Composite hackle

[Roadkill]

Fantastic flies!!

[letumgo]

Cowabunga! Those are awesome!

[hankaye]

CreationBear, Howdy;

"CreationBear; At this point, you can insert whatever "burned" feather fibers you want

What are you referring to when you say "burned" feather fibers ??? Tried it all I got was a singed eyebrow ???

hank

[Mataura mayfly]

CreationBear, Howdy;

"CreationBear; At this point, you can insert whatever "burned" feather fibers you want

What are you referring to when you say "burned" feather fibers ??? Tried it all I got was a singed eyebrow ???

hank

I'm with you Hank..... I think I know the burn he is referring.... but best not to assume and make an ass out of you and me

[CreationBear]

Hank-- I'm far from an expert, but "burned" is a term used by the spey/salmon guys to describe removing the little hook-and-loops (barbicels) on each feather fiber that normally keep the feather "zipped" together to provide a flight control surface for the bird in happier, livelier times. (After after all, if the air were allowed to rush through the feather fibers of a bird in flight, you'd have a replay of the classic WKRP in Cincinnati Thanksgiving episode where they drop a bunch of domestic turkeys from a helicopter. )

At any rate, one way to do this is to "burn" the feather in a bleach solution; you can also manually strip away the barbicels on some feathers by scraping down the feather fibers with a thumbnail. FWIW, the reason it's important to do this on composite hackle is that you need to separate the fibers up and down the loop so that the "spin" distributes them evenly around the hook shank.

[tie2fish]

"After after all, if the air were allowed to rush through the feather fibers of a bird in flight, you'd have a replay of the classic WKRP in Cincinnati Thanksgiving episode where they drop a bunch of domestic turkeys from a helicopter."

As God is my witness, I did not know they can't fly!

[CreationBear]

Ha, thanks gents.

And for all y'all who managed to miss the '70's:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST01bZJPuE0

BTW, anybody else think Jan Smithers much hotter than Loni Anderson? Back on the farm, I didn't really understand at the time the girl-next-door/coked-out model vibe Baily Quarters was working, but I knew I liked it.

[hankaye]

CreationBear, Howdy;

Ok, Makes sense...
on the other topic,
I named a Chocolate Lab I had Baily, after Ms. Quarters..... Quiet, understated, ... HOT!

hank

[William Anderson]

Jon, I drooled over these earlier and forgot to say so. These are very inspiring and intimidating. I'm going to have to do something new for the swap. These are ideal.

[hankaye]

CreationBear,

Ok, getting rid of the hook part of the fibers allowes you
to achieve the 'blown-out' haystack look? Please don't think
I'm makin' fun of'em, I think they are neat lookin'... just tryin'
to understand'em.

hank