1. Troutnut Forum
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2. Fly Tying
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3. help with wing burners

I recently made some wingburners out of 0.10mm brass, in order to shape wingcases for some nymphs a la Gonzo... but the first time I used them, the brass heated up and melted the Tyvek in between the two pieces of brass. Any tips?

McJames,
Why the Tyvek? which is a polyolefin and melts around 325°F
Toss the plastic, use an alcohol burner, and you'll be fine.

Dick

Make sure the burner when closed is totally pressed together. Close your burner and look at the tip, the two sides should be lying flat together, if not just bend with your fingers. If one side is canted a little upward then the flame can get inbetween and burn the part you don't want burned.

Also just apply the flame around the edges, fairly quickly, to tyvek that is roughly cut to the shape of the burner but sticking out a bit. That way the burner doesn't heat up that much. I've found you still need to do a bit of trimming, mostly in the middle v-notch to get the shapes Gonzo does, but the burner makes the whole process much quicker than cutting out the whole case, and the burn seals the edges for wear. Some advantages of tyvek are that it's tough, takes marker colors well, and can be adapted to many shapes and sizes.

many thanks I will give it a try. I have been using tyvek for a while because its durable and free in large quantities.