By Terry Hellekson

    Wool was probably used for bodies on some of the very first flies tied. Dame Juliana Berners recorded the use of wool bodies on all 12 of her flies in 1496 and wool has been written about for a number of fly tying applications since that time.

    Many of the older fly tying books make mention of Berlin wool and 150 years or so later most of us really cannot define what this particular wool is. Basically this was a fine grade of wool that was used in embroidery work on canvas during the Victorian era. The finished work came to be known as “Berlin wool work” and the tapestry it created was very popular. The wool itself was made in Berlin, Germany, from the high quality wool that was available there at the time.

    Berlin wool was first introduced into Britain at the 1851 Great Exhibition in Hyde Park London. Incidentally, this was the first World’s Fair and was organized by Prince Albert as a celebration of modern industrial technology and design. Obviously the fly tiers of the time quickly picked up on the value of the many colors and hues that were available in this fine embroidery yarn and started incorporating it into their flies.

    You are not going to be able to walk into a typical fly shop today and find much in the way of wool. It is not exotic enough for some folk and it is not one of the synthetics that can wear an artful name and demand an unreasonable price. It is generally readily available if you know which rock to look under. I don't advise going out in the countryside looking for a flock of a few sheep and expecting to score. There are some processes that the wool must go through before it is ready for the consumer.

    Most of the wool produced today by the large growers in this country is exported to woolen mills in other countries. There is however a small industry made up of gentlemen farmers, 4H projects and the like that can serve the motivated fly tier who wants to give wool a try. Before  you attempt to invest in any wool, you first need to know what you are looking for. When you consider that there are about 800 individual breeds of sheep in the world, coupled with a wool grading system, it can become confusing.

    Grade refers to the relative diameter (microns) of the wool fibers (fineness). Wool is divided into 14 grades,  each designed by a number that classifies wool by fiber diameter. The numbers range from 80s for the finest wool to 36s for the coarsest. The initial processing method involves taking the raw wool (greased wool) and running it through a worsted processing system, where the wool is scoured, dried and carded. Carding refers to a combing process that aligns the wool fibers into one large diameter piece of yarn-like material called a roving.

    If you believe that fly tying is an old artistic craft, take a look at home spinning. Even today their are people around us who are spinning their own yarn and then dying it and either weaving it into cloth or making knitted garments. This is the trade that we can borrow from for our purposes. A simple search of "wool roving" on the Internet will give you sources from hundreds of suppliers. It is much like searching "fly tying materials."

    I find it the most economical to purchase in 1 pound lots. I don't find it necessary to have all 14 grades of wool for fly tying. I would first get a pound of the finest grade, then a medium grade, followed up with a real coarse grade. There is one heck of a lot of wool in a pound, so it only makes sense to buy only white and dye up the actual colors that you need.

    Everyone has listened to how wool makes a great material for subsurface flies and how it absorbs water so readily that it causes your fly to sink like a rock. This is true and as you can see in the illustration of magnified wool fibers to the right, the outer surface of the fibers are made up of tiny shingle-like platelets that allows water to be absorbed. Any of you who have had any experience with dying will quickly recognize the advantage this offers. Water is used to carry our dye pigments in a dye bath, and with wool these platelets lock in the pigments when the color is set in a cold water rinsing bath. Yes, wool is very easy to dye and you get some real tantalizing colorfast results.

    Andy Puyans and I did not always agree on all matters pertaining to fly tying, especially when I related to him what a great dry fly material wool can be. I found I could dip flies tied in wool in one of the newer liquid fly floatants and after it dried, the fly would be almost unsinkable. The liquid floatant penetrates well up under the platelets of the wool and does not wash away. Scotch Guard and Rain-X have also proven effective as a floatant. After I sent some flies for Andy to try out, he finally agreed with me that wool was one of our more versatile fly tying materials.

    I use wool wrapped on a body just as you would a floss. It can also be twisted to give a fly body a nice segmented effect. I use it as a dubbing after it is chopped into 3/8th inch pieces and run through a blender with a small portion of rabbit fur for a binder. The coarser wool is superior for spinning wool heads. Beats the heck out of trying to clip it from the hide.        

    These are some of the applications and are offered as a place to start. Just remember, the larger the fly, the coarser the grade of wool.