Fly Tying Gadgets: Coffee Bean Grinder for BLENDING DUBBING!

[@jerrycampbell3221]

Very nice, I love making me some dubbing , love seeing what all special colors can make ,thanks for your help !! Jerry

[@TimCammisa]

You're welcome, Jerry, and thanks for the comments. I actually featured this blender in my book and shared a recipe there, too! Blending has upped my game immensely! Hope all is well, and are you ready for the New Year to start? Tim

[@TimCammisa]

The following comment came in via email from Al, aka xtunadude. I wanted to share due to his background as a faux finisher. Thanks Al! Comment: I think a fisherman/woman that wants to do a fast, and higher quality job mixing dubbing really needs to recognize color. I mean not just throwing pinch after pinch of different colors n quantities, and ending up with mud color, but knowing a color chart. I absolutely love my grinder! Instead of storing in baggies I'll n put them in those plastic devided boxes (Plano) drill a hole on top n get to it. I agree n make extra sometimes a hole bag full. I also keep a log and recipe, a must.

[@billsutherland2128]

Been tying since 1967. Herters had a tip in their catalog to drill a small hole in the lid of a 1" band aid box. Put in the dubbing materials, close the box and blow in the hole with your mouth. Works like a charm if you do not spit! I was young and spit into the box: my Dad was ticked, and my Grand-Dad howled with laughter.

[@TimCammisa]

Ha ha! Now that is both very cool and funny, Bill! Thanks for the chuckle with the story. Is this technique still one you use today? I'm wondering if a container such as an Altoids tin would work? Thanks for taking the time to share your story, and I hope to hear more from you on some of my other videos. Tim

[@GeorgeSemel]

I have been doing this, since around 1985- I even use the same coffee bean grinder too. It's just one more tool in the box, as for going the dye route, I avoided it because I can get the colors that work for me without much of a problem. It's not to say I never would, I would rather spend the time out fishing. Far too many spend way to much time at the vise than just sticking with a few patterns that work consistently on your waters. Keeping records that's a given, I have fishing journals going back to 1966! I write down my day on the stream, over time it will tell you what works, what don't- I can tell you one thing that was interesting, that the more fish I caught on a given day, the thing that was the common thread was fly size- my flies have gotten smaller and sparser over the years. I think it has to do with some changes with the bug hatches, C+R and just that the fish see a lot of the same old same old patterns that are too big and too overdressed!

[@TimCammisa]

Agreed, George, and thanks for taking a moment to comment. My flies have also gotten more sparse over the years (nymphs and dry flies), especially as I examine natural insects. Going on that same path, I find myself returning to more natural materials, though love the incorporation of a little flash (some sort of synthetic). Thanks again, and hope all is well. Tim

[@GeorgeSemel]

Flash a bou and UV resins are two of the best things to hit fly tying in the last 50 years outside of screwing with a Chickens genes to get the hackle you want that is!

[@TimCammisa]

Ha ha, well said!

[@ctFlyman]

Another great video Tim. I began using one of the Hareline carding style blenders about a year ago. I got tired of trying to remove the knots in my dubbing caused by "one too many pulses" of my coffee grinder. The Hardline tool is a bit on the expensive side but it works beautifully. It comes with a good supply of basic colors of synthetic material and flash.

[@TimCammisa]

Thanks for mentioning your thoughts with the Hareline product, as they're a reputable company and the product appears to be of higher quality. If you have any other thoughts about it, please share, as I know some would consider making that leap in the future, too. Thanks again for taking a moment. Tim

[@CWO4D]

Great vid Tim...never thought of using grinder....I use my hands mostly....thanks again

[@TimCammisa]

Thanks for the kind words, and if you ever try this technique out, be sure to let me know how it goes. Tim

[@robertandersson331]

thanks tim just started writing names on the bags after seeing i forget after a while will do it more thoroughly writing the recipe too great fun to mixing it i only use my hands

[@TimCammisa]

You're welcome, Robert, and be sure to send me the good blends! ;-) I hope all is well, buddy. Tim

[@robertandersson331]

will do if i see something that seems to work specially good

[@dannyjett7225]

Fantastic video Tim. I blended some Wapsi Fine Fly dubbing in colors gray and pink. It turned out to be almost Purple. I was trying to match a Hendrickson hatch. When I got on the water, I said to myself what in the world was I thinking? Although the dubbing was a quaddy color it caught 3 Browns and 3 Rainbows in about an hour of fishing. I for one was s__t faced and surprised. After looking around the stream for a bug that matched the dubbing. I found a almost Purple caddis fly that matched very well. Now that crazy luck was on the Delaware river. Cheers my friend. 😁😁😁

[@TimCammisa]

HA HA, that's a great place to have luck, Danny! I know that prior to blending, I THOUGHT I knew the colors of insects, but until I really examined those on my local waters, I truly had no idea. I plan on having an entomologist on my channel this summer, and I know he will be sharing some excellent information related to this. Thanks, as always, for the comments (both here and on Facebook!). Tim

[@joeduca8582]

Thanks Tim for the tips. I really don't blend for specific color however when I do it's hand blending with any material that has a close color of the insect. I did once blend materials to match an iso using some doll hair yarn (it looks like a hank of sculpin wool, non twisted fine straight fibers) and some packaged dubbing, natural and/or synthetic. Some smallish tan mayfly I think was on a egg laying run (at least I thought because most had an egg sac between their tails) so I pulled some fibers from a rug that I added to some tan antron. Good match but the "judges" didn't like it. That was when I young and inquisitive, I mostly fish nymphs now and just use peacock and furs. all buggy stuff. I don't match but shape, motion, and close enough colors. But I agree with George Semel, my nymphs and wets were all big 10,8,&6. That's when I started tying and fishing. Dries in 12,14, maybe 16. I think I would have more success fishing smaller. Yes Tim there's alot of good info out there, besides your excellent tutitlidge, I would recommend the limp cobra website. He had an extensive piece on dubbing. Thanks Tim...

