material storage

[Cableman]

I'm very new to fly tying and fly fishing for that matter, anyway I have a question on the storage of feathers. I have some hen hackle from Whiting (sorry Denny, this was before I knew you and by the way Dad does remember you from high school)that I have always left in the original packages, but after reading the posting on bugs, I decide to move them to plastic contains with moth cyrstals in them. My question is: is there any thing else that a person should keep in mind when storing materials? do you have to worry about feathers, skins or anything else drying out or becoming brittle?
Thanks
Dave

[KBarton10]

Most skins have enough oil remaining in them to avoid drying out, even tanned hides will remain supple for many years. The biggest issue is bugs.

Moth Crystals are a pain in the rear as well, their odor is less than pleasant, and when handling materials you can inadvertantly brush some in your eyes. I like incense cedar better, it has a pleasant odor which will keep you in good standing with your spouse. It repells bugs as well as moth crystals and you can buy thin slats (used for closet lining) from any hardware store - cut them to length and line the drawer bottoms with them.

Hitting them with a belt sander will restore the odor after you've used them for a year or more, so a small investment will last an awful long time.

As your material stash grows moth balls will become a larger issue, as you will be adding more to cover your new acquisitions - at some point you'll be banished to the garage.

KB

[Normand]

i have some capes that are over 25 years old and they are stored in the original packaging and then in those rubbermaid storage boxes. I do not use cedar or moth ball and have had no problems with bug or anything else in over 27 years of tying.

[fishbum]

Forget the ceder, no-pest strips, dog collars, freezing, microwave and all the other old wives tales used supposidly keep bugs out of your material. Do what museums do with priceless pelts of birds and animals. Use moth balls or crystals with PARADICHLOROBENZINE as the active ingrediant. It kills bugs and eggs.

We go over this topic on a regular basis and some keep giving this usless advice about keeping material.

PARADICHLOROBENZINE is king when it comes to bug prevention. Bugs don't come near the stuff.

Bugless for over 40 years,

fishbum

[Ray Kunz]

I agree with Fishbum. Stick with the really proved technique and stop looking for the "almost" alternatives.

[TyroneFly]

I recently posted about bugs. I too thought cedar and cloves would do the trick and keep bugs out. My material were in resealable packages. They were also stored in air tight plastic tubs in my house on shelves in a closet. Before we sold our house I refreshed the cedar and cloves and stored all the plastic tubs in heavy moving boxes sealed all along the perimeter with heavy-duty sealing tape. When I opened the boxes a few months later several of my capes were infested with some pretty big bugs (some as long as approx 1/2"). I froze ALL my materials for several weeks and washed all my capes and hids in Woolite and placed them in new bags. I then placed all my materials including synthetics in plastic are tight containers. I also placed moth balls in small containers which I placed holes in the top of the lids so they don't touch the materials and keep the dust contained to eventually dessolve. While I would love to use natural means like cedar and other deterrants, they don't work!

[gadabout]

i have some capes that are over 25 years old and they are stored in the original packaging and then in those rubbermaid storage boxes. I do not use cedar or moth ball and have had no problems with bug or anything else in over 27 years of tying.

My experiences are almost identical. I dislike the smell of moth balls so much that I would probably give up fly tying if I had to use them. I rely mainly on zip-lock bags for storage. Virtually all of my materials have come from fly shops or fly tying material dealers. I don't harvest road kill or get my materials from hunters. I have had great results using the zip-lock bags. Like Normand, I also have been doing this for close to thirty years.

[psyfly11]

The big bugs may very well be carpet beetles. FISHBUM is right. Paradichlorobenzene is the thing to use. Ice Crystals by Enos is a great product. The smell is not as bad as Napthalene, traditional both ball product. Sprinkle the crystals liberally in your boxes and you eliminate a large potential for bugs. If there is an infestation dump a whole can of Ice Crystals in the box and seal it to kill the bugs.

[Bamboozle]

Cable:

Here is the link to the aforementioned TyroneFly post:

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/v...hp?f=5&t=21434

Listen to the boys and save the cloves for the ham and the cedar for the cigars.

Just to reaffirm some info on the stinky stuff; Paradichlorobenzene AKA Moth CRYSTALS KILLS various critters and the fear of death repels them too!

1,4-Dichlorobenzene usually found in Moth BALLS is a repellent but I'm not as positive it kills as many critters as the crystals. It is better suited as a repellent than a killer.

BOTH are only effective when used in sealed containers like Zip Lock bags or Rubbermaid containers.

As far as the smell goes; did you really think this fly tying thing was going to be a nice clean and happy smelling hobby?

[TyroneFly]

Bam,

The moth balls I am using has Paradichlorobenzene as it #1 active ingredient. I wanted to be certain I can repel and kill any eggs and pest that survived the freeze as well as future attacks. The smell reminds of my childhood when I watched the fly tyers at the SF Sports and Boat show in the 60's.