Cherry wood Clark's block from Mr W

[Stendalen]

Just in time for Easter I received a fantastic Clark's spinning block William. I should have had William ship one over the pond a long time ago, had an old block I made but very rough and not that usable, hence I've not been using it . This one however is a beauty! The cherry wood is fantastic and has some special origin .

Me and Dima (my son) had of course try the William's Block out. Dima went nuts, and been twisting seals fur all day.

I took some photos and here is the result. The body is Pimrose silk with a mixture of olive and natural seals fur, ribbed with tinsel and hackle from Woodcock. Not by chance this is actually Williams favorite fly . The other version is with a neck feather from Reeves pheasant, a bit stiffer fibers but I think it will be nice in the water.

Fantastic work W!
/Martin
Dima says hello to the Montana Team (he is not online that much...no..not girls...fishing )

[letumgo]

Martin - your tying and photography are superb. That cherry dubbing block is really classy. Nice job William.

Please tell Dima we said hello.

[hankaye]

Stendalen, Howdy;

Martin and also Dima, God to see you on the forum on a more regular basis.
Those are some beautiful flies that you have created with that block. Mr. W
(aka dub-ya), makes a striking and functional piece of (in it's own right), art.

Rascal says "woof-oorp!" as he's pleased to send good wishes your way as well.

Dima, fishing is always good but a young lady will truly put a light behind the eyes ... ,
To much of one good thing does not leave enough time for other good things.

hank

[letumgo]

Hank-

[Stendalen]

Hank!
Wise words, as always. I will let Dima know ...and send him to that party his friends are having tomorrow (that means cancel the fishing trip tomorrow....but hey, what are parents for)

Nice nickname for Mr W haha!

/Martin

Stendalen, Howdy;

Martin and also Dima, God to see you on the forum on a more regular basis.
Those are some beautiful flies that you have created with that block. Mr. W
(aka dub-ya), makes a striking and functional piece of (in it's own right), art.

Rascal says "woof-oorp!" as he's pleased to send good wishes your way as well.

Dima, fishing is always good but a young lady will truly put a light behind the eyes ... ,
To much of one good thing does not leave enough time for other good things.

hank

[William Anderson]

Martin, I'm so glad you like your block. I'll have to offer the background sometime tomorrow. This week has been a joy, but a beast of travel with the family. We just landed.

Such an excellent post, a gorgeous pattern and some killer pics. Love it.

[Roadkill]

Martin,

That is a lovely photo essay on the block and your creations.

[Smuggler]

Very nice Matrin, good to see you and Dima using these wonderful tools to create some exquisite flies!
Tell Dima we say hello and don't stop using the block.

[William Anderson]

Can you believe we landed home Sunday and this is the first I've turned on my machine. I can chime in from my phone, but typing a post is not something I do well.

So, I won't reveal the name of an acquaintance I made a few years ago, a gentleman who fished with Dick Clark and Pete Hidy and knows more about the subject we all enjoy than I'll ever know. He was keen to hear that I was building blocks and was very encouraging regarding the flymphs and the forum and history of Leisenring and Hidy, etc. To my surprise, he asked me upon our meeting how I was doing with wood stock and would I care for some cherry. Turns out he worked with Dick Clark and had some surplus boards that had been collecting dust in the back of the shop where they built furniture. I ended up with an arm load of cherry that he brought for me to build blocks. It's old stock, and has a gorgeous tone when oiled. I'll be building a number of these and offering them on my site at some point. That was a couple years ago and it's taken me this long to plane them down and cut them to usable blanks. They truly are going to be a special limited edition. I wish I had more time and energy to build these things as so many people around the world are enjoying the technique and the history around these blocks. It's been a lot of fun and it seems to just keep growing. There's a lot more tier's out there interested in doing this than I ever dreamed.

[Stendalen]

Very nice Matrin, good to see you and Dima using these wonderful tools to create some exquisite flies!
Tell Dima we say hello and don't stop using the block.

Will do! See you in May
/M