Several years ago I had the pleasure to finally meet in person Bob Veverka and to participate in one of his classes. Bob dazzled a number of us from Oregon and Washington with his talent and skill. Never have I seen full dressed salmon flies tied with such speed and deftness of hand and still see Bob carry on four conversations at the same time while never missing a wrap of thread.

Some months later I found myself seated at Bob's tying desk learning the nuances of tying everything from Speys to streamers to Atlantic salmon hair wings. One item I had yet to experiment with was silkworm gut. Bob kindly spent time showing me how to work this aged material. To my surprise a tiny brown speck would often erupt into a broken or frayed fiber just when it looked as if satisfactory results were just moments away.

Curiosity and desire for improvement lead me to Kelson's book wherein I searched for answers which might help me overcome the problems I had already experienced with silkworm gut. Sure enough on page 443 1 discovered the solution to all my previous problems - an antique gut twister. I decided to try to replicate this tool once used by the masters. After all, it didn't look complicated!

I picked up a catalogue containing components for making unusual devices and determined that I would need nylon gears, a drive chain, shaft, handle and aluminum stock. The assembly progressed better than I had expected and I was ready to put it to the test. I rotated the handle a few turns to see if all three gears were rotating simultaneously to ensure an even and tight twist. Three more turns and the nylon chain broke and had to be repaired, after which I then determined that I needed to have loops of wire extending from the shafts so as not to twist the gut at an extreme angle.

All in all, after some fine tuning, the creation proved functional and who could argue with the results after I had only spent a few pennies less than $100.00?

The bottom line is, if you wish to avoid a knot in your own gut (intestine), use hemostats and a shepherd's hook for twisting. The cost of two cheap hemostats and a hook is less than $15.00. The other $85.00 could buy you some great materials (Ed. note: such as silks - hint, hint!).

Instructions for twisting silkworm gut.

1. Soak gut overnight in cool water.
2. Secure three equal lengths of gut of equal diameter together with a hemostat at one end.
3. Make sure all pieces are parallel and hemostat the other ends. Try to avoid any crossing or overlapping prior to twisting.
4. Secure the far end hemostat to a solid object.
5. Place the shepherd's hook into the near end hemostat and begin to twist.
6. While twisting stroke gut with cool water using your thumb and inside finger to advance twists toward your distant hemostat. The water is important as it eliminates friction while twisting.
7. When the desired results have been obtained, keep tension between the hemostats and tack them down to a board, slightly stretching the twisted gut at the same time. Let the gut dry overnight and enjoy results the next morning.