Hairwing finishing question

[bobtulowiecki]

I have been tying the assortment for the Fall and continually ask myself how I can make a smaller head when tying off a bucktail wing or any other hairwing that will keep the materials in place. I am looking for that nice, small, compact and neat head easily achieved when tying Speys, spiders, etc. Does anyone have advice on how to achieve a small, neat head when finishing a fly that requires the tie in of a hairwing? Thanks for any advice- Lets hope for those steelhead rains!

[AdamWellington]

Try less wraps and a drop of super glue. Don't put too much glue on though because it will wick up the hair towards the tips and make a stiff column of hair by the tie-in point. Then taper the ends after the binding wraps so you don't have to use as much thread to cover the ends and smooth out the head.

[Tony Medina]

Hey what's up man. I tie the hair down over the eye and fold it back. Bind it down and it leaves room for the head you're looking for.

You could also tie it in facing back shorter than intended. Make the cut and pull it back into place and add some glue to that spot. Finish from there.

I'm sure there are other ways that will follow in the posts to come. So many ways to do things.....

[JoeSperanza]

use smaller amounts of hair (i.e. 2 small clumps instead of one large one) and put a drop of head cement on the thread before tying it on, wrap about 3-4 tight wraps and then place a smaller drop of cement on top and let it saturate into the hair and then cut the hair on an angle ( try to leave a few hairs on the top longer than the sides and it will taper better, so cut the sides short and leave the top a little longer) then repeat. Stagger the hair and conseal the prior clump and then tie in a throat to cover the bottom and you are good to go. Test it out, try to pull the hair out and if it comes out tie another and use less hair, it's trial and error till you figure out how much hair to use

[SteveKowalski]

Less hair = less head bump, like Nanook said
- Just cut the amount down.
- keep your full amount cut on a taper and tie your collar over (see Charlies Atlantic flys, lots of patterns call for the collar to be wrapped in front of the wing)
- divide your hair wing 2/3 tied in - collar - 1/3 to finish in front/over the hackle collar
- Tie with feathers and synthetics instead, WAY nicer heads

]

[k clancy]

Nanook & Steve are right about less hair & tying it in in stages, I will offer one more suggestion, tie a small clump down with a couple/3 tight wraps, then lift 1/3 of the butts, take a tight wrap in front of that section, snug to your original wraps then lift another 1/3 take another wrap like the last & do it one more time right on the hook. trim the butts close to the thread, spin the thread flat & cover the remaining butts. it really locks the hair in tight while creating the nice sloped head you want.
a pair of fine tipped serrated scissors or razor blade will help in trimming.