Cleaning Calf Tail

Calf tail, though hard to stack, is easier done when it is clean. With this in mind, in the spring I washed (cold water and woolite) two tails (flour. pink and a flour. orange). Unfortunately they ended up light pink and rusty orange, as a lot of their color washed right out. My guess is that was not caused by the woolite (please correct me if I am wrong!) but because the colors were not "fixed" during the dyeing process. Anyway, I now have purchased two more flourescent tails and want again to wash them. How can I be sure the colors are fixed. Do I soak them first in a diluted mixture of vinegar? Something else? Do I use warm water to make the mixture? What ratio of water to vinegar? Thanks.

Hi Peter,

You are right, the Woollite was probably not the fault and the dye bath wasn't fixed as it should have been. Peter, I know of no way to go back and refix. I've washed the dyed product and if it faded, I re-dyed/fixed it. Be sure to get rid of as much of the bad dye job before redoing the material. Good luck! Take care & ...

Tight Lines - Al Beatty
www.btsflyfishing.com

Peter:
I would wash the calf tails in liquid soap like dawn and cold water. I think that would minimize the loss of color. I wash black marabou this way. Alot of black comes out, but alot of black is left too.
Bob Scheidt

Ive always combed out the bunch of calf tail I'm gonna use before I put it in a stacker and it always works for me. Gotta clean out all of the shorties and other junk before combing.

Peter...you may want to consult your friend Rob K. on this too. He's very knowledgeable, as we both know.

Jeremy.