FLYMPH FORUM

When we were out in Montana, Jim Slattery demonstrated a very efficient way of making dubbed silk bodies on his pants leg. Over this past weekend I made up a new dubbing block, along with a fabric overlay. The fabric is an iron-on knee patch, which has been thermally fused to the wooden block. The fabric is intended to provide a textured surface to help with the twisting process and mimic the pants-leg method, but maintain the convenience of a Clark Block.

VIDEO LINK (YouTube):


Anyway, here are a few photos and a link to a YouTube video showing the technique. Give it a try. It's a pretty neat method of making flymph bodies.


Jim also demonstrated a neat way to quickly form tapered bodies. Using a set of tweezers, grasp a whispy thin layer of dubbing out of the package, then trim the edges to form a elongated triangle taper.

Lay the dubbing on the already waxed silk thread. Note that the layer of dubbing should be thin enough to still see the silk thread underneath.

Lay the opposite strand of waxed silk over the top of the dubbing layer and adjust the dubbing as needed (i.e. - poke it around until you are happy with the distribution).









Additional Notes - The new block is larger than normal blocks (3.5" wide by 6" long). The metal pin has been off-set to roughly 3/4" from left edge (I'm right handed). The fabric has been trimmed in the shape of a curve, to indicate direction of sweep.

I'm a bit confused how this differs from the method described in ATWF.

Carl - Thank you. After going back and rereading the description in my copy of ATWF, I see the method is identical to Jim's demonstration. I had always been confused by the photos in the original book. They seemed to suggest the dubbing loop was picked up for twisting. Now that I reread the description, I see the photos were slightly misleading (at least to me).

Jim Slattery still gets credit for showing me the method (thanks Jim).

However the dubbing block is cool.

Ray, Howdy;

letumgo wrote:When we were out in Montana, Jim Slattery demonstrated a very efficient way of making dubbed silk bodies on his pants leg. Over this past weekend I made up a new dubbing block, along with a fabric overlay. The fabric is an iron-on knee patch, which has been thermally fused to the wooden block. The fabric is intended to provide a textured surface to help with the twisting process and mimic the pants-leg method, but maintain the convenience of a Clark Block.

I like the way you got around saying you ironed the patch to the block ...perhaps a demonstration of that would be a nice thing to do as well ,
This "Thermal Fusing" can be quite disconcerting to a bachelor with no need for an iron. The possibilities are dry or steam, if steam, with or without
a intermediate material, if an intermediate material is used, how many thicknesses or how dense of a material ... on and on the choices are or could be
endless , , ,

hank

Thanks for posting your video Ray.
How were your attempts at rolling one on your actual trouser leg?

As is always the case with your demos, Ray, very nicely done. The idea of a textured cloth surface on a spinning block has crossed my mind too, but I never followed up on it like you have. Therein lies the difference between a dreamer and a doer . Thanks for putting it to work for us.

Always the engineer, Ray. This is cool and really impressive. A cool video, but the idea of the sweeping roll to get the spun body is interesting and very novel to me. It creates a body that is different from a traditional flymph body, but this method is something that can work with seal to tangle the longer wiry fibers on themselves creating a tight rolled dubbing noodle. Your block is very, very cool. I'm not surprised at all. I'd be curious to try this with a few dubbings to see the results.

The technique of spinning a body on the leg between fingers, per JL, doesn't rub the fibers but requires a number of twists in the thread while it is trapped, just like Bill showed by spinning the thread with the hackle pliers before lifting the body to allow it to spin and create the rough spun body. The idea is to lift the pre-spun end up and allow the fibers to freely lock in a spread, radiating manner. I'm not presuming to describe anything you don't already know, I just thought I would clarify, maybe for myself.

I've dabbled with a number of methods to control and alter the results of the resulting body. From my first block I fooled with textures on the block to recreate what I thought was the technique which would require the fibers to rub against the pants for the desired effect, before I understood the traditional (not to mean correct, just as intended by JL) method. On the first block Doug Duvall made for me in Roscoe, I cut a piece of felt to provide texture and when I got home I made another block, my very first construction, and added a piece of leather, at first suede side up and then smooth side up as the texture kept binding all the materials together too tightly. After a number of threads and posts with you, Lance, Bill and several others here I abandoned the texture to get the rougher, less bound effect.

Block version 1 from Doug with felt


Block version 2 with leather


Block version...don't know...latest versions with slick backgrounds, which is only used for visual aid in distributing material and doesn't play a role in the spinning of the body.


I actually have some of the iron on patches for jeans, but this black version is a nice find. As you've seen on frankenshirt, I have a soft-spot for patches. As you've seen in Montana...I needed a few more for my favorite pair of jeans.

Such a cool idea.

Oh, I think the reason I responded to begin with was to show and maybe discuss a block I've made a few of which include a shallow groove, exactly as Dick Clark used. I have seen and have several pics of blocks he made where he used a convex scraper to create a slight, smooth concave groove. Without any information from Clark, I can only assume he was doing something similar to what you've created where the fibers create a tighter noodle, using the groove to cup the fibers as the body is spun. That is just an assumption as I've fooled with these blocks. It really doesn't serve any purpose as "containing" the dubbing before it's spun, as the amount of material doesn't require it, and it's not deep enough to make a difference. the only reason I can think of for his design is this cupped spinning platform. It's a cool idea, the blocks are cool to use, but I much prefer to make several spins in the tail of the thread with both ends trapped in the base notch before lifting and allowing the locking to occur as the ends are lifted from the base notch. It's just one of many techniques, but I thought Clark's blocks were very interesting and couldn't resist making a few.

A recent block with shallow groove per Dick Clark.


I still find fooling with these blocks very interesting. Now I have to make a Tucker's Sweep block.

w

Old Hat wrote:However the dubbing block is cool.

Yes, and driving the nail into the block didn't hurt nearly as much as driving it into his knee.