FLYMPH FORUM

Ray, your the man.

William,
I did the same thing recently on my desk! Two pencil marks showing the exact length of silk needed on my short blocks. I try not to waste the Pearsalls silks because it seems one comes to the end of the spool way to fast!
Viva La Flymph!
Doug in his den

Ray, I used your method with a big grin on my face when I made up a set of tups pre-spun thorax bodies (you'll see them with the swap flies) and was so happy with the simplicity of the idea and perfect results. I'll have to add that to my site, if you don't mind me posting it before you put it in your upcoming book.

w

Post away, my friend.

Made this today...... the "finger saver" option.







Dark here (night time ) and the energy saver bulbs over the dining table do not do much for photography, but you should get some idea of the extra "wings" on the lefthand side, measure- tie off and cut facility built into the block.
The timber used for this one is Kahikatea, or native White Pine. Not the heaviest timber, so I may have to work on a magnetic base or something and with the "extensions" it will not hold against a lip on the edge of the bench as Lance has.
A lot of Kahikatea was exported from NZ up until the 1960's, it was the timber of choice for making crates to transport butter! Sometimes you still hear it referred to as "butter box" wood. Use to carry foodstuffs as it does not require treatment to be insect resistant, some natural element in the timber makes it impervious to insect attack, so it could be exported safely without harbouring unwanted visitors within the shipping boxes and was non-toxic to the contents.

In use.

Flip the block so you are looking at the back- the "wings" now end up on the right- suiting a right hander. Trap the tag of thread with the left thumb, wrap the thread up and over the groove of the "wing"



Wrap the thread down and into the groove of the bottom wing- up- over and down as many times as you wish.



At the last rotation over the top, trim the thread bobbin holder away and trap the thread on the front face of the block with the fingers of the left hand.
Insert a thread loop or rubber band through the slot at right angles to the thread groove of the bottom wing.



Place the knotted end of the thread loop through the open end and form a clinch loop over the working threads. This becomes a holder/hanger for your pre-cut threads and keeps them tidy.



Returning to the top of the block, insert scissors into the slot and cut the thread wraps.



You should end up with a nice tidy set of pre-cut thread lengths suited to the block.

Jeff,
I like this because it is a beautiful tool to achieve a somewhat complicated solution to a simple problem. I like your choice of wood, the clever wings and how they look tactile friendly. If you want me to send you a couple of gossamer silk on wooden spools, just shoot me a PM. You can't use plastic along with that tool...

dd

daringduffer wrote:Jeff,
I like this because it is a beautiful tool to achieve a somewhat complicated solution to a simple problem. I like your choice of wood, the clever wings and how they look tactile friendly. If you want me to send you a couple of gossamer silk on wooden spools, just shoot me a PM. You can't use plastic along with that tool...

dd

Ah, the fluro orange thread...... it is not even Uni as the spool indicates, I just wound it off a bulk spool onto an empty Uni spool to fit bobbin holders. Its use was only for contrasting ability and thickness so it stood out well in the photos for demonstration purposes .
Thanks for the offer, but (unusually) my gossamer silk supplies are not too bad at the moment (thanks Big Jim ). One of our wonderful members sent me some really neat vintage silks that were not Pearsalls, but same sized wooden bobbins and up to button hole twist. Then there is still quite a bit of Kinkame silk I bought back from San Francisco to chew my way through, plus some genuine Pearsalls that has been sent over by other generous members here..... so I am just about set for silk for a wee while and will promise to use some on the block soon.

Fantastic! I love the innovation you put into the whole thing, and the example of the loop holder, and presentation (sbs photos). Brilliant job, mate.

Brilliant -- what a great idea!

Jeff, this is one of the coolest innovations I've seen for such a simple tool. Beautiful job. I need a way to cut uniform lengths of small wire while you're in research and development mode. Great post.

w