Forum Home › Fly Tying › Stripped and dyed peacock quills

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    • 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.

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