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Chuck,
An easy way to know and remember the untwist method for whatever way you're tying is to wrap 20 or so wraps right at the eye of a hookeye and then just let the bobbin hang (best to use a flat or mono tying thread the 1st time you do this). The bobbin will slowly spin in the direction you need to spin it to untwist the thread. To see if you have neutral twist in your thread (none), just put some slack in the thread between the bobbin and hook. The thread will furl up into a loop if you have twist. Spin your bobbin and try again. If you removed the twist, the furl cannot happen. If you spin it too much, the furl will happen in the opp. direction. It's not as readily apparant with superfine midge-type threads as it is with flat threads. If you're ever working on a small fly and have to make a loose wrap to position your material, you'll notice a little mini-furl as you're trying to make a slack loop, especially with the stiffer fine threads. Just hang and spin your bobbin to neutral again and make your slack wrap again- it will lay right down. If you're dealing with flat thread and need the flatness for what you're doing, remember that you twist it one twist for every turn of thread you tie. It's just physics. It's the same reason you don't reel a spinning reel while the line is not coming in = line twist. Just remember to untwist as you go or as you need to. I tie with a lot of nylon mono thread- lots and lots of it- miles of it. Buy it by the case. Round nylon thread is very susceptible to twist. One way I minimize twist is to work my bobbin very close to the hook- the minimum I can manage. This forces line twists onto the hook rather than letting the twists build up in the distance between the bobbin and hook. When I tie a marlin fly, I use an entire spool of mono thread, but never have to spin out twist. I make wraps with the bobbin tip about an inch from the material. I do this with all flies, it's just more necessary with the giant ones with nylon thread. I find that the only times I spin the thread is working floss on slamon flies, making a nice smooth head , or tying #32's. Hope that helps, too. DonO |
