Removing material from hooks

[Fred]

I have quite a few flies that either look like crap, or have fallen apart. I want to reuse the beads and hooks. Does anyone have any tricks that can help me speed up the process of removing the thread and material?

[Larry S.]

A single edge razor blade will make quick work of it. Got to put it in the vice though.

[Crosby]

Fred- on my fly tying bench I have a small indentation I made with the head of a nail- this is where I put the eye of the hook to hold in down- then I use a straight razor blade and strip it clean. I hope somebody gives you a better idea but that is what I have been doing for years- I have heard of some soaking it in this or that---- no its not that complicated and I didn't want to deal with something else that I had to dispose of ect. The indentation I made on my desk is critical though- with out it your hook slips once in awhile and the razor does bad things to your fingers.

[Indylab]

I thought I was the only tightwad reusing hooks. I try to get all of my friends' hooks also when their flies fall apart. I use a blade like the others, or needle nose pliers to rip the stuff off.

[Kevin Conlin]

Hey, I can out-tightwad anyone here. I often re-hackle or re-dub flies that are starting to fall appart, reusing hooks, beads, and whatever else is still hanging on.

[raposaNegra]

hmmm... well I untangled about 10 hooks (flies) out of a tree branch on the lower provo and added them to my fly box. It doesn't get any cheaper than that.

[THeBLender]

(I promise to get a fur bearers permit next time - I didn't know I needed one and it was already at least 2 days old) and I don't even tie files yet! It was "just in case" :)

I also (try to) untie the wind knots in leaders instead of just springing for a new one.

[HookInMouth]

You mean flies wear out! I seem to lose mine in big fish, tall trees, or deep holes before wearing them out. I can count on one hand the number of files I have actually wore out. Those hooks, I figured were so dull, that if I were to put time into tying another, I would prefer a nice sharp hook. So I guess you guys are also sharpening the hooks, when you strip the material off them.

[Don]

A razor blade is the way to go, but what helps is you can buy a glass scrapper that holds the razor blades. This makes it a lot easier to hold on too. Albertsons sells some cheap plastic handled ones that you can replace the blades for around a $1

[Fred]

The razor blade seems to be the consensus. That has been more or less my approach. My work table won't allow me to use Crosby's method.

I guess I'll have to keep doing them one at a time. I was kind of hoping someone would have a solution for doing many at once, like burn, boil, broil, bake, deep fry or something.

Hook, many of the ones I want to do are flies that I tied, but I don't fish for one reason or another, expiremental or goofed up patterns. Some just come apart due to poor whip finish.