Using Bobbins in Fly Tying

Video Transcript

"ALVIN DEDEUX: The next thing we'll be looking at in our basic tools are bobbins. And the bobbins are these little wire deals that hold our tying thread. And you can put thread and wire and other materials in the bobbins, and it's nice because you don't have to actually hold this spool of thread while you're trying to wrap it around your hook eye. The bobbin will hold that material for you. They usually have a tube at the end and the material--the thread feeds through there. You can get all different sizes. You want to get something that fit nicely in your hand. Some of them have tension adjustments on them so that the thread--puts a little bit more tension on the thread. That's kind of a personal preference thing. You can also just wrap the material around the leg of the bobbin. That will put more tension on it. Another tool that's an essential to have with the bobbin is a bobbin cleaner and a threader. This little tool here actually--it's a two sided tool. This is the threader side and this is the cleaner side. Mostly your tying threads are going to be waxed so you can use the threader to actually--the cleaner to actually clean the wax out of the bobbin, like so, but you can also use the threader side to pull the thread through the bobbin. I'll stick the threader through, like so, stick the thread through the threader. And then I'll pull the threader out and then my bobbin is threaded. So that saves you a lot of time, the threader cleaner."