Semperfli pure silk... Very photo heavy ;)
Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2017 10:43 pm
Hi all, as you all know pearsalls looks like it will be hard to come by in the very near future as mentioned in Jim's post. I'm a Semperfli pro tier and have recently experimented with Semperfli's pure silk and thought I would post my findings.
A few things to note are that I normally don't use a dubbing block and this is only my second time I've spun bodies on my Clarks dubbing block. You may have a different experience than me but this is simply my unscientific unbiased experiment that might spark some thought or debate, so please don't be shy.
Here are a few different ropes I spun up a few days back...
Left to right, semperfli puresilk orange/muskrat, semperfli puresilk purple/coyote, semperfli puresilk pale olive/camel, semperfli puresilk pale olive/gray awesome possum, semperfli puresilk pale olive/cream awesome possum
Some closeups;
Some more spun bodies using both pearsalls primrose (left/thinner) and Semperfli pure silk (right/thicker)
As you’ll have noticed by the last photos compared to Pearsalls Gossamer it’s a lot thicker! In terms of using it for this application, I’d say I personally wouldn’t tie anything smaller than a 14.
I treated the pure silk exactly the same as my pearsalls experiments in the past, used the same wax and ended up carding and leaving the bodies carded for 1-2days. I found that the thread ends of pure silk unravelled a lot more than Pearsalls, so much so I’m not sure there’s much advantage to waiting a day before using the bodies?
It’s also a 3 strand/ply silk like pearsalls. I don’t know whether the thickness has much bearing on the translucence as I found it to be much more opaque than Pearsalls. For spiders I wouldn’t use it as thread unless the ties were bigger than 12’s, it’s too thick for my personal taste. There are a few options to tie smaller, I’ll get to that later…
It comes on a normal sized spool which is nice.
12 wraps of pearsalls gossamer with a 3 turn whip finish left
12 wraps od semperfli pure silk with a 3 turn whip finish right
As above, the wet version
You’ll notice by referring to the long tag that the pure silk has a tendency to fray/break apart. The pure silk flattens out easily but the stands are still a lot coarser than pearsalls. In terms of the finish of the silk it is not as slick and the edges are a bit fuzzy when closely inspected.
Some of the flies that were tied with the above bodies
sz 16 hook, pure silk tied in from the eye to the back of the hook using 30D nanosilk (very thin thread) to keep things slim and build a consistent underbody. The pure silk has been flattened uncorded before winding forward and whip finishing. If you blow this image up you’ll see the fuzz I’m referring to, bear in mind how magnified this image is, it’s quite a slim body but the strands are still more noticeable/corded looking than pearsals.
The same body wet
sz 18 hook, pure silk tied in from the eye to the back of the hook using 30D nanosil to keep things slim and build a consistent underbody. The pure silk has been flattened uncorded before winding forward tying it off and finishing the fly.
The same fly wet
I quite like the fact that pure silk is more opaque and colour fast when used as a core in a dubbing brush and when used as ribbing.
I’ve also used it on some of my dries recently and will include the experiments as thry can equally be applied to wet fly patterns.
Pure silk tied in at the back of the thorax over bound to the tail
pure silk waxed and lightly touch dubbed with muskrat
give the bobbin a good spin to cord a dubbing rope and tighten things up a bit
The end result
the wet version
capture a long strand of pure silk in the middle of the strand with a single turn at the tail tie in point
carefully dub one strand, I used muskrat in this instance
Grab both ends with hackle pliers and spin up a tight body, wind forward…
The wet version
A few things to note are that I normally don't use a dubbing block and this is only my second time I've spun bodies on my Clarks dubbing block. You may have a different experience than me but this is simply my unscientific unbiased experiment that might spark some thought or debate, so please don't be shy.
Here are a few different ropes I spun up a few days back...
Left to right, semperfli puresilk orange/muskrat, semperfli puresilk purple/coyote, semperfli puresilk pale olive/camel, semperfli puresilk pale olive/gray awesome possum, semperfli puresilk pale olive/cream awesome possum
Some closeups;
Some more spun bodies using both pearsalls primrose (left/thinner) and Semperfli pure silk (right/thicker)
As you’ll have noticed by the last photos compared to Pearsalls Gossamer it’s a lot thicker! In terms of using it for this application, I’d say I personally wouldn’t tie anything smaller than a 14.
I treated the pure silk exactly the same as my pearsalls experiments in the past, used the same wax and ended up carding and leaving the bodies carded for 1-2days. I found that the thread ends of pure silk unravelled a lot more than Pearsalls, so much so I’m not sure there’s much advantage to waiting a day before using the bodies?
It’s also a 3 strand/ply silk like pearsalls. I don’t know whether the thickness has much bearing on the translucence as I found it to be much more opaque than Pearsalls. For spiders I wouldn’t use it as thread unless the ties were bigger than 12’s, it’s too thick for my personal taste. There are a few options to tie smaller, I’ll get to that later…
It comes on a normal sized spool which is nice.
12 wraps of pearsalls gossamer with a 3 turn whip finish left
12 wraps od semperfli pure silk with a 3 turn whip finish right
As above, the wet version
You’ll notice by referring to the long tag that the pure silk has a tendency to fray/break apart. The pure silk flattens out easily but the stands are still a lot coarser than pearsalls. In terms of the finish of the silk it is not as slick and the edges are a bit fuzzy when closely inspected.
Some of the flies that were tied with the above bodies
sz 16 hook, pure silk tied in from the eye to the back of the hook using 30D nanosilk (very thin thread) to keep things slim and build a consistent underbody. The pure silk has been flattened uncorded before winding forward and whip finishing. If you blow this image up you’ll see the fuzz I’m referring to, bear in mind how magnified this image is, it’s quite a slim body but the strands are still more noticeable/corded looking than pearsals.
The same body wet
sz 18 hook, pure silk tied in from the eye to the back of the hook using 30D nanosil to keep things slim and build a consistent underbody. The pure silk has been flattened uncorded before winding forward tying it off and finishing the fly.
The same fly wet
I quite like the fact that pure silk is more opaque and colour fast when used as a core in a dubbing brush and when used as ribbing.
I’ve also used it on some of my dries recently and will include the experiments as thry can equally be applied to wet fly patterns.
Pure silk tied in at the back of the thorax over bound to the tail
pure silk waxed and lightly touch dubbed with muskrat
give the bobbin a good spin to cord a dubbing rope and tighten things up a bit
The end result
the wet version
capture a long strand of pure silk in the middle of the strand with a single turn at the tail tie in point
carefully dub one strand, I used muskrat in this instance
Grab both ends with hackle pliers and spin up a tight body, wind forward…
The wet version