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