about freezing materials

[NJTroutbum]

Not if it's just a capfull. And all you do is had wash well, then rinse thoroughly. Do not soak!

[Allan]

Ralph,would not the use of clorox or other bleaches alter the color of furs and/or feathers even slightly? And also I would think the harshness of the bleach would have a drying effect on the feathers and furs causing them to become brittle? I agree with the hair dryer use though. Just wondering!
Gerri

My experiences have been that a capful of bleach in a bucket of water with Dawn dish soap does not harm in any way, or alter the color of the materials. As far as 'soaking', no more then a minute or two is all you need. Just use warm water. Rinse thoroughly. Animal skins can be placed against cardboard to dry, which allows you to get the hair neat. Or, you can place the hair down, expose the skin and put Borax on it. Birds skins are another matter and see the suggestion by NJTroutbum. If you pluck the feathers put them in a pillowcase or woman's stocking and in the dryer. Keep watch on them when doing it this way.

Allan

[jszymczyk]

these threads always get me laughing. Might as well just go exclusively to synthetic materials the way some folk think... ANY natural material MUST be frozen, thawed, microwaved, UV blasted, X-Rayed, run over with a tractor, bleached, baked, soaked, heated, cooled, frozen again, then stored in a vacuum for 17 years before it is SAFE !!!

There is however some very good, sane advise in this thread.

Bottom line: the "bugs" that you might find on live or just killed animals (fleas, ticks, lice, etc) are all blood-feeders and don't have anything to do with damaging the fly-tying parts of the animals. Those USUALLY come later, and are USUALLY dermestid beetles of various sorts, also to a much lesser degree a few species of moths and mites. ( I am not in any way referring to disease-causing microorganisms... )

The only reasonable way to deal with the concern is through chemical warfare, and the only really reasonable chemicals are the afore-mentioned paradichlorobenzene and Di-Chlorvos. Di-Chlorvos is apparently more toxic and some people are way more sensitive to it. Paradichlorobenzene is the way I go.

I also do like to wash and dry my killed materials- bucktails, coyote tails, etc. It is AMAZING how much dirt comes out of them, and how much nicer they look afterwards.

Everyone who thinks fur and feathers they buy have been intimately cared for through various and sundry steps to ensure they are sterile are sadly mistaken. Go buy a bucktail in a shop and give it a wash in warm water and woolite and you will see.

[NJTroutbum]

You are correct, and my remarks are meant for fresh hides and feathers, not store bought. But I have bought dyed bucktail and hair patches from very reputable dealers over the years.....and thrown them away due to hundreds of ticks, attached, dyed and covering the hair. They were just more trouble than they were worth. I doubt they were treated or handled at all.

[Luke McLeod]

HELLO!?!? Dawn + clorox = chlorine gas! We are definightly talking about chemical warfare here. As in this is exactally what they gassed troops with in WWI. By no means mix these two! Even in small quantities it can be deadly and have a cumulative effect that can crop up years later!

[jszymczyk]

HELLO!?!? Dawn + clorox = chlorine gas! We are definightly talking about chemical warfare here. As in this is exactally what they gassed troops with in WWI. By no means mix these two! Even in small quantities it can be deadly and have a cumulative effect that can crop up years later!

I'm not a chemist, but I think you are mistaken. Mixing bleach with hydrochloric acid such as in Toilet Cleaner, CLR, etc is where the danger is. Unless dish soap has a high concentration of HCl, I think everyone will be OK. Not that it's GOOD, but also the quantities talked about plus diluting them in gallons of water, make it pretty much a non-issue. I'd bet you breath more toxins every day from just going about your life than what would be produced by a capful of bleach in a few gallons of water.

[Jayatwork]

Mixing bleach with ammonia is also bad news.

At one time Dawn (and other some other dish soaps) had a warning on the label to not mix with bleach. I glanced at the current MSDS for Dawn and didn't see anything. I would think it's a pretty low risk, but I guess it's best to err on the side of caution and read the label.