Thanks Hans. I sent Lawrence and E-mail...fingers crossed.

Mike - you understood my humor perfectly. I had visions of getting a cow or horse into the tree (scary, but oddly funny).

Does it have to be a sheep? Would any other farm animals do?

(I'm just kidding)

Thanks for the story Mike. I got a good laugh out of it.

That must make them very "sticky" (good thing for fishing, but painful for tying). I find that some hooks are so sharp I am always nicking my fingers when I draw the hackle out of the way, while forming the head of the fly.

Mark - Are these the hooks your talking about? I have never used them, but they look like nice hooks.

http://www.uniqueflies.co.uk/photo_5826955.html

If you look around, you can find mole skins dyed in many different colors (see links below). If a fly recipe does not list the color, I would recommend going with the natural color Bob mentioned above (natural mole tends to be a dark dun color). This fly is tyed with natural colored mole: http://www...

Does anyone know if the LAW's ceramic dubbing rake is still available? If so, where?

bumped due to question about mole dubbing (I will fix the photo shortly)

Jon - I made a Clark's dubbing block to make the Leisenring style bodies. I find it a little easier than forming them on my pants leg. The dubbing block holds my waxed silk, leaving both of my hands free to wrestle the dubbing into submission.

"carding" is the technique of pulling the dubbing to align the hair fibers so the are parallel. In broader terms, the technique is use to process raw wool for yarn making.