I got around to getting my tieing material sorted and bagged and I find I have a HUGE amount of hackle. Some full saddles; some are 1/4 saddles…etc…new still in their plastic bags. Without opening them up, strictly visual now…it looks like they make be “dried out” ??..for lack of a better term.
Can; should or is it even possible to maybe…?? steam them gently to bring some life back into them…or…is it even needed???
Some of the larger feathers ( pheasant tail feathers; good and turkey wing feathers…etc) that were never packaged seem to be fine so I really dont know about the hackleling feathers and certainly dont want to “destroy” what might be good hackleling.
?? How do you spell the plural of hackle anyway?..lol
I’m still using the sparse remnants of my first grizzly rooster cape purchased by me from Blue Ribbon Flies back in 1984. Still as ‘supple’ as when purchased although there is not much left to work with. My opinion, after 26 years of tying is, as long as you keep the bugs out, feathers seem to keep very well.
I would think there would be many variables to this question, how they were stored IE acid free bags etc. Humidity in the room exposure to light, chemicals in the room. I think in Ideal conditions they should last forever. Hopefully Denny or one of the other feather experts will give us more info.
Depending on how and where feathers are stored can and will make a difference.
Sunlight direct onto a package of skin laid on your tying bench is one of the worst. The stem will dry out and make tying with it a real pain.
Heat can also be a big problem.
One can always soak an entire skin in warm water for an hour. Very carefully pat out the water. Lay it feathers up on a piece of cardboard and allow to dry, room temp. This will not hurt the hackle and just may (not always) give it back some normal moisture into the stem.
I got some hackle (maybe hackles, I don’t know) from a friend a number of years ago. Neither he nor his father tied, his grandfather quit tying in the 50’s so they assumed that’s when they were from. They were dusty and the quality was nowhere near what they are today but… They work just fine. I still use them from time to time for buggers, legs, tails and things like that. I don’t think they are rigid enough to keep a fly afloat for any length of time but then again, they probably weren’t back in the day either.
Gretchen & I inherited some feathers from her father that were purchased in the 40s and they were fine to tie with as far a supple, etc. was concerned. Of course the quality of hackle at that time was really different from today. The feathers were stored (loose) in sealed 5 gallon tin cans that were used for restraurant grease back-in-the-day but were not stored in plastic bags. Take care & …
The feathers that were purchased “bagged” are all Whiting Silvers; kept in their own individual plastic bags ( I call them plastic??) never even opened’ Store inside a close tool box ( I keep thread; hooks; scissors, etc in another tool box) and the lid to it was kept closed for…?..about 7-8 years now. The long feathers ( pheasant tails…etc) were also kept in the same toolbox.
No bugs of any sort because they were kept in a “mothproof” room.
Most material does not get old. We have 80 years worth of material and it is all still usable even the oldest stuff. A lot of times for use the oldest material is junk because the good stuff was all used up. The other stuff was kept hoping another use could be found, quill bodies and etc.
As long as we are on a thread related to the survival of older hackles I have a question.
I have been told that the fleibility of an old, dried and inflexible hackle skin may be improved by rubbing a modest film of drug store glycerine into the skin side to let it be absorbed. A skin that will flex easily without cracking makes it much easier to select feathers.
Does anyone have experience with this ?
Never tried it but it makes sense. Long ago when I had quarter horses had to keep saddle ship shape…saddle soap the OUTSIDE and use “oil” on the inside. Some of the “oil” products contained glycerine!!
Seriously though…I never dreamed I had that much stuff. A little here…little there. HAd a fly shop here “locally” go under…was selling out stock for 50% off…what could I do?..lol
Feathers do dry out over time, due to loss of moisture and oils. The same applies to us humans, how many of you get chapped lips, and rough hands when you are exposed to extreme sunlight and high temperatures, or out and about during cold weather? You go for a long soak in a warm tub of water, then you apply some skin moisturizer to rejuvenate your skin cells for lost oils.
When using hackle for wrapping around a hook shank, I have a plastic tray (recycled microwave food tray) that I place two wet paper hand towel sheet in, lay the hackle between the top and bottom wet paper towels (if you had a cover for the tray, that helps speed up the process. I then let them air dry, and if needed I apply some moisturizer lotion to my finger-tips, and transfer this to the hackle, with gentle stroking of the hackle.
I use “Oil of Olay” because of a FAOL article written by Marv Taylor “Smell Tracks”, what you use does make a difference.
Certain odors that are transfered to the fly can cause a fish to refuse your perfectly dress fly. Some odors are transfered by the person to the material, other might have been in the material from its tanning or manufacturing process. Most of these odors us humans cannot detect, but a fish can!
