If you've been tying flies for any length of time, you've fought with dubbing wax. It's messy, it gets on your fingers, and it never seems to have quite the right tack. On a recent episode, I walked through the tool I've been using instead — and it's not something you'll find in a fly shop.
The tool: a scrap of plastic and a glue trap
The setup is almost embarrassingly simple: a scrap of hard plastic (an old gift card, a piece of packaging — anything stiff works) folded in half and stapled closed, with a scraping of adhesive from a household glue trap worked into the inside. That's it.
That small amount of tacky glue inside the folded plastic becomes a reusable dubbing tool that, unlike a stick of wax, doesn't dry out, doesn't get gummy in your fingers, and holds up for years of tying.
The secret ingredient
Go to your grocery store and pick up a glue trap — the kind sold for mice or spiders. Scrape a bit of the adhesive off and work it into your folded plastic tool. That's your permanent, reusable "wax."
How to use it
- Lay your thread across the tool's sticky interior and press the two sides together, then slide it up and down the thread a few times. That's your touch-dub — no wax stick required.
- Pull it away and you'll find the glue has grabbed a thin, even layer that acts exactly like waxed thread, ready to receive dubbing.
- For a dubbing loop, spin your thread as usual and use the same touch-dub technique before adding material — it locks the fibers in place just as well as traditional wax, without the residue.
The advantage over a wax stick isn't just convenience — it's consistency. Wax hardens, gets linty, and needs to be reapplied constantly through a session. This tool stays tacky, doesn't transfer mess to your fingers or your other materials, and because you built it yourself, it costs next to nothing to replace if it ever wears out.
This is exactly the kind of tip that separates people who've spent years at the vise from people just getting started: the trick usually isn't a $40 gadget, it's a better process. If you tie regularly, it's worth five minutes to put one of these together before your next session.
Gear for your next tying session
Nothing in the shop replaces this tool directly (you're building it from a glue trap, not buying it from us) — but if you're settling in at the vise, our FFI Podcast Logo Coffee Mug for Anglers is a good companion for a tying session, and the Tips and Tricks for Fly Fishing eBook has more tricks like this one if you want to go deeper.
