Finally, workable craft-fur

Took a long time to find some craft fur that I like to work with. Ordered some extra select last week and boy what a big difference working with it. Tied a few size 8 deep minnow, the chart is the craft fur. I think I need to order more colors :icon14:

Nice ties Stump. I like craft fur but don't use it very much.

Those look great StumpHunter.

Those do look excellent - would hit the smallmouth hard in my river with those when the get to busting minnows.

FWIW.........

As for 'good' craft fur, i do spend the extra money for certain colors, the 'fishing' colors in particular. Green chartreuse, Yellow chartreuse, Pink, & Purple. The other simple/regular colors i do use cheaper craft brands like Darice. There tends to be a lot of waste with them, but they are a fraction of the price. Those scraps that i pull out that are not long enough to be tail material end up being dubbing mixtures - or simply garbage. The simple colors are dirt cheap in my opinion and i don't have any problem throwing away the short stuff.

If you do use the craft brand fur but only want the longest fibers and re-use or throw away the shorter stuff.................. separate and pinch off a bunch of fur from the fabric hide. Cut it off. Then, pinch only the longest fibers (that you want to use) with your left forefinger and thumb tightly. With your right hand, pull out any short underfur and pitch it or set it aside. With the best Darice long pile fur, i still throw away or re-use probably two thirds of the fur. I keep maybe one third of the good/long fur pinched in my left fingers that go on a jig/fly for tailing.

Have to edit and say i really love the chart/white/orange one.

Right with you and the extra-select variety of craft fur. More natural/fuller taper on a finished tie and much easier to work with than the cheaper craft store variety.

Sweet! :icon14::icon14:[/font]

Interesting, to me, are tyer perspectives on craft fur. I'm a believer that tyers eventually get comfortable with whatever they work with most often. I started off tying with cards of Westrim Craft Fur. It was 3-in. long pile fur with very short underfur. Seems good doesn't it? Its problem, to me, was that it took several cuts and stacking to provide enough fur for small 1/8 and 1/16 jigs. So, I used it up very quickly. I don't believe that Westrim sells any of it anymore, though I doubt that's due to lack of sales to fly and jig tyers.

Darice was next up. Underfur is inherent with it, but that's why I forced myself to thin and trim it wisely. I've since developed my technique to working with it. So, now I feel like it's up to the other furs to impress me or change my mind about it. The negative to Darice, as AF points out, is their lack of colors beyond the basics. Do wish they'd sell chartreuse or olive as I'd try to be one of the first in line to buy it.

Have moved on since to some others. Orvis Polar Fiber is very good. Like most, it has underfur to thin. Its unit cost is more expensive than most other synthetic furs. I like Targus Foxxfur a lot, but it's also relatively expensive. It has underfur that falls out like dandruff when cut , but I like it nonetheless. I tried Hareline Dubbin's Extra Select Craft Fur during a tying class and noted its similarity to some long pile craft furs I've seen on bolts sold at fabric stores. It's fine, but I've had to remove quite a bit of underfur from it to satisfy a tie. However, in another instance, I was advised to keep much of the underfur to bulk up the size of the fly that I was tying. So, it can be six on one hand and a half-dozen on the other regarding craft fur and its underfur. :huh:

I like buying good craft fur off of bolts when I find them at a fabric store. Much of my fun comes from hunting it down. There's something different to be seen at nearly every store. I believe that I own sage-colored craft fur from a bolt that, for whatever reason, facilitates tying small jigs that catch fish quite well. It has underfur, but I continue to work with it the very same way I do with Darice long pile.

Troll doll hair is good to use. If you're comfortable working with Darice craft fur, then try it some time.

I've acquired some old-looking cards of Fibre-Craft Craft Fur swatches recently. Looks great for small jigs. Bet you it's no longer made.

Mam, they look great Stumphunter!!! I too use the Hareline Dubbin extra select craft fur but Darice works just as well, the problem is finding a place that sells it. I found a place to get it but the shipping is very expensive compared to the price of the craft fur, the craft fur is like $180 for a 9"X12" patch but ordering 10 patches in 3 different colors was going to cost me $9.00 S&H so that was a no go. Michaels has 3 colors of craft fur now, black, white, and brown and it too is good to work with but the extra select has a lot of colors, I just wish they sold a bigger patch other than the 5"X5". BTW, it looks awesome in the water!!

Thanks guys and thanks for all the great info. I was hoping to use the flies on Wednesday but the wind was way to strong to use the fly rod so I just used minnows to catch some crappie out the tree tops laying in the deeper waters.

Has anyone tried the craft fur from Punisher Lures. I believe these are the people that originated the "float'n fly jig". Pop

Pop said:

Has anyone tried the craft fur from Punisher Lures. I believe these are the people that originated the "float'n fly jig". Pop

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Pop, the Punisher lures craft fur is Identical to the extra select, I'm guessing the get it in bulk directly from Hareline Dubbin company and then use it for their own line of jigs and also repackage it and sell the fur. I have used it and based on the way it looks, feels, and the action along with the cost, that is why I think it is the extra select, the only difference is packaging and a higher price but if you can find a particular color you go to Punisher, that is how I got it, good stuff but expensive compared to Darice with the same texture and action.

I get my white, cream, black and olive from a teddy-bear crafting supply shop. A large, 20"*30" patch is about 6.50$. Quality differs by the color, the olive is a bit thin and fuzzy but the white and cream stands every compare to the "good stuff". Pays of to keep one´s eyes peeled and try new supplyers now and then.

As A.F already said, I could ´t go without extra select for the long fibered uv-active colours, though.