I am new to fly tying and a friend gave me an old box full of materials (he no longer ties). There seem to be mites in a couple of the capes. I have been told to microwave them for 5-10 seconds, but I was wondering if anyone had any other tried and true methods.
Thanks.
Dave
You can use the freeze thaw method, basically just pop it in the freezer over night then take it out for 30 minutes to an hour then pop it back in… repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat… I like to freeze it at least 5-6 times before I feel good about it. I do this with any and all materials that do not come from the fly shop just in case.
Welcome aboard by the way.
Steve
Welcome! You will find this a good bunch of folks.
I have done the microwave thing with feathers and hair I have obtained from various sources. They were also washed in flea and tick shampoo like you might use for your dog. Wash, dry, nuke, cool, nuke, cool, and nuke again. Then I store them in ziplock bags with a mothball or part of one.
If a bug gets through that, I am sending it to the DoD to militarize.
Put them in a box or bag with a no pest strip. That will fix them.
Wisdom from Al Campbell:
If you prefer to avoid poisons you can do the following. Get an ice chest large enough to easily hold all the materials. Place about six ounces of dry ice n the bottom of the ice chest, place your materials in the chest and gently close the lid. DO NOT SEAL IT SHUT or you will end up lookng like Adam on Mythbusters when something goes wrong. The dry ice will dissapate displacng all the oxygen in the chest. Leave it like this for a few hours and your critters will be dead. I would still keep those materials in separate plastic bags and away from my stash for a month or more to make sure that no eggs hatched for a second round of infestation. Just another way to fight the critters that also enjoy our fly tying materials.
Jim Smith
I keep 4 cedar dresser blocks in each drawer (one in each corner). And in the bottom drawer a lay a no pest strip. I don’t keep anything in Tupperware containers, and in 10-12 years have never had a problem.
I have a basket in my deep freeze that my wild bird feathers get put in for at least 2 weeks. Ducks are bad about having mites, especially early season. I have had zero problems so far!
After 2 weeks, I take em out, sort, and clean them. Then they get put with my tying stash.
For a sure thing to kill the bugs and repel them forever do the following:
Wash everything in Woolite or Dawn dishwashing detergent with a hand full of borax in the water.
Rinse well with clear water.
Dry
Seal in a large garbage bag with a hand full of Paradichlorobenzine mothballs. Do not use the naphtha mothballs. Do this for as long as you don’t need the material.
Store with a few paradichlorobenzine mothballs in each bag.
This method kills moths, carpet beetles, museum beetles, silver fish, and a host of others plus their eggs. This has worked well for me for over 40 years
Freezing and thawing is a crapshoot. Bugs outdoors go through the winter freezing and thawing. Microwave ovens have small areas inside them that get no radiation. Pet collars and no pest strips don’t last long enough and cedar blocks just make things smell good.
fishbum
For what it’s worth I do what some of the others do, freeze for two weeks or longer, wash in Woolite. I use moth crystals to kill and whole cloves to repel. I have had bug problems and lost some stuff, they will chew through zip lock bags if you don’t stay after them. I also have five snap top plastic containers that I store my stuff in.
Welcome Aboard! I Freeze, then nuke, then place them in a ziploc with a no pest strip for about a month. Then I do it all over again. I’ve never had any trouble with anything. Wild Turkey, Duck or whatever…
I’ve read about freezing before, but here in Wis it gets way colder than your freezer and I’ll be damn we still have bugs in the summer time. You want to get rid of the bugs in those capes? Burn them. I wouldn’'t put them anywhere near my other materials. Burn them and buy something else. I have a few bucks in materials and the exposure wouldn’t make any sense to this fly tier.
I would take them outside and borax the crud outta the material. I would also use moth balls in there. I would leave it for two weeks. (keep dry…like on a porch or something) I would then freeze them for two weeks. Then I would put them in the microwave. Then I would wash the material with Lemon Joy. Air dry. Then I would refreeze them for a few days. Then put them in a bag with moth balls. That should kill the little beasties. I might keep them segregated from my other material for some time, just to make sure there aren’t any survivors hanging about.
I keep all my materials in Zip bags with a short piece of a no pest strip- (yellow color strips)
JC I think gave his take on this method years ago and I have had not a single problems.
Though I admit I have been lucky and never experienced bug infestation in my tying stuff…
I have a bunch of feathers and furs so I better Knock on Wood now !
Be safe!
FYI - OSH has the strips
One effective method is to get a dog flea and tick collar, cut it into pieces and put those in with your tying material. Hope this helps.
TT
A few years ago the Winter Hatches Fly Fishing Club (Toronto) had as a guest speaker one of the curators of the Royal Ontario Museum. This is what we learned.
Freezing and thawing (two times trough the cycle) is good, but must be done with a chest freezer, not a 'fridge freezer. The reason bugs live through the winter and through the fridge freezer method is that it is not cold enough and doesn’t drop the temperature fast enough. The bugs create their own anti-freeze when the freeze is slow. Two cycles in the chest freezer should work. The first one kills bugs, the thaw allows any eggs to hatch and the second one kills the new bugs.
Nuking is OK, but as mentioned, does not boil all spots, and also may damage the material. Washing (and then emerging) in hot water is good, you just have to watch that the skin doesn?t become too soft in process. For hair (as opposed to feathers) shampoo is a good wash, and conditioner makes the hair soft and shiny (just like it is supposed to). I think it would work well on feathers too, but they need more fresh water rinse which probably removes all the softening rinse. No pest strips work well, but need to be kept away from humans (don’t leave in the open - if it kills bugs, why would you expose yourself or your dog to that vapour?). Mothballs may kill bugs, but are even more toxic than no-pest strips, so again, avoid if possible.
I think what Fishbum says about “para–” moth balls is correct. I’ve been told that that “naptha” type kills only the hatched critters and not the larva ones. P.S. — This is only from recall, not from any documentation. Is there any confirmation?
Thank you all for the great information. I plan on doing a combination of the techniques that were mentioned. This board has been very extremely helpful. I look forward to getting to know you guys (on the internet, at least). Thanks for the welcome!