Quill bodies

[Mike29]

I was wondering what type of feather would everyone recommend I use to strip down to make my own quill bodies? Thanks in advance!
Mike

[kengore]

Inexpensive strung chinese hackle, at least 5-7 inches long for quill bodies in the size 18-12 range.

[biot midge]

If you get the strung hackle, make sure it is neck and not saddle. I have had a hard time finding strung neck hackle, so I just by whole Chinese rooster necks for my quills.
Steve

[Darryl]

Like Mike29 said, inexpensive Chinese strung hackle. DO NOT use saddle hackle though. The quills are too thin to achieve a nice "carrot shaped" body. You want strung neck hackle. Stone River Outfitters, a sponsor here, carries a really nice product called strung saltwater hackle. It's just about perfect for making quill bodied flies. This past spring I bought two packages of it (I think it's about five or six dollars) in white and dyed it "sulphur orange" using RIT dye. My Sulphur Parachutes came out really well.

Hope this helps.

-Darryl

P.S. If you buy the white, after bleaching all of the hackle off, you can dye it any color you want using RIT dye, which you can purchase at just about any craft store. The easiest way to strip all of the hackle off is to immerse your stem in a solution of 50/50 bleach and water. It's not exactly fast, but it works very well and as long as you don't use a concentration of greater than 50/50 you won't damage your quills. Another piece of advice: you want to use two quills on flies larger than #16 to achieve the best results. Check out A.K. Best's books and DVD's for more info on this.

[psyfly11]

The strung chinese necks are what A.K. best uses. You can also use some of the butt stems from your dry fly necks. If you have some cream necks they will dye nicely. If you want to tie in bulk, order the strung chinese necks from a wholesaler.

[bones]

in the AK style... I used one Chinese strung hackle

[flyfishfairwx]

The Mag Fly Tyer Autumn 2007, has an article on Mastering stripped-quill bodies.

[jjtroutbum]

The Mag Fly Tyer Autumn 2007, has an article on Mastering stripped-quill bodies.

Written by non other than AK Best

[Donald Nicolson]

A very nice fly Harry, any info on the hook size etc. I do like s/e hooks.

[bones]

Thank you Donald.. the hook is a TMC101-16...the straight eye is nice, in fact, I have come to prefer it over down eye hooks.