Peacock Feather Eyes

[ducksterman]

A friend has given me some peacock eyed feathers. I can't say the herls are of the greatest quality but hey I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth.

What flies are the eyes best used for...I suppose classic salmon flies are but that leaves me out.

the eye section and nearby are perfectly suited to stripped quill bodies.

mgj

[Jax]

Hi mjg; Off topic a bit, But how do you strip your peacock herls?? Jax

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Getting Old has it's advantages. It slows you down just enough to get your timing for tightening into a trout Just Right.

[Bamboozle]

Jax:

Pardon me for jumping in...

In the old days when I used stripped peacock eyes I either stripped an entire eye at once in straight Clorox or a 70/30 solution of water and bleach. The bleach will dissolve the herl on the stem. Stick the eye in the bleach and swoosh it around a bit. The straight Clorox dissolves the herl almost immediately; the solution will take a bit longer. I then put them in a stop bath of baking soda & water for a minute or two; finally rinsing off completely with plain water. I also stripped individual fibers by running a soft pencil eraser over them.

Soaking in water or a water & glycerin mix before use helps to make them pliable.

jax,

I strip them poorly. w/ my thumbnails when they're long enough (rarely) and with a pencil eraser when they aren't. allan swears up and down about using parafin wax and oneofthesedaze if I ever come across some parafin, I'm gonna strip a lifetime supply worth.

I was flipping through forgotten flies last night adimring the work of defeo, he used a lot of stripped peacock quills as ribbing on his nymphs and it looks great. and either defeo or preston jenning used stripped quills for wingcases...

[This message has been edited by mikeytwoshoes (edited 18 January 2006).]

[lee s]

Maybe there is only one color behind the eye? Maybe the bleaching lightens them? We looked for some "lighter" ones to send out, but all of ours are one color....mostly.
....lee s.

duckster,

Well, you can use the peacock herl at the lower end of the eye for bodies on dries,
wets, nymphs, streamers, terrestrials. You can use the herl for the lateral line on streamers like the Gray Ghost and many others, use it for wings, or use it for wingcases. You can use the tips of the very top eyes for tails on nymphs. You can strip the eye herl, generally start where the eye starts to appear, for quill bodied flies. I've not seen it used for ribbing but that's not to say you can't or shouldn't. Just seems a little weak for that purpose. In short, peacock herl is a great material. It's easily available, inexpensive, pretty easy to use, and the fish seem to love it.

The only problem I'm having is finding peacock eyes with a light backside. It's these eye where you get the best contrasting shades for the Quill Gordon, Ginger Quill and other flies that call for stripped peacock.

And yes, I prefer to strip the herl off of the quill by dipping the eye, or the individual quills, in melted parafin. When the parafin dries I run my thumbnail along the length of the quill to remove the herl.

Allan

[DT]

I simply use a pencil eraser to strip them. Place the herl on top of a piece of paper, and run the eraser along it (only in one direction) Works pretty well...

[Jax]

Thanks for the info on stripping the herls. I use an eraser for rubbing out ink it has a bit more rough stuff and works well.

The other chemical methods need looking into.

tyeflies: I take it you are refering to Parafin Wax for your melted parafin method. Sounds as though it will work well for large quantities. Thanks to all. Jax

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Getting Old has it's advantages. It slows you down just enough to get your timing for tightening into a trout Just Right.

[ducksterman]

Was this thread hi-Jax'ed...[G]....couldn't resist that...it really wasn't and I learned some things...thanks...

Tell me this though...are you sacrificing all those beautiful eye herls when you are doing these stripping techniques?