My failing memory is failing me again but I recall being told by Eric Lieser that dried out skins on necks and sadles could be softened to facilitate easier handling by applying a very modest amount of drug store glycerin and rubbing it in. Is anyone familiar with the process? Thanks.
yes and the key is “very small amount”. hair conditioner is also good and usually much less oily. i like the less expensive suave brand.
Wes, I’m guessing you would want to stick to the unscented conditioners, correct? Otherwise the fish would come to the surface like the gals in the old Herbal Essence tv ads 
why? does a dried out hackle skin affect the hackles?
A dried out skin has a “tendency” to turn in to powder when you try to remove a feather.
Just soaking in warm soapy water and rinsing will return a lot of flexibility to the hackles and the skins…
the whole skin or just where that one individual feather was? and then again, so what?
maybe the cape or saddle skin should have been treated better from the day of purchase?
i have metz and old hoffman capes that are over 25 years old, kept in the original baggie and pliable as ever.
Normand,
It’s not happened to me but a couple times. When I first started tying, many moons ago, I sometimes bought “lesser expensive” materials. Even if they are handled carefully, and kept in their original bags, they tend to crumble when handled or to have a feather removed. It’s a bit annoying, but certainly can be dealt with. If there’s a way to bring a bit of suppleness back into that skin, I say, go for it!
Our country has many different climates, my problem isn’t keeping my materials from drying out it is keeping them from mildewing. If on the other hand I lived not two blocks from the pacific ocean but at my parents place in Yuma AZ then drying of the pellage would likely be a problem. there are a lot of variables on this one. not all situations are alike.
Eric
Everyone says proper storage BUT how many times have we bought materials from somewhere or someone who didn’t always take care of them like we do ourselves. I’ve read the same thing about the hair conditioning and redrying and yes it came from Eric Leisers book
Fatman
I really appreciate the great replies. Thank you all. My reason for bringing the subject up in the first place was because I like to flex the skin to raise the feathers up so I can look at them seperately when making a choice. And I also have noted that some really older skins are still perfectly supple. It would seem great if neck and saddle slins could be tanned like hides.
Hi Ray,
A couple of thoughts. Glycerin has the advantage of being a relatively small very water soluble molecule. It has no oils or similar materials what so ever, and so cannot be greasy at all. A lot of conditioners, one the other hand do contain oils or grease like materials. There certainly are often non-ionic surfactants. I am not referring to the “feel” of the material, but to its’ chemistry and chemical properties. Glycerin may have an oily feel, but it contains no actual oils.
What I am getting at, is that the glycern will likely easily 100% wash out of the hackle when it gets wet, whereas the conditioner may not completely wash out of the hackle, may stay a bit greasy or oily, and probably has perfumes present. The prefumes will very likely not be water soluble, so will hang in there quite a while.
Now this is not a completely bad thing, necessarily, as a bit of oil in hackle helps it to be hydrophobic, and dry fly treatment is done to make hackle hydrophobic, which is what keeps it floating.
After reading Wes’s post, it seems clear to me that he has had experience with the different products, so the conditioner is probaby just fine, but I thought to add my two bits.
Regards,
Gandolf