Working with a dubbing Rake

[gerri]

Now that Dr. Korn has demonstrated how easy and non-complex it is to make our own dubbing, I am wondering about adding some "spikey-ness" to the dubbing...Like maybe from a squirrel hide. I have seen the dubbing rakes offered by feathercraft which I think are used to remove hair and fur from the hides. However, to achieve the desired effect of bugginess and spikey dubbing would one use the body fur or just use the squirrel tail hair precut to 1/4 or 1/8 inch pieces . I am also guessing that the hair pieces would be added to the dubbing mix at perhaps midway into the blending process. Please share whatever your experiences are with this step of creating a custom dubbing. Your help is appreciated.
Gerri

[mickalo]

I think you'll find this article an excellent reference for dubbing blending & tools used

http://ukflydressing.proboards.com/thread/4046

mike

[James Smith]

Rather than trying to cut the tail fur into short clips, I recommend that you use the body fur just as it comes off the animal (including the under fur). When you cut longer fur like the tail fur, you get very abrupt ends to the fur with no taper and it does not look nearly as good as naturally tapered fur. I use squirrel body fur quite a bit as dubbing by itself or added to other materials to add spike-ness to the mixture.

I also think that I probably "process" squirrels a bit differently than most people. When I find an appropriate volunteer squirrel (i.e. middle of winter for nice long coat of fur, freshly demised and not all squished up. Can you tell I use road kill?) I collect the squirrel and when I get home, I place a piece of 1x12 board on my lap with the squirrel laying on its side, head facing to my right. I then, grasp a small bunch of fur along the flank of the squirrel between my thumb and forefinger and give the fur a sharp tug towards the head of the squirrel. The fur comes out very easily and in about 10 minutes the squirrel is virtually naked. I store the fur in a zip lock bag and I either put it in the freezer for about three weeks or add a bit of moth balls in the bag and keep it separate from my other materials. I also harvest the tails usually just by cutting them off and dusting the severed end of the tail with 20 Mule Team Borax and let it dry for a couple of weeks. If you do "process" you own squirrels, I'd strongly recommend you try this method to harvest the body fur as you skip all the bloody mess of skinning and curing the skin and then having to store the entire pelt only to cut off the fur to use as dubbing when you need it.

I know that this answer is outside the scope of your original question, but I though you might be interested.

Jim Smith

[Allan]

IMHO - Squirrel tail is not for dubbing although it is excellent for wings on some dries and streamers. As James wrote above, use the fur and hair right from the hide. The back is excellent. Just cut at the base of fur, put in whatever type of blender you prefer and you'll end up with a very buggy/spikey dubbing. If you want something a little less spikey from that same squirrel hide, cut as above and tightly hold the underfur. Pull out the guard hairs and just use the underfur.

Allan

[lastchance]

I only use squirrel tail for streamers or wings, too.

[AlanB]

You can control what you get off the skin with a dubbing rake. If you change the angle you will change the percentage of guard hairs to under fur. So if you want spiky dubbing then take more guard hairs. The very best dubbing rakes were those made by Lawrence Waldren the Ceramiscrape. However they are no longer made. You may find them, but undoubtedly at a premium price (You aint gettin' mine).
As others have already said tail hair isn't a great material for dubbing.
Cheers,
A.

[Greg H]

I store the fur in a zip lock bag and I either put it in thefreezer for about three weeks or add a bit of moth balls in the bag and keep itseparate from my other materials.

Moth balls actually don't kill bugs all the time. Bugs can produce their ownanti-freeze if the temperature drops slowly enough - which is why the fridgefreezer is OK but not perfect to do the job in one freeze. There may also bebug eggs in the fur.
Freeze the fur (and possible eggs) for a couple of weeks - then take the bagout of the freezer and let it thaw for a day. During this time any bugs thathave not died will thaw, and eggs might hatch. Then back into the freezer. Thebugs will have not become strong enough to build up a second supply of anti-freezeand will certainly be killed.
After this you could wash the hair (and certainly the tails) in dish soap (orshampoo) and rinse well. Strain the hair with a seive and 'smack out' on papertowels to dry. Just hang the tail to dry - it will be soft and shiny.

A dubbing rake works great on the body hair of squirrels. As mentioned above, underfur and spikey guard hairs in on go.
Cheers, Greg

[Allan]

Anyone here ever try using a 'coping saw' blade for this purpose? Of course you can use the same instrument I use for my dog ... It's called a 'furminator'. Years ago I had my dog, yellow lab/golden retriever mix, at a fly fishing show. He sat at my lap as I was tying and I raked his fur with his furminator. Made great dubbing for the March Browns I was tying.

Allan

[James Smith]

I actually use a surgical instrument called a 4 pronged sharp retractor that looks something like this http://www.ebay.com/itm/SENN-Retract...item2559316ccc

I picked it up at an Army Navy store for 99 cents and it works great. The teeth are very sharp and it rakes out the under fur very easily.

Jim Smith

[ronnie_mckee]

I made a dubbing rake using a scroll-saw blade.
dubbing brush 001.jpgdubbing brush 003.jpg