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Slinky Fiber
Slinky Fiber is a soft flexible synthetic fiber that has a slight wave in it. It is inexpensive, available in may colors, very durable and easy to work.
Storing and Handling the Material?
Slinky Fiber is sold by the hank with a plastic tie on top that holds the fibers together. As you cut the fiber from the hank, sometimes the hank can slip out of the plastic tie. This slipping can be prevented either by periodically tightening the plastic tie or applying a small drop of Zap-A-Gap to the end of the hank. When applying Zap-A-Gap, use only enough to cover the fibers ends so that the glue does not wick down the hank past the plastic tie. Storing the material flat in the plastic sleeve it comes in keeps the fibers straight and tangle free. Periodically combing the material will remove any tangles and restore the material back to its original form.
Cutting The Slinky Fiber
Cut the material from the hank just below the plastic tie. If you need only 20 strands of 3” material, it is best to cut 10 full length stands and then cut the clump in half. Having shorter lengths of fiber in the hank can cause problems in the future because now you have multiple length fibers in the hank that you can not control as easily.
Getting A Taper In the Material
Cutting the material off the hank creates a square end with no taper and an end with a slight taper. Lightly holding one end of the fiber and lightly pulling the other ends of the fiber will put a tape in both ends of the material. The length of the taper can be adjusted by the amount of material that is pulled from the ends. Tapering the material on both ends is very helpful if you tie in the material at its midpoint because now the folded material is tapered on both ends.
Mixing The Material
Like any other material, Slinky Fiber can be blended with other materials. One of the best and nicest fly tiers that I know, Steve Farrar, has developed a method to blend Slinky Fiber with Angle Hair. To see how Steve blends the fiber go to Flash Blending at the Atlantic Saltwater Fly Rodders Web Site for complete instructions. The basic steps in blending is to lay a small amount of each material on top of each other until you run out of both materials forming a neat pile. Pick up the pile and repeatedly pull small amounts of blended fibers out of the pile and place them on top of another new pile. Repeat this process until you are satisfied with the result. Steve Farrar has devoted numerous hours developing the blending techniques and the flies that he has developed using the blends are some of the best in the world. He is also one of the people that has inspired and encouraged me to share my knowledge and techniques with others.
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