synthetic quill body materials

[flipnfly]

ok im sitting here tying and i was wondering what are some of the synthetic quill body materials that you guys use are some better than the others? especially pertaining to dries i guess what advice im looking for is what quill material is the easiest to work with and is tough also that does not require me sitting here using a pencil eraser to strip peacock quills and then soak them all to tie a size 16 or 18 fly..... adivce and or guidance is much appriceated

 

[littlelehigh]

I use my chewed off finger nails to stil peacock quills not an eraser much easier. You can use any feather stem for a quill body match color to meet your needs.

Then again I prefer all natural material.

 

[beadhead2]

Ask sandflea ,he has some synthetic quill stuff

 

[flyfishingNZ]

I have been told you can soak the herl in bleach to get rid of the hairs and then keep them in a jar of water when needed.

 

[flipnfly]

hmm sounds like thats worth trying would that be straight bleach or a dilution?

 

[buffalo7]

If you use bleach, be ready with water and baking soda to rinse it, it only takes a few second. If you keep it in to long there isn't going to be anything left. I do the whole peacock eye.

 

[LouM]

Wild boar,porcupine and moose mane make great looking quill bodies

 

[buffalo7]

I use moose mane on Trico bodies, but the last time I tied them the hair would break just when I was ready to tye it off. Guess I need to soak them, they're getting old and dry. I switched to thread at the time.

 

[Tiogadog]

I like Spanflex. You can also try ultra hair- similar to Charlie Craven's Juju method.

 

[flyfishingNZ]

In this video the guy says to use 50% bleach and 50% water.

http://www.youtube.com/user/scflytying#p/u

 

[sandfly]

I use this; no smelly bleach

 

[ryguyfi]

jrcll gave me an alternative quill body material last year at the JAM. He swears by them. I haven't tied any yet but you don't have to soak them and they're pretty durable according to him. He can either chime in, or I can look at the package he gave me later when I get home. He orders them from someplace out west I believe.

 

[jrcll]

these are what ryan is talking about , i use them quite a bit , i get them from freestone flies in wy, they come in large size for flies size 10-16 and small size 18-24 and in 14 different colors

 

[tocar]

Jim, do you still get the segmented look from them? I really like quill bodies for small parachute flies, but I'm not fond of breaking quills while tying them.

peace-tony c.

 

[jrcll]

tony, yes it makes a very nice segmented body, hope you can see it on this pic

 

[flipnfly]

well it looks like i have some experimenting to do thanks for all the ideas and advice ill definatly be trying the moose mane but i also want to try the McLeans and sandfly's quillz

 

[Phlsphyguy]

I prefer to use natural materials and stripped and dyed turkey flats make great quill bodies. They are not as brittle as stripped hackle quill.

 

[buffalo7]

The Cream Variant in the Picture below was tied about 35 years ago, the picture was taken today. I use a stipped cream hackle quill that I soaked over night. You can lacquer them after you wrap them on the hook for more durability ( I don't believe I lacquered this one).