Preparing materials *

[Traditionalist]

So we have managed to collect vast quantities of various furs and feathers, either cheaply, or for nothing, by the various means at our disposal, how do we sort it out, how do we prepare and use it?

One of the best and simplest ways of improving some furs and feathers for use in fly dressing, including the purchased ones, is simply washing them in warm soapy water, made with a mild washing up liquid, NOT detergent, rinsing well to remove all traces of soap and then blow drying with a hair drier, without letting the material get too warm. One may also let them dry naturally, but one must be careful to get them completely dry before storage. Also, the appearance and handling qualities of practically all materials is considerably improved by fluffing them up, simply by waving them vigorously around, while they are still "just damp". It is best to do these things in private. If anybody sees you whirling around with a couple of cock capes or hare skins in each hand, it may well get you locked up!

Many cheap capes look very much better after this treatment, and certainly improve in value and use potential. Hair and fur also invariably benefits from this treatment. I like to wash nearly all my materials anyway, purely as a matter of hygiene. You will doubtless be surprised the first time you wash a piece of hare fur or similar which you got from a commercial supplier. The filth that comes out will immediately cure you of licking your fingers when dressing flies, forever! Also, on the extremely rare occasions that I have bought dyed material, I normally dye my own,  the first thing I do is wash it. Often, I could dye three elephants from the dye that washes out of one hen cape, or from a small piece of black fur!

Some materials benefit considerably from a wash in hair conditioner, or fabric softener, this makes them more pliable usually, and easier to handle. You will have to experiment here with small amounts of material. With certain pelts there is a marked improvement in handling and flexibility. Especially if treated after dyeing. On other furs and hairs, we wish to keep them springy and stiff if possible.

High quality capes and other feathers from Hoffman (Whiting) and other firms, have already been treated to their maximum potential before sale, and should not be given any further home treatments, this is more likely to damage them than improve them.

Fur to be used for dubbing should be washed on the skin, as described, and when it is completely dry, either stored complete, or removed in bulk using a beard trimmer or similar, and blended according to taste before use. We will go into how to do this exactly at a later stage. Suffice it for the nonce to mention a few of the various  methods for doing this.

I use an electric clipper like this one for removing large quantities of loose fur and hair.



Only remove what you can use! there is a massive amount of fur on such a fox pelt, of