about freezing materials

[Mark Vendon]

The problem is is that I live in a one-floor apartment and the smell permeates everything I own.

Enoz brand now makes lavender scented para moth disc's that are encased in a paper pouch. They can be found at Walmart stores in a lavender colored box. They don't smell that bad at all compared to the conventional ones.

Regards,
Mark

[Tig]

I have used many grouse skins, starlings, deer hide, buck tails, squirrel tails coyote tails....never washed any of them, never froze any of them. Just dried them with salt and borax and brushed the furs and fluffed the feathers. Can't say that I have ever found a bug. My understanding is that once a host is dead and there is no more blood fleas leave.

[NJTroutbum]

A 5-gallon bucket with Dawn and about a cap-full of bleach will kill everything. DO NOT let anything soak in anything that contains bleach....and rinse well. Hand-wash kills the critters. However, ALL fat and flesh MUST be removed. Remaining fat and flesh will ruin a hide/skin before bugs even bother it. Hap is spot-on....tumbling or blow drying is needed to properly care for afterwards. I ran a trap-line for 12 years and took many, many pelt to auction.

[gerri]

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

[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.

[hap]

I have used many grouse skins, starlings, deer hide, buck tails, squirrel tails coyote tails....never washed any of them, never froze any of them. Just dried them with salt and borax and brushed the furs and fluffed the feathers. Can't say that I have ever found a bug. My understanding is that once a host is dead and there is no more blood fleas leave.

Tig
You should NEVER use salt on tying materials... It takes surprisingly little salt residue to cause hooks to rust in a closed fly box. And it does not kill anything.
art