[@TimCammisa]

Thanks for the comments, Joe, and I know what you mean regarding the sizes dropping. A #12 seemed typical for many of my patterns; now it's closer to a #16. Also, I appreciate you mentioning the "Limp Cobra" website, as I've never seen it before. I just shared it on my Facebook account. As always, thanks for taking a moment, and I appreciate the kind words. Tim

[@joeduca8582]

Awesome, I watched the "cutting edge" 😉 video - razor blades. All hail Hank Vana! awesome diy tools. Yeah that Limp Cobra is very informative. Marc Favet I think is the bloggers name, international info, KZbin stuff, sbs tying instruction, lots of photography, etc. Frankenfly, Paul Beal - developed Frankendub - is another. He's a great guy, contributor on j.stockard blog and also has KZbin channel and a bass fly fishing blog. Featherbender, Barry Clarke's site, awesome tyer, had KZbin channel then updated to new one. He did an article in Fly Tyer that caught my eye, pike flies that looked other worldly! He's also a photographer. Now is a contributing tyer for Fly Tyer mag. He's an Englishman​ living in Norway, so his tying has Scandinavian and Nordic style, at least to my eye. Tim, alot of the hooks I had were from bait fishing when I started to tie flys, mostly #4 to 8 mustad 3366 and 3399, along with eagle claw. Even then I was very technical, made by own leaders, not those heavy line snelled things. I loved drifting worms for trout and walleye. One day I left that tackle home and forced myself to take my Cortland #8wt "just add water" fiberglass bass rod, a box kit with level line. I practiced on the lawn, on the lake and stream. I started tying jigs for spinning and flies for the fly rod and caught fish! Nymphing was like drifting worms so to me that was the most productive. I went from reading the conversion chart on the tackle shop wall for letter to number line weights to buying higher end rods, lines, feels ect. (my high end is $100, I got alot of stuff in the late 80's - early 90's, so the I must have is now I like it but don't need it) Now that I've come out of my cave and entered the information age (I always and still read print) I concentrate on refining techniques and updated materials and styles, which happens so fast it's hard to keep up. Right now I'm working on developing my inter species telepathic skills, it may prove less embarrassing than the time honored yelling of "here fishy fishy!" 😯 Thanks Tim, you're always inspiring and informative... cheers! 🍻

[@DJackson1882]

Nice job Tim

[@TimCammisa]

Thanks, David...so have you gotten into blending dubbing? If not, you better! Tim

[@DJackson1882]

Tim, I have on a very small scale. I have done both the finger blending and the coffee blender methods you mentioned. Reasons similar to what you covered, a little flash in some of the standard dubbings and if I cannot find a close shade of color that I like.

[@TimCammisa]

Sounds good, David, and that's what most have experiemented with. If you need any help doing more, just let me know. Tim

[@TheStreamUrchin1]

I wonder how important the exact color of a body is but then I'm a down and dirty when I tie. For most of the drift all the trout see is dimples on the film with a an indistinct form below wings until it is in Snells window. Then you have comparative float rate, form, size then color of body. To what degree is a a fish able to discrimant subtle hue with sun in its eyes. I'd bet it would be more important in top three or four feet of water column with sub-surface. I do use a coffee grinder but more to incorporate translucency and buggy look with fibers sticking out. But then, how many real nymphs have buggy looking bodies? Guess we al have our unique obsessions. Thanks for tip on craft yarn. I'm going to try that. Do have ti for you. At dollar store types you an get a small bottle of 15 sec dry rate super glue for about a buck. It comes with small brush and is used to attach fake nails.

[@TimCammisa]

We share similar thinking, Stream Urchin, and thanks for the super glue tip! Regarding what fish see or better yet recognize, I believe that changes depending on water depth, clarity, speed, and other factors. With that said, presentation trumps all for me...BUT I want my blends in certain shades with varying degrees of flash, hence why I take the time for many patterns. When it comes to buggy nymphs, there are a few situations and reasons why I prefer them at times, but I could talk about that for hours! Ha ha. Thanks for taking the time, and I hope to hear more from you on my other videos. Tim www.troutandfeather.com

[@mesanomad55]

No doubt a Penn Stater!

[@TimCammisa]

Ha ha, well, I didn't go to PSU, but love to fish in the area...

[@wildman2894]

air works but make shore to use low air our it will blow up in your hand mine shot out and hit floor thank god so it really does work good but be carful lol

[@TimCammisa]

Ha ha, thanks, William! It seems really neat, and if I ever try it out, I'll be sure to follow your advice. Tim