, i can knock off a dozen flies and hour, doing a standard > >trout fly. > > Well, same here, except I get very bored after about four of the same fly. > > That's one reason I've been getting into swaps - to force myself to > tie more than one or two of a fly to see if I can get into a proper > frame of mind to tie 'commercially'. And after nearly 25 years of > trying to get into that proper frame, I don't think I ever will. > > Of course, all of you who get my flies in the swaps can tell that I'm > not very good at repetitive tying. > > Allan > -- > > Allan Fish > Greenwood, IN > [EMAIL PROTECTED]
