Since I received A.K. Bests book “Fly Box” for Christmas I have been trying to master quill bodies. It seems that about 2 out of 3 quills split along the length during wrapping. It doesn’t seem to matter how long I soak them. I have tried two different brands and several different colors of commercial dyed quills. They all seem to act the same. Any hints, tricks, etc would be appreciated.
Shaky…try running quill through your finger tips with chap stick applied…works for me G
Thanks Skeet. That’s what I was looking for. Something new I hadn’t thought of. I’ll give it a try.
Quills and feather boits benefit from soaking. I like to place the material on a small plate between two sheets of moist paper towel. In a few minutes the quills are very flexible.
I prefer water over oil or glycerin based products (such as Chapstick and hair conditioner)
I know the plain tap water will eventually evaporate and not effect the flies floating or water absorbing charactoristics.
I’m no expert on this, but I do wonder if it’s maybe the quality of the quills you get from already dyed ‘commercially produced’ quills or bodies.
The books I’ve seen where this process is explained are very specific on things like not over ‘cooking’ the quills, neutralizing the acids, and treating the the quills carefully throughout the process to keep them from becoming brittle.
I know that I’ve experienced the same problem as Shaky with store bought quills, even though I soaked them well. The ones I dyed myself using the method from A.K. Best’s book worked just fine.
Perhaps there is a diffeence?
Buddy
I think Buddy hit the nail on the head. I buy cheap Chinese rooster necks and strip the quills and dye them myself, using the instructions from A. K.'s book. I have not had any problems with them.
Steve
Well, I have been reluctant to get into dyeing my own feathers. I only tye for my own use and all that fiddling with bleach and dye packets just doesn’t seem worth it for the quantity of quills that I would need.
However, I think you folks are probably right. When done in large batches, the commercial product likely doesn’t receive the care necessary to avoid the problem. I know A.K. couldn’t possibly produce hundreds of dozens if he hadn’t solved this problem. I may have to try a small batch just to test out the theory.
Thanks;
Will quills take Kool-Aid dye?
i think i read that they will. i believe it was in one of Dick Talleur’s books.
and we give that stuff to our kids to drink.
you could try useing a parmanent marker like a panteen pen to color the quil it might be a bit more work but it might serve
the purpose.
Will quills take Kool-Aid dye? Yep they take it real good. The first ones I “Played” with I stripped some white Strung(Cheep) hackle made a concetrated solution of Red Kool-Aid soaked them an hour rinced them worked great. Did some with “Rit” liquid dye that has been laying around for who knows how long, worked good also, BUT KOOL-Aid is CHEEPER!
Bill
When you say quill bodies, I just think of goose and turkey biots. As I read the responses I got the feeling most were talking about hackle quills.
In my experience biots don’t take permanent marker well, but i was using natual unwashed duck wings from a neighbors recent hunt.
The only other quills I have used for fly bodies has been peacock hearl quills. For them I dip the eye feathers in melted parafin wax. When I need a quill I separte one with a bodkin and scrape the wax off with my thumb nail. All the fuzz comes right off and the quill has been made very supple from the wax coating.
If you are using hackle quills, maybe try dipping them in the wax before you strip the fibres. It may have the same effect.
PS the parafin I use is from a beauty supplier for mancures. It has added moistuizing oils that I believe help with the quills supplness
we are talking all types of quils some are from marabue feathers if there subltle enough some from hackle feathers some from stripd peacock even porkypine quils eny quil that can be wrapd around a hook.