Material storage

[fishingdad88]

Hey there, I was wondering what precautions folks take to protect their materials fur, feathers etc from insect damage.
Is it ok to store fur and hackle together in the same tote?
Is storing the fur and hackle in zip lock bags inside of some plastic snap boxes in another plastic tub sufficient? Probably stash these in the closet
I was considering putting some jars of rosemary anise and cloves in there to deter critters along with some cedar blocks I should probably keep them from touching my materials at all?

I assume regularly vaccuming the room they are in a using them often goes a long way too.

Moth balls unforuntatley are a no go my tying area is in my bedroom and I have a preganant wife ( and also a 1 year old daughter)

Appreciate any thoughts

 

[dudemanspecial]

I keep my stuff in gallon baggies with the slide zippers. Haven't had any bugs in 10 years.

 

[fishingdad88]

I keep my stuff in gallon baggies with the slide zippers. Haven't had any bugs in 10 years.

Awesome no other precautions ? That's good to know

 

[dudemanspecial]

Awesome no other precautions ? That's good to know

No i just have them labeled in the bags and in my desk drawers.

 

[poopdeck]

I take no special precautions. I have material in sealed plastic bags, unsealed plastic packaging, plastic shoe boxes with snap on lids, dorm room style Rubbermaid drawer things and hanging from peg board. Never an issue and always stored in my basement with no mothballs, cloves or any other repellants.

A few things I won’t do; I won’t collect roadkill and I won’t take anything that smells musty or otherwise smells rotten. I also don’t hoard material and I don’t buy everything someone else thinks I need to tie flies I won’t ever fish. I do lots of substitutions to keep my materials to a minimum.

 

[fishingdad88]

I take no special precautions. I have material in sealed plastic bags, unsealed plastic packaging, plastic shoe boxes with snap on lids, dorm room style Rubbermaid drawer things and hanging from peg board. Never an issue and always stored in my basement with no mothballs, cloves or any other repellants.

A few things I won’t do; I won’t collect roadkill and I won’t take anything that smells musty or otherwise smells rotten. I also don’t hoard material and I don’t buy everything someone else thinks I need to tie flies I won’t ever fish. I do lots of substitutions to keep my materials to a minimum.

Thats valid lately ive gotten very into kebari, North country spiders, liesenring patterns, which lead themselves it seems, to a lot of impressionistic interpertation and substitutions and less strict pattern guidelines which I think will simplify my own tying and material acquisition.

Almost all of the feathers ive bought wether they are stuff like grouse, woodock, crow, teal, partrtidge that stuff all comes from cookshill

the hackle mainly from feather emporium (by way of metz and whiting)

and then some last minute hackle from whiting and metz from the fly shops online.

hopefully that will be all clean material.

its relieving to hear you dont have issues ill honestly probably go to the extent of separating hair and feathers into different tubs and using some cedar blocks and spices (clove and anise in the closet) just as a precaution.

 

[nfrechet]

i use whole clove spice in all of my feather bags

i never introduce road kill or donated materials from hunters etc

 

[Bamboozle]

Call me paranoid but I have a ton of money invested in natural materials so I take precautions not chances...

...even with stuff I buy from Steve Cooper @ Cookshill. 😉

All new natural materials from any source get isolated for a week in a large Rubbermaid container with at least a cup of para- dichlorobenzene (moth CRYSTALS) sprinkled inside.

After the isolation period they are put in the respective Rubbermaid containers I store the rest of my natural materials of the same type which also have moth crystals inside.

I've been tying flies a long time and never had a insect problem in seven different residences and I have kind of come to associate the smell of moth crystals with fly tying. 🙂

 

[JLB]

Call me paranoid but I have a ton of money invested in natural materials so I take precautions not chances...

...even with stuff I buy from Steve Cooper @ Cookshill. 😉

All new natural materials from any source get isolated for a week in a large Rubbermaid container with at least a cup of para- dichlorobenzene (moth CRYSTALS) sprinkled inside.

After the isolation period they are put in the respective Rubbermaid containers I store the rest of my natural materials of the same type which also have moth crystals inside.

I've been tying flies a long time and never had a insect problem in seven different residences and I have kind of come to associate the smell of moth crystals with fly tying. 🙂

This^. Hackle is pricey and I’ve got some colors you don't come across often. Some bird skins aren’t cheap either. Don’t want to risk it.

 

[fishingdad88]

i use whole clove spice in all of my feather bags

i never introduce road kill or donated materials from hunters

got it, does clove stain at all, I could have sworn it did.

 

[fishingdad88]

Call me paranoid but I have a ton of money invested in natural materials so I take precautions not chances...

...even with stuff I buy from Steve Cooper @ Cookshill. 😉

All new natural materials from any source get isolated for a week in a large Rubbermaid container with at least a cup of para- dichlorobenzene (moth CRYSTALS) sprinkled inside.

After the isolation period they are put in the respective Rubbermaid containers I store the rest of my natural materials of the same type which also have moth crystals inside.

I've been tying flies a long time and never had a insect problem in seven different residences and I have kind of come to associate the smell of moth crystals with fly tying. 🙂

Yeah I get it I wish that was an option unforunately with the toxicity of those materials and my fly tying stuff being in my bedroom I cant really use moth crystals, that and a pregnant wife and two little girls under 2 it wouldnt be a great idea. Ill have to take my chances with cedar and clove.

 

[nfrechet]

got it, does clove stain at all, I could have sworn it did.

i have not witnessed any staining on my materials

i also put a couple of the cedar scented moth ball packets in my Rubbermaid/sterilite plastic shoe boxes that have my natural materials

 

[Harry3]

I keep all my material in 2 plastic tubs with snap on lids. Seals very tight.

 

[Bamboozle]

Yeah I get it I wish that was an option unforunately with the toxicity of those materials and my fly tying stuff being in my bedroom I cant really use moth crystals, that and a pregnant wife and two little girls under 2 it wouldnt be a great idea. Ill have to take my chances with cedar and clove.

If you have a shed or a garage you should at least contemplate creating an "isolation" area where you can at minimum put newly acquired natural materials in a large Rubbermaid container with moth crystals or the cedar scented stuff Norm uses for a week before moving it to the other storage in your bedroom.

It not just about keeping things sealed tight or using repellents, it's about KNOWING for sure that new stuff isn't already infested. If it is and you don't know it, all the cedar, cloves and tight sealing plastic tubs in the world won't help.

Another thing, I'll never forget seeing a HUGH amount of flies at a local fly shop in the compartmentalized storage boxes completely ravaged by insects. First off, IMHO these things should be made of cedar, not hardwood.

The second thing is I tend to tie flies in bulk and store them in large compartmentalized Dewitt boxes. After seeing that fly shop disaster and knowing how much time & work went into tying the hundreds of bulk flies flies I have stashed in MY bulk fly boxes; I make sure there is at minimum a moth ball in the bulk storage boxes containing flies tied with natural materials.

 

[beadhead2]

I use to use dryer sheets in my drawers of my tying desk ,when I use to tie ,never had a problem

 

[6xAdams(Jones)]

Mothballs to keep bugs away.
Charcoal briquets and dehumidifier to keep the humidity down.

 

[Bamboozle]

Mothballs to keep bugs away.
Charcoal briquets and dehumidifier to keep the humidity down.

Got any recommendations on dehumidifiers, I'm on my 2nd one (Midea) that crapped out in less that a year.