[Speyducer]

I have acquired a bunch of old & used silk fly lines, mostly in good nick, but these vary from trout lines to salmon lines (going on length and line thickness).

However, I am wondering if the currently applicable line rating system is appropriate for these silk lines, or are they rated in a different way?

Anyone know??

Mike

 

[RonT]

Search for "Over my Waders'. look around that site.
R

 

[bender]

Just measure first 30ft and compare to AFTM table.

I have also bought many old silk lines which are mostly DT:s and they have very short (<5ft) tapers and also many have tips broken shorter at least the other (more used) end. When I have "vacuum chambered" oil to them their weight easily increase 10% when they "fill up".

 

[RonT]

Be careful of the "first thirty feet".... Weigh from ~12" forward of the taper to 30' if DT. SWAG how much "treatment" has been applied and adjust accordingy. The charts found on OMW show thickness also, consider that when calculating. Mic to confirm.
Occasionally you will find some that border the low end of the thickness/weight range, some the high end.
If in doubt...try em' out.....
R

 

[fredaevans]

A term I've not seen used before.

When I have "vacuum chambered" oil to them their weight easily increase 10% when they "fill up".

"Vacuum chambered?" I assume this is to put oil of some sort into the fibers to help with flotation. But that's just a bad guess.

How's that work?

fae

 

[Speyducer]

Thanks for the refs....will take some 'wading' through, as it seems to be written in some alien language!

However, I did read somewhere that the treatment & maintenance of these silk lines is with linseed oil - is that still in favour??

Mike

 

[Peter Pan]

Hi Mike,

I did a sbs for silkline renovation in a German Forum and I try to translate it in english:

I had the idea to do a sbs too late so I have no pictures of the old line taken from a Young Pridex reel.
With many hints from Wolfram Schott and Andreas Schumacher I did this:
- I washed the old line with acetone. Be carefull doing that because acetone is flamable. I did this three times till the acetone was clear.
- Let the line dry thoroughly.

Put the dry line in Linolja linseed oil.

This is a sunbleached linseed oil for furniture.

Put the linseed oil and line in a desiccator with vacuum, to get the line soaked all the way through.

When the air comes out of the line there is some foam.

After all the foam is regressed, take the line out of the oil. You may need it next time.

Wipe out the surplus oil.

A bit heat may help. My line was in an oven for one hour at 100 degrees celsius.

Let the line dry in the sun. This is very important. The lineseed oil molecules will react with each other in sunlight but it takes time.I did this vacuum thing three times with my line.

See next post.
Peter

 

[Peter Pan]

Now it's time to polish the line. First with 0000 steel wool.

This is the line after the first polishing.

Sensitive content, not recommended for those under 18 Show Content

The line is cleaned with a cloth and turpentine. After drying you run the line through that cloth again this time soaked in a 50/50 solution of linseed oil and turpentine.

The next polishing is done with pumice powder, followed by diatomaceous earth with a last polish with Talcum powder. I did it with silica powder.

The powdered line should be

cleaned again with turpentine. Let it dry and draw it through the cloth with linseed oil and turpentine.

I did this two times and the line looks quiet good but I have to polish it two times more. We will see how it looks then.

Tight lines

Peter

 

[bender]

System is explained in that site Ron mentioned. Oil is a mix of boiled linseed oil (Vernissa) and oil I use for garden furniture (China Oil). I use a vacuum pump I made from refrigerator compressor. Line to a class jar with oil and when vacuum is applied all air escapes inside the line and oil goes in. Then few days to cure and polishing with a cloth.

Perhaps vacuum cleaner can be used but there is a danger to burn it because it does not get cooling. But it might hold few minutes although the vacuum is not as good as with proper vacuum pump.

Silk line floating is done adding proper floatant (Red Mucilin) with fingers before fishing and then light puffing.

 

[bender]

Very good instructions! Thanks for translation Peter!

I have not used steel wool or powders, just wiping with a cloth. There are some bumps in line surface but they don't seem to cause any trouble for casting. Perhaps they collect debris which I understand cause silk line sinking when they make water surface tension to disappear.

I have read that baking soda/water mixture is safer way to remove old oil although I have also used Acethone. But I have also just added new oil if line has not been very sticky or dirty.

 

[Speyducer]

Very many thanks for the all the superb instructions & pictures!

I can see I have quite some tasks ahead

 

[fredaevans]

spam reported.:saevilw:

 

[sevilla315]

Great thread!
My friend in Slovenia redressed his Terenzio after destroying the coating using some experimental floatants such as lip balm!
He got a great result even though he didn't use the vacuum to remove most of the air from the line. He also did the line on the clothes dryer thing, and ended up with a true to life "fly" line with beasties stuck all over it like fly paper! :chuckle:
I also read some articles advising caution with linseed, especially rags soaked in the stuff or used to finish lines then left lying around - they sometimes self combust!
Classic silks are most probably on the old system predating AFTM (new Cadno silks use this system I believe), but check out the Wolfram Schott article (google for download or on overmywaders) and it shows a conversion chart, or just weigh it to get the right grains.

S

 

[speyghillie]

Silk Lines

All you ever wanted to know about silk lines, and more.

http://www.overmywaders.com/extracts/SilkLinesbyWolframSchott.pdf

Gordon
DTX Pro Staff

www.mackenzieflyfishing.com.

 

[fredaevans]

Great read Gordon! This defiantly a 'Five Star' Thread.

Fred