Making Sewing 'bristles' From Fishing Line

[JakeDiebolt]

I've seen people posting on the forum about using fishing line instead of nylon bristles or boar bristles for sewing (especially shoemaking). Some questions:

What kind/weight of fishing line?

How do you 'split' them (if at all?)?

Can it be reused afterwards or is it just discarded?

Any help is much appreciated!

[JakeDiebolt]

TTT

[cem]

From the research I did awhile ago monofilament 40lb (0.6mm) seems to be the most common size and I tried it with that. To split it you get a sharp scalpel blade and push the line into it once it has a small opening you can use a fingernail to open it up a bit more then it can be pulled apart fairly easily. I just discarded it afterwards as fishing line is cheap, I don't really need to use this method for sewing so haven't kept up with it

For a bit more in depth information on the process try The Crispin Colloquy http://www.thehcc.org/forum/index.php

as there seems to be quite a few there who still sew with bristles both fishing line and boar and I know there has been a few discussions on it.

[JakeDiebolt]

Thanks!

[oltoot]

I don't use them but one of my mentors did and I watched. The impression I came away with is that the thread (at least 4 chord linen and tapered the length of the join ) the beeswax (warmed to almost melting) thorough casing of the project (so the awl holes would be slicked by the passage of the awl) and the awl work itself were the 'tricks' that had to be mastered to make it work. The awl needed to be stropped slick and the awl work needed to be precise and steady so that a smooth surface was what the assembled bristles had to pass through. He, having been a bootmaker for awhile had it all mastered and made it look easy.