Quill body flies

Can you use any quill? I have lots of mediocre hackle bits that I wonder
about stripping off and making quill bodies out of. Do you have do anything
to soften them so they wrap better?

--riverman

The tougher the better, but pretty much any quill is worth trying. The ugly
feathers from the top of a cape are good - the ones with way too much taper
or webbing for a dry fly hackle. The best thing is to try a couple and see
how they work for you. Strip the barbs by hand (gently, don't damage the
quill). You can soften them up by soaking in water for a while (your while
may vary). If I'm going to tie a bunch, I soak them for about 15 minutes
and then fold them up in a damp paper towel to keep them damp, but not
soaked. One of my friends uses a few drops of fabric softener in the water,
but I don't think is does much aside from adding a flowery fragrance.
Experiment with tying in by the tip and then by the butt to see the
difference. You can read it in a book, but experimenting is more fun. If
you like the look, you can strip a lot of quills quickly using bleach
(instructions available all over the web and in this group's archives). I
don't like the bleach method because of poor results. I was a horrible lab
partner in chemistry lab toog.

--
Stan Gula
http://gula.org/roffswaps

"riverman" wrote
Can you use any quill? I have lots of mediocre hackle bits that I wonder
about stripping off and making quill bodies out of. Do you have do
anything
to soften them so they wrap better?

Riverman, remember to try stripped peacock too... You can strip the flue
off the herls by rubbing gently with a pencil eraser.
--

"riverman" wrote
Can you use any quill? I have lots of mediocre hackle bits that I wonder
about stripping off and making quill bodies out of. Do you have do
anything
to soften them so they wrap better?

"Stan Gula" wrote in message
...
Riverman, remember to try stripped peacock too... You can strip the flue
off the herls by rubbing gently with a pencil eraser.
--


Ahh, nice suggestion, as a local shop has peacocks in the yard and a big
vase full of feathers for the taking. Unfortunately, most of them are pretty
mangled and unusable for herl, but maybe the quills are worth saving.

What got me into quill bodies was a bunch of flies in that case I found on
our trip.

--riverman

"riverman" wrote in
:

Can you use any quill? I have lots of mediocre hackle bits that I
wonder about stripping off and making quill bodies out of. Do you have
do anything to soften them so they wrap better?

--riverman



As an aside, this morning on my front storm door was a dark mayfly, size 16
with a body that looked very close to what a quill body looks like.

When I tie a quill body I just use a feather from the top of the neck.
Like Stan said, experiment with using different tie-in points on the quill.
Ask yourself if you want fine segmentation or more noticable segments.
With this morning's visiter, a more noticable segmentation would be in
order and I would tie in a thicker quill.

I've used water to soften a quill. Never had to use anything more.

Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com


----== Posted via Newsfeed.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==----
http://www.newsfeed.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 100,000 Newsgroups
---= 19 East/West-Coast Specialized Servers - Total Privacy via Encryption =---

"Stan Gula" wrote...
The tougher the better, but pretty much any quill is worth trying. The ugly
feathers from the top of a cape are good - the ones with way too much taper
or webbing for a dry fly hackle. The best thing is to try a couple and see
how they work for you. Strip the barbs by hand (gently, don't damage the
quill). You can soften them up by soaking in water for a while (your while
may vary). If I'm going to tie a bunch, I soak them for about 15 minutes
and then fold them up in a damp paper towel to keep them damp, but not
soaked. snip

Maybe there is something wrong with the dyed quills I bought. Even after
soaking, they split when I'm wrapping them. Any suggestions?
--
TL,
Tim
------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj

"Tim J." wrote in
:


"Stan Gula" wrote...
The tougher the better, but pretty much any quill is worth trying.
The ugly feathers from the top of a cape are good - the ones with way
too much taper or webbing for a dry fly hackle. The best thing is to
try a couple and see how they work for you. Strip the barbs by hand
(gently, don't damage the quill). You can soften them up by soaking
in water for a while (your while may vary). If I'm going to tie a
bunch, I soak them for about 15 minutes and then fold them up in a
damp paper towel to keep them damp, but not soaked. snip

Maybe there is something wrong with the dyed quills I bought. Even
after soaking, they split when I'm wrapping them. Any suggestions?

A drop of hair conditioner in the water might help.

Scott

"Scott Seidman" wrote in message
. 1.4...
"Tim J." wrote in
:


"Stan Gula" wrote...
The tougher the better, but pretty much any quill is worth trying.
The ugly feathers from the top of a cape are good - the ones with way
too much taper or webbing for a dry fly hackle. The best thing is to
try a couple and see how they work for you. Strip the barbs by hand
(gently, don't damage the quill). You can soften them up by soaking
in water for a while (your while may vary). If I'm going to tie a
bunch, I soak them for about 15 minutes and then fold them up in a
damp paper towel to keep them damp, but not soaked. snip

Maybe there is something wrong with the dyed quills I bought. Even
after soaking, they split when I'm wrapping them. Any suggestions?

A drop of hair conditioner in the water might help.


I haven't tried tying, or prepping quills, but has anyone thought of rolling
over them with a rolling pin? My thought is that it will crush the quill
evenly so that it becomes very malleable, and wouldn't split when rolled
onto the hook.

--riverman

"Tim J." schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
SNIP

Maybe there is something wrong with the dyed quills I bought. Even after
soaking, they split when I'm wrapping them. Any suggestions?
--
TL,
Tim
------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj



Soak them in vegetable oil ( Olive oil, Corn oil etc). Older quills become
brittle with time. The oil softens them, and prevents them splitting when
tying in.

TL
MC

"riverman" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
SNIP
I haven't tried tying, or prepping quills, but has anyone thought of
rolling
over them with a rolling pin? My thought is that it will crush the quill
evenly so that it becomes very malleable, and wouldn't split when rolled
onto the hook.

--riverman


If you crush the quills. they will split when tied in. Crushing them
damages the structure, and also makes them soak up more water.

TL
MC