Need Help With FULL SKIN of birds...

[kenstah]

Can someone draw me an image of which feathers are good for what?...
for instance...

Pheasant skin:
The tail is widely used for PT flies. BUT HOW ABOUT THE OTHER PARTS OF THE BIRD?

Wing is good for...?
Shoulder is for..?

[JeffHamm]

Hi,

The primary and secondary feathers on the wing are good for wings on wet flies. On the shoulders of the wings you'll find some small feathers that are great for soft hackles, or can be tied on as cheeks on streamers (perhaps shoulders is the proper term? ie. on the side, as per a hornberg, but only extending part way down the body). The body feathers can be used in a number of ways. Look up the Mrs. Simpson in the Fly of the Week section. In the submitted version the brown "Church Window" feathers are used, but the more common tie uses the greenish rump feathers in the same way. I've also used those body feathers tied in flat wing style (look up Craig's Nighttime in the FOTW archives, and use pheasant body feathers in the same way; two, tied in flat on top). There are some feathers that have really long fibres, and fairly thin shafts. A use for these is to pull all the fibres together up along the shaft of the feather. Strip any that don't more or less line up. Secure some wire to be used as a rib, then tie the feather in at the bend of the hook so the tips form the tail (a short one), secure firmly, then wrap that up the shaft of the hook as per a pheasant tail nymph. At about the position of the thorax, tie the feather off so that it sticks straight up from on top of the shaft. Wrap the rib, dub a thorax, then pull the feather down over top as a shell case. You can add some short fibres as a throat or beard hackle for legs. Golden pheasant skins will have both red and yellow feathers that can be used this way. On the Ringneck, the feathers tend to have that dusty blue/grey colour to them.

The bronze neck feathers, sort of heart shaped ones, make great flat wings as well.

Hope that gives a few ideas.

- Jeff

[Ron Eagle Elk]

I know you mentioned Ring Neck Pheasant, here's a link to an article by the late Jack Gartside about just such a bird. http://www.jackgartside.com/art_pheasant_feathers.htm

Other full skins are just as useful, Starlings, Jackdaw, Partridge, etc. If you really look at a bird, you can find a use for darn near every feather on it.

REE

[Fatman]

I'll second Jacks guide to pheasant feathers it's great. make sure to print it out. He passed away and I don't know if anyone is going to take over his site so get your printouts just in case.

Another really good one is by Terry Helleckson who authored the Fish Flies book. Here's the link to his trivia section where he has the pheasant feather use's but also some other really good ones

http://www.terryhellekson.com/Trivia.htm

Here's another one by Jason Borger that's pretty good too

http://jasonborger.com/2009/05/08/dtf-feather-guide/

Hope they help

Fatman

[kenstah]

alright! thank you guys (: just what i was looking for.