THE SHAPE OF THE LOOP 93 



thumb, a sort of " neck " is produced, where 

 the twist of the gut is straightened out and a 

 nice round loop of tightly twisted gut is formed. 

 The size of the loop will, of course, depend upon 

 the size of the fly, but only experience will 

 teach what the size should be. It is a generally 

 accepted maxim that the loop should be as 

 small as possible, within reasonable limits. 



Before laying it on to the hook, the twisted 

 gut should have been manipulated into the 



FIG. 18. 



shape indicated in Fig. 18. The next thing is 

 to wax a piece of silk. 



Unwind about a foot of the natural silk 

 mentioned on p. 73 from its reel. Between 

 the tips of the right forefinger and thumb 

 work a piece of cobbler's wax about the size of 

 a small pea, until it begins to get soft. Press 

 it flat, and then pass the silk through from end 

 to end quickly but steadily once (see Figs. 19 

 and 20). To an expert once will be quite 

 enough, and the silk will have been evenly and 

 lightly waxed, but in such a way that it will 

 " bite " well. 



