Stripped and dyed peacock quills

Viewing 4 reply threads

Author

Posts
- August 9, 2020 at 9:59 pm #11520
  
  Jim Craig
  Keymaster
  
  OK, I want to use some stripped and dyed peacock quills to tie a perdigon fly. But, I understand that I need to soak them in water first so they don’t break. My question is, how long do I have to soak them?
  
  Thanks,
  
  JRC
- August 10, 2020 at 6:05 pm #11522
  
  bkbying89
  Participant
  
  Hi Jim,
  
  I have used the peacock quills a couple of times, soaked and unsoaked. I think it helps to soak them a little, 15 minutes is what I did and it seemed to work but remember that peacock is kind of delicate to begin with so keep a steady hand. You can also get synthetic quills that are sturdier but wheres the fun in that.
  
  Bill
- August 10, 2020 at 6:19 pm #11523
  
  Jim Craig
  Keymaster
  
  Great. Thanks Bill!
- August 13, 2020 at 5:58 pm #11531
  
  Kenny Klimes
  Keymaster
  
  Jim,
  
  Not all quills are created equal. They are delicate and can break. I find soaking them helps. Polish quills seem to do better than others. I have two kinds: Hand Stripped Quills – Polish Quills (they are tiny but seem to break less) and Quill body – D’s Flyes which are longer but seem to break more.
  
  I soak both. I have a large oval (hockey puck shaped) jar full of water and they sit in there until I need them. Once on the hook I hit them immediately with UV clear fly finish flow from Loon (thin type). Not sure if there is something else you can soak them in – would be good to research that!
  
  OR you can take the peacock herl – use a pencil to “erase” the feathers and use the quill after getting the feathers off.
- August 13, 2020 at 9:36 pm #11532
  
  Jim Craig
  Keymaster
  
  Thanks Kenny. I am using the Hand Stripped Quills. They are a challenge. At first I soaked them 30 minutes in water. A couple did split. Then I soaked them over night in water. I still had a couple split. Bill Lowry shared a fly tying link with me in which the tier, Charlie Craven, said he successfully to use vegetable oil to soften the quills. I didn’t try it as that sounded messy. I think Bill did experiment with the oil. I’d like to get his input here.
Author

Posts