Twin Twisting Machines

EclecticGuy August 19, 2009 fly fishing, history, line making, metal working 6 Comments

Well, I just finished my latest batch of Walton’s Twisting Engine and photographed them together. The one with the slender round handle is more traditional and the other with the big massive flat handle is more practical for actually furling lines and leaders.

It also looks like I’ll be writing an article for The Home Shop Machinist magazine on how to build these.

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6 Responses to “Twin Twisting Machines”

  1. CM_Stewart said:

    Sep 26, 09 at 6:46 am

    Beautiful (as always).

    Since the engines make snoods that must be knotted together to produce a line, do you whip the knots with silk thread? I find that task to be much harder and more time consuming than twisting the line (and with one of these engines, the twisting would be a breeze). Have you ever run across a jig that would hold and turn the line (similar to a jig for holding and turning a rod blank when wrapping the silk on the guides)?

  2. EclecticGuy said:

    Sep 26, 09 at 8:13 am

    Thanks CM_Stewart. Yes, these make snoods and I do whip the knots with silk thread.

    The whipping technique for attaching guides to a rod blank is the same as whipping with silk. The “trick” is to use a short piece of thread, make a loop in it, lay it along the snood and wrap over that. Then put the end of the wrapping silk through the loop and pull the loop out – which pulls the thread end underneath your wraps. It takes a few seconds.

  3. CM_Stewart said:

    Sep 26, 09 at 11:04 pm

    I don’t think that’s the trick, the trick, which I haven’t learned yet, is how do you hold the snood when trying to wrap the thread. It’s too flexible (4 hairs) and doesn’t seem to me to be at all like a rod blank, which is rigid and sitting in a jig. When I put any tension on thread the snood just bends and the thread slips. Do you hold the knot in one hand and wrap with the other or do you have a jig?

  4. EclecticGuy said:

    Sep 27, 09 at 12:43 pm

    I use a 4″ long piece of .02″ diameter music wire and wrap similar to a nail knot. Once the loop is positioned and the snood knot wrapped, I start to cinch the whipping and when it is snug, remove the wire and snug the wrap up all the way. I hold the wire in my left hand with the snood and loop and wrap with my right hand using a fly tying bobbin with silk thread – a very short bobbin that I made by cutting down a longer one.

    EG

  5. CM_Stewart said:

    Sep 27, 09 at 3:00 pm

    Now THAT is the trick. I don’t have music wire, but I’m sure a needle held in my fly tying vise would do. Thank you EclecticGuy!

  6. EclecticGuy said:

    Sep 27, 09 at 3:53 pm

    I forgot to mention the wire trick yesterday – I was on my way out the door to camp with my Boy Scout troop.

    EG

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