Copper wire hack.

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

This idea came from a gentleman named James Cordova from a Facebook group I'm in.   I asked his permission before posting these screenshots.  Pretty good idea.  Strip old phone wire for the copper wire inside.   You could even use the plastic insulator for added colors.  

[fishinwrench]

It'll turn green on ya.   So don't fill your box with flys tied with it.   

Fine for ones you'll use & lose within a few days though.     

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

6 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

It'll turn green on ya.   So don't fill your box with flys tied with it.   

Fine for ones you'll use & lose within a few days though.     

Good point.  Maybe use the enamel coated wire from a transformer.

[jdmidwest]

I use bead wire from craft store.  Same stuff as fly shop, bigger rolls for less.

[tjm]

Back before fly shops were a thing, the varnished wire from small transformers, motors and relays was the main source of copper. And fuse wire was the main source of lead for fly tying, or one could go to a electric shop where they  repair motors and get the leftover from a rewind job still new on the spool, since the winding must be continuous partial spools might never be used because it's hard to know if there is enough wire or just 'almost enough'. Electric winding wire is softer and finer than the bead craft wire, (I'm not sure I've ever seen pure copper wire used in beading) smaller motors, transformers or relays can have very fine wire  while large items will provide wire in the bead craft sizes.   I have a couple of motor windings from battery powered toys that I acquired about 50 years ago that have provided wire for a lot of flies and still have a life time supply left. I was taught to extract the lead core wire from trolling line to use in place of fuse wire and five colors of trolling line is a lifetime supply of fly tying lead. Just cut a 2-3' piece of lead core line and push the braid off to expose the lead, the braid will work like 'finger cuffs' and the bright color makes it easy to find in the mess on my table. All the trolling lines 18# and bigger use the same size lead wire and it weighs about 11 grains per foot. That size lead works on hooks from  #18-#2 and as the hook diameter varies with the size the bigger hooks automatically get more weight. 

One thing to think about, fly tying is a tiny niche market and any single material used is even a much tinier market, so the probability of any material being manufactured specifically for fly tying is really tiny also. Most (all?) tying materials are adaptations of something used in some industrial application and repackaged. That repackaging  and labeling increase the cost about tenfold. But, the repackaging means convenience and and makes materials available in small quantities, so that we don't have to buy (and store) a lifetime supply of every material if we only intend to tie a dozen flies that need that precise material.

[fishinwrench]

Guys, c'mon !    It's less than a freakin' med. Sweet tea from McDonald's for crying out loud. 

[BilletHead]

1 hour ago, fishinwrench said:

Guys, c'mon !    It's less than a freakin' med. Sweet tea from McDonald's for crying out loud. 

          Yep! 

[Flysmallie]

4 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

Guys, c'mon !    It's less than a freakin' med. Sweet tea from McDonald's for crying out loud. 

Exactly. But I have hoarded up some bullsheet over the years! 

[snagged in outlet 3]

11 hours ago, Flysmallie said:

Exactly. But I have hoarded up some bullsheet over the years! 

Boy me too!   I really want to get rid of some of it too.  This winter it’s on my list.  Last winter I sold some fly rods but I have more plus so much fishing stuff it’s unreal.  Yesterday while looking through some stuff I found bubble rigs.  Still in the package.   Bags of soft plastics never opened.  😂

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

19 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

Guys, c'mon !    It's less than a freakin' med. Sweet tea from McDonald's for crying out loud. 

You are right,  but I have tons of phone wires, and electronics that will never be needed.  Because I remember the costs then, I'm reluctant to throw them away.   So why not use them for other uses.   It's fun to figure out how to use things alternatively anyhow.  

Granted it almost always comes down to doing it right the first time, but it's just fun to tinker.