Clark's Dubbing Blocks

[CreationBear]

I even spent some time a couple weeks ago making notes comparing my own fishing and tying ethos with that of the Mission design work.

Man, this is a great thread. I want Bill to share the recipe for his Adams, and William ought to write up his notes and send 'em off to Gray's Sporting Journal. (And no doubt knockoff's of Ray's block are being hawked on the streets of Guangdong province even as we speak,.. )

[BruceC]

I've been playing around with some home made vise bases and found some vinyl bumper feet to be very sticky and work well to keep things from sliding around. They're very thin (about 3/16") and have a good peel and stick adhesive. Might be worth a try on the bottom of the block. Lowes or home depot has a variety of sizes. I'm not near a computer with FTP capabilities so I'll post the picture in the AM.

Bruce

[tie2fish]

I even spent some time a couple weeks ago making notes comparing my own fishing and tying ethos with that of the Mission design work.

Man, this is a great thread. I want Bill to share the recipe for his Adams, and William ought to write up his notes and send 'em off to Gray's Sporting Journal. (And no doubt knockoff's of Ray's block are being hawked on the streets of Guangdong province even as we speak,.. )

Jon ~ See ...
http://www.flymphforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3030

[tie2fish]

I find the discussion about various ways to make spinning blocks, pedestal vises, etc. "sticky" on the bottom so they don't move around quite interesting. I very much prefer to be able to move all my equipment around so I can access it from whatever angle best suits the process I'm undertaking. That's why I have a great deal of difficulty tying using a clamp style vise -- it really restricts my ability to see what the fly looks like from all angles such as from the front or the underside, which is, after all, how the trout sees it. Just a personal preference I guess ...

[CreationBear]

Bill-- Thanks for the link; William's photo made the muskrat dubbing a bit darker than the original fly, so I thought they might have shook some new tricks out of you up there in Roscoe. BTW, interesting insights on pedestal vises, etc.--the left sides of a lot of my flies do look pretty mungy for the very reasons you mention.

[tie2fish]

Bill-- Thanks for the link; William's photo made the muskrat dubbing a bit darker than the original fly, so I thought they might have shook some new tricks out of you up there in Roscoe. BTW, interesting insights on pedestal vises, etc.--the left sides of a lot of my flies do look pretty mungy for the very reasons you mention.

Technically, Jon, your observation is accurate ...the muskrat in the previosly posted photo was out of a commercial package and applied in a drop-down thread loop. For the one that William posted from Roscoe, I used some muskrat underfur taken from a patch of hide and applied it in a dubbing brush made on a Clark's block. I think different lighting in the two photos accounts for much of the color discrepancy.

[Old Hat]

"something to the effect of honesty and harmony of natural materials, frugality and economy and a near religious experience bringing one back into accord with a natural order of things."

I call it "organic tying"

This is off topic a bit but I think is completely congruent with what we are attempting here with the blocks and materials.

There is a favorite (of mine) quote from Darrel Martin:

"In a way tying is trouting. Tying extends our understanding of nature. We seek the perfect pattern, even if the perfect pattern never exists. It matters only that we seek. We seek the perfect feather, the perfect method, the perfect theory. To the thoughtful tyer, it is the quest and not the pattern that matters. And in the search, fragments of fur and feather continuously transform into a new alchemy. Part of the pleasure of tying is discovery. So, we finally net more than trout. We net knowing the spotted Callibeatis, the underfur of the muskrat, the scarlet flank of a rainbow and the peent of whispering nighthawks."

[William Anderson]

Carl, I like that. I don't have anything by Darrel Martin, but I've seen a couple books that caught my eye. Any recommendations?

[letumgo]

Carl - One sentence in particular resonates with me ("Part of the pleasure of tying is discovery."). It is the continuous sense of discovery (behavior of materials, learning techniques to solve problems, exploring and testing ideas, etc.) which provides me so much joy from our hobby.

Darrel is a wonderful writer. I own his book "The Fly Fisher's Craft", which I highly recommend. Terrific book, with loads of history, diagrams.

[Kelly L.]

Wonderful thread. Loved the Adams flymph too.