Spade Hackle ?

Wayne P wrote:
I have been reading AK's Production tying book and advanced tying
book this weekend. He mentions a spade hackle. What is a spade hackle
?

wayne

When you bought a neck (cape) in the "Good Old Days" there were some wide,
sharply tapered feathers along the edges. Nice stiff fibers, too long and
too tapered to think about using them for a collar or palmered hackle.
These are spade hackles - they were used a lot for dry fly tailing. They
are kind of spade shaped. I have a nice old Keogh brown neck and a locally
grown grizzly that I use for tailing hackles. Most of the newer genetic
necks either have the spade hackles trimmed off for neatness, or maybe they
just don't grow them like they used to, Charlie Collins (Collins Hackle)
and Whiting both sell 'tailing packs' which are essentially these spade
hackles. Collins sells a nice grab bag with mixed grizzly, brown and tan
hackles (a lifetime supply) for about $5. He had a big box of them at the
Somerset Flytying show last week. I've only seen Whiting's on their web
site - never in a store. I would guess that any hackle grower has these.

The *best* source is to get to know some old tyers. They usually have a
pile of depleted necks that are nothing but skins with a big bald spot and
some spades along the edges. That's how I got my brown neck.

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