Practical stuff

How to make a brass wire dubbing brush for pike flies

In the two fly tutorials I have done (so far), I have used a brass wire dubbing brush. Some people may wonder how to do this (I did, the first time I heard of it).

Now, there are a lot of things out there on the market and some people invented some great things. Some vise-brands came up with something as well. You should really check out the Jvice Brush Maker, by Jay Smitt at www.jvice.com (check out the whole site while you’re there, if you like tying flies, you will surely fall in love with a jvice).

This is my setup. It is simple, cheap and efficient.

-a piece of wood on the left, fastened to a bench-vice, and an eye screwed into it.

-a piece of a broomstick on the right, with two eyes screwed into it, attached to a    piece of an old lamp holder (so it can easily be removed).

-a piece of wood in the middle with a groove in it.

-and some brass wire (or any kind of stainless wire).

This is a ‘step by step’ of how I make my pike brush. Click any picture to enlarge.

You put the wire trough the eye on the left and attach it to the eye on the right.

 


You put the wire in the groove and attach the broomstick to the lamp holder.

You put your material on the wood. This is Bleeding Black SF (Steve Farrar’s) Flash Blend, but you can use all kinds of stuff or simply make your own blend as well.

 



You now pull the wire over…

and attach it to the eye on the right.

You take the broomstick from the lamp holder and start to twist until the first fibres start to turn up.

You take both of the wires on the left in your left hand and remove everything from the piece of wood. You keep on twisting until all the fibres start turning around.

At this point, you can remove your left hand.

Just keep twisting until the wire breaks.

Ultimately the wire will break at one of the eyes (never in the middle).

This is your finished brush

Now tie in a tale, then your brush, make a head and you should have something that looks like this.