ADMIN NOTE: THIS IS A COPIED THREAD THAT MERGED INTO THIS DISCUSSION. UNRELATED POSTS HAVE BEEN DELETED TO SPLIT THREADS.
Ok so i was watching some tying videos and watched the making of the brassie. simple and quick fly. And best of all i ad some of what they wanted. Well not the real fly hook but i did have a regular hook in the size that matched the copper wire i have. So i clamped her in and tied it. tell me what yall think. I didnt have the peacock hurl so i used a pigen feather.
Hope i do this right
Thread 8/0 black
hook size 8 i think
coper wire from phone line
white baby pigen feather for heckle
and black nail polish head
Nice Brassie!
And made even better by your gathering of materials.
I store my meager supplies in an old gun display case I inherited from my Dad. It has a glass door and sides in wood.
I asked Denny about preservation of my Conranch Hackles I had bought from him and he directed me to an Al Campbell article here.
No pest strips. Available at most supermarkets. I bought 2. One is open and hanging in my storage/display case (I find the hackles beautiful to look at as well as to use), and a spare in it’s foil package for the future.
The no pest strip fumigates the materials so no bugs can even begin.
Search Al Campbell from the main page.
Pick item 3 of page one of the results. (Al Campbell articles)
Find “Don’t Bug Me!” in the first quarter of 2004.
(Ron, we really need a way to url these fine archived articles)
Anything that goes into my case is in a no pest area and soon can’t have any “bugs” on it.
Some like “moth balls”. (I’ve seen lots of moths, but still can’t tell male from female)
Me, I’m a bit more pro-active, so I like setting up a death zone for bugs.
YMMV
On the top of my list actually.
The problem is that the site was started over a decade ago, and it used what was thought to be best practices for the time.
Basically the site uses frames, to keep the menu always visible.
Its purpose was to keep the menu visible as you scroll and save a little bandwidth by not reloading the menu every page.
Well, we aren’t dealing with 9600 baud modems (PAINFULLY SLOW) anymore, and I HATE frames, IFrames have a use still but frames of any sort are definitely for special cases.
This all gets fixed when the redesign goes live. And no - I don’t have a firm date for that, without burning a vacation, my time is limited at the moment.
What you CAN do for the interim though is to find the page on FAOL you are looking for, then RIGHT CLICK on the frame with the content in it.
Most browsers will have an option of Open Frame in a new Tab.
Use that and your URL will be visible. (As opposed to just the main FAOL page in the URL field.)
If you’re bringing in feathers you picked up outside, I would make sure they get sealed in zip-lock bags and kept separate form any store bought materials. Maybe even add a mothball in the baggies with them.
Most commercially bought feathers have been treated for possible insects. Anything dyed should be safe after the caustic dying chemicals. Naturals however, there is always a chance.
these feathers armt from wild fowl the pidgens are very clean and treated to the do get bugs. he take OMFG care of them. but then again he makes good money racing them. and breading them
I dont know much about racing pidgins but its all liget. their all tagged or banded what ever its called. their not concidered wild. Also i’m suprised that pidgens would be on it seeing a their considered flying rats in many places. guess i’m just not well verced in pidens.
"All wild birds (except pigeons, English sparrows and starlings) are protected by federal and state laws. You may not trap, kill or possess protected species without federal and state permits. "
Charlaine:
While there are some wild Pigeons the ones your neighbour keeps are domestic and the same as a chicken to the law. IE domestic fowl. When they get loose they then become feral, the flying rat hated and despised by farmers, grain growers and maintenance men around the world.
All birds can carry bugs, even the cleanest birds, keep the feathers away from the ones you buy, there is no use taking a chance loosing good feathers, As someone said put some moth crystals into a plastic bag and put them in a freezer for a few days.
Our feathers are usually the most expensive thing we have in fly tying, (as a bunch) it doesn’t take many capes or saddles to equal the cost of a good vice, so we as a group are very careful with not getting bugs in our supplies. As a group we may seem to be a little paranoid about it but we have all heard stories of tyers loosing materials to bugs.
The original topic was her Brassie (a fine looking fly at that). I think many of us will agree that her enthusiasm in trying flies is right on track for someone so new to the craft. The fact that she is willing to share pictures is worth applauding alone.
I apologize for getting thread so far off track. I just felt a responsibility to a fellow fly tyer to point out the possible dangers of bringing natural materials straight in from the outdoors. This topic in itself can likely go on forever with so many possible “do’s and dont’s” from everyone. With that said:
I motion the topic of “bug infestation in your materials” be moved to another thread so anyone wants to continue, can do so in an appropriate forum.
Ron if you’re reading this, can you copy this thread and give it a new name so this one can get back to the Brassie shown below?
Charlaine, you didn’t cause anything, as I said, bugs are one of those things we all hate. When the subject comes up of picked up bird feathers we tend to go off on tangents.
Like I said in my first post nice fly, it will catch fish, nice use of what you had to tie with.
first, nice fly, good luck with it!
and now i dont mean to continue this further, but i didnt see a new thread about it, but my girlfriends family actually has peacocks and a few other birds and ive been planning on using feathers from them as they fall out, etc. I have read past articles on bugs, but after seeing these posts i will definitely take extra special care to keep them separated and cleaned, but i cant turn down free, useful materials right?
Thanks Ron!
HUGE job maintaining a site, especially one like FAOL with it’s constant flux.
I try to keep my stuff streamlined when ever I can.
As a former webmaster of my own sites, i know it can really get to be a pain.
Thanks again!
Sekliw Be sure to get the secondary wing feathers from those peacocks when they molt as well as the tail feathers. I kept a lot of feathers and gave away a lot when my dad was alive and raising birds as his hobby with no bug problems. Just washing with hot water if necessary to remove dirt works pretty good since the things that eat feathers don’t usually attack live birds. I kept new feathers in a box in the garage for a while to make sure and then brought them into the house.
