Reuven,
A long time back, a Lowlander came to visit (without his rod!) and bestowed upon me a wonderful present (actually presents but we are talking dubbing rakes today). This was a most magnificent ceramic tool which I had only a general (read NO) idea of how to use.
Let me say that once I happened upon various hides/masks of various critters, it became all too obvious that guardhairs and underfur often needed to be seperated for tying flys. Believing I had happened upon some magical new use for the rake, I proceeded to separate the two and ended up with a clean, fine dubbing better than I was paying dearly for at my local tying outlet PLUS I obtained guardhairs free of excess fur.
If I ever get a chance to thank that kind soul again, I hope it is in person. Goodness knows if he himself knew what it was for, as his name on the back (oops, that's my handwritten label underneath!)... Anyway, he may have tried to scratch his back or head with it as I did in March of 1998 and discover it too sharp for such. Rumor has it that he developed a magnificent web site at www.danica.com/flytier with all sorts of useful information.
Poor chap spends a lot of time trying to figure out which vise to use and even publishes these trials in magazines to see if others have better ideas of how they work. (Don't try using them vise jaws to hold together things you've glued as the glue can mess up the jaws) Further inspection of said site will reveal flys tied by some awfully gifted tyers who must be his fishing buddies...and here are even more experiments with commentaries about using rakes legally but I wonder if the LAW is the same here in the states? Seems he has come a long way since we first met as all he could tie me was this tiny #28 fly invented by a poor man by the name of Sawyer (doubt if it was Tom Sawyer though) which was miraculous as he only had a tiny piece of pheasant tail and a scrap of copper wire to tie with...not even a piece of thread it appears!
If you ever see this friend, quietly (not on a public board like this) find out his mailing address as I have saved up a ball of thread to send him. Don't upset him though because he has been known to be able to cast a flyine an extraordinary distance thus giving him the ability to plant a fly in your ear as you run away (hopefully that fly is a barbless 28!) no matter how fast you are.
I suppose he could be a gypsy or explorer since friends have told me of sightings from Alaska to the Nether Lands (no religious discourse intended). He may be in trouble given that he rarely surfaces on the VFB and even then falls out of sight for a long time. The one way to be absolutely sure it is him it to ask him his favorite fly pattern. If he tells you it is the CDC & ELK, tell him you heard that it's a "common" commercial pattern invented by an American at Orvis. If you found the right man, begin to run as you should see him reach for his rod (we discussed this before) or ceramic dubbing rake (cover your rear flank).
Anyway, the LAW ceramic dubbing rakes are awesome, never seem to go dull and do a magnificent job. Go to that www.danica.com/flytier/law section and read all you can about it. You might even see if there is a fellow by the name of Hans Weilenmann that still occaisions there. Folks say he is quite the expert on my Lowlander friend and can even tell you the CDC for the CDC & ELK does NOT come from a duck's butt but the aft flank by the preening gland. Hans is said to tie that fly as well as its originator PLUS he purportedly can explain (or point you to an article at the danica/flytier site) the different qualities and characteristics about CDC. You see, it's not all the same but all CDC has a "best use" the writer claims.
Good luck, enjoyed your flys and maybe forget about the CDC & ELK comment!
From: Hans Weilenmann <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [VFB] ceramic dubbing rake????
Date: Tue, 1 Nov 2005 17:14:24 +0100
On 11/1/05, Reuven Segal <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:Does anyone use a ceramic dubbing rake? What exactly is it meant to do??
Reuven,
Yes, I use. Both sizes.
What does a rake do? Well, read and be informed ;-)
http://www.danica.com/flytier/law/law_rake.htm
Cheers,
Hans
--
==================== You have a Friend in Low Places ====================
Hans Weilenmann, The Netherlands
http://www.danica.com/flytier
=================================================================
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