Bob, That's a substitute. The stuff I use smells like a pine forest.

Bob, I use artist's turpentine. If you have a Michael's nearby they have 50% coupons you can use. The hardware stuff is too sludgy. You probably mean benzoin.

As someone who dyes fly tying materials I work with chemicals all the time. I recently dyed some yarn blue in an indigo vat. The pH was slightly too high. Two drops of acetic acid in four gallons of water was all it took. Working with chemicals requires a light touch at times.

Barry Ord Clarke recently posted a video of stripping peacock quill with bleach. New to me; at the end he mentioned using tying wax to strip the quill(not the kind in a tube).

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NTI6pLDF1 ... e=youtu.be

Here is a discussion about gut and horse hair lines from 1853.

https://books.google.com/books?id=y90RA ... ut&f=false

The Complete Angler speaks of silk gut and Indian grass lines.

George Kelson came to the conclusion that salmon had become so accustomed to Jock Scott flies that he designed a new fly using the rarest feathers. The fly, called Inky Boy, was one reason that classic salmon flies lost out to more modern flies. It was really all about the sense of privilege that ga...

Most modern classic salmon flies are tied as wall hangers. In most cases they aren't practical for fishing because of the silk gut loop. The silk gut used to extend to the bend of the hook but due to cost only a short amount is used these days.

The main difference between applied art and fine art is purpose. Applied art is tailored for functionality, or in other words, the design meets a practical purpose; its used for something. While, on the other hand, fine art is solely for aesthetic, visual purposes.

Davie McPhail tears rather than cuts bronze mallard for wings. They seem to hold together better that way.

I used to get wild boar hair from a hunting outfit in Canada. I've processed the wool of many different boar. Some of the wool is like steel wool and some is very soft and fine. Wild boar wool is not very well represented in fly tying literature. The salmon fly tyers of Brittany France are the most ...