Quill Softening

[fritz]

I recently saw a YOUTUBE where a tier soaks his quills in vegetable/mineral oil instead of water and keeps them in a plastic bag. Seems like a good idea as long as the quills don't remain unused too long. Anyone else do this? The tier didn't say anything about bonding effects when coating the fly body with UV or head cement. Comments? Thanks

[Beaver]

Yes. I've doing this for awhile now. Works well keeping the peacock quillsSoft. Been tying my quildigon nymphs and coating them with UV resin without any problems.

[Rick Z]

Do you think it would work for porcupine quills?

Rick

[Beaver]

I've never worked with porcupine quills. So couldn't say. It definitely kept the quills I was working with softer and more manageable than the water or steam that I was using before.