Hair stacker
Also called hair stacker tool, hair tip stacker, stacker
A hair stacker is a small tube-and-base tool that evens the tips of hair or fur for tying wings and tails, including comparadun wings.
- Group
- Tying tools
- Category
- Fly tying — materials & tools
- Level
- Intermediate
- Water
- Fresh & salt
Last updated
What Hair stacker means
Set the hair into the tube tips first, tap the base on the bench, then pull the bundle out by the tips. The tapping lines up the tips so they come out even.
Hair stackers show up most in deer hair and elk hair work, plus bucktail for streamers.
Size matters. A stacker that is too small stacks a big bunch poorly. One that is too large will not stack a few short hairs properly.
Why it matters on the water
Even tips change how a fly tracks and floats. A stacked elk hair wing sits centered and supports a dry fly better than a wing with uneven ends.
Stacking also saves time at the vise. It reduces trimming after the tie-in, which helps keep the wing the right length and keeps the head from getting bulky.
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Read next
- BucktailBucktail is deer tail hair used as a fly-tying material, most often for streamer wings. It sheds water, flares under thread pressure, and holds a tapered shape.
- Deer hairDeer hair is hollow, buoyant hair used in fly tying for dry-fly wings, spun bodies, and packed heads. It flares under thread tension and can be trimmed into shape.
- Elk Hair CaddisA buoyant caddis adult imitation tied with elk hair for the wing. It’s a standard dry fly for caddis hatches and as a general searching pattern.
- Hook sizeHook size is the numbering system that tells you how big a fishing hook is. For most trout hooks, bigger numbers mean smaller hooks, and hooks larger than size 1 use “aught” sizes (1/0, 2/0, 3/0).