Wes, good overview of McFlyfoam, and good tips for roping it.
'Neutrally bouyant' means it weighs the same as water. It will absorb water
(basically 'get wet') and sink per the weight of the hook minus the
resistance of the material. This has to be, or else the egg patterns will
just float. For dry fly applications, the density of the rope helps to
repel water (like a plastic shell), but in time it will sink. However, one
application of floatant, and this stuff will float like a cork forever,
roped or not. Makes great strike indicators.
Roped McFlyfoam is much like roped polyyarn, with the exception of the
stretchiness of McFlyfoam yarn, as you mentioned. The fibers themselves
don't 'stretch' and are not elastic. The extruding process for the
filaments makes them come out minutely 'kinky' and that's what gives it the
stretch as a whole yarn. Clipping this material under tension allows it to
snap back and flare, much like deer hair, but much more dense.
This is a great sculpting material, as I've done sculpinheads, minnows,
crabs, mice, frogs, tadploes, baby ducks, and of course eggs. Once
sculpted, the tips are exposed to the water, and it absorbs water very fast
to allow a fly to sink. Also, since it's a synthetic, it sheds water
quickly so that it's not water-weighted on the back-cast. In contrast, as
Wes mentioned, when the edge of the yarn is tightly compacted and exposed,
it's hard for the water to penetrate, and thus a sort of bubble is formed
inside the outer shell of material.
I ran across McFlyfoam in '95 at the San Mateo ISC show. Victor (their
tier) was tying eggs as fast as you could watch. So I asked him for a bag
of pink and one of white. I went back to my tying table and tied him a
show-mouse ('Pepto Bismouse', the pink mouse- after all, it was in San
Francisco...). He just flipped. In return for the mouse I got about 40
bags of the stuff and have used it quite a lot over the last dozen years,
demo-ing it at a lot of shows for Greg.
DonO
----- Original Message -----
From: "Wes Wada" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 9:06 AM
Subject: [VFB] McFlyfoam as dubbing
> Here's a tying tip I stumbled into while experimenting. The product is
> McFlyfoam, and it's usually used for making egg patterns. One evening
> when I was tying flies during a trip, I started playing around with the
> material.
>
> What I hadn't realized is that McFlyfoam is a multi-strand yarn. You
> can cut a section of McFlyfoam and then separate a single strand from
> the rest.
>
> Tie in the end of the strand, then clip the other end in one of those
> electrical lead clips (from Radio Shack), dubbing twister or a hackle
> plier tool that locks shut. My favorite is a rubber tipped hackle plier
> attached by a u-joint to a handle.
>
> Then twist the material into a tight rope. McFlyfoam has a number of
> great qualities for this type of flytying. First, it is a spongy
> material, so if you relax the tension, the material you are winding on
> the hook becomes a wider diameter. Under tension, it compresses down
> to almost nothing, so you have great control to taper fly bodies and
> make great looking segmentation for even the smallest of flies. If you
> want fuzzier results, just "sand" the body with an emery board.
>
> McFlyfoam is naturally buoyant, much better than dubbing for dry flies.
> It is also as tough as heck. You simply will not break the rope as
> you are winding it on, and it requires your sharpest scissors to cut.
>
> If you have seen the packages of McFlyfoam at your local shop, you're
> probably wondering what advantage salmon egg orange, pink and red
> colors would be for your fly tying?
>
> What sold the deal for me is that McFlyfoam comes in over 50 colors,
> including great calibaetis greys and greyish-greens, and other colors
> ideal for mayfly patterns.
>
> So if you wrinkle your nose every time the fly pattern instructions
> mention dubbing, and want to try something that's so fast and easy, it
> should be illegal -- try McFlyfoam.
>
> This page has a link to a PDF format color chart of McFlyfoam. Click
> on "View Additional Details". Also, several new colors, including
> fluorescents have been recently added.
>
> Wes Wada
> Bend, Oregon
>
>
>
> --
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>
>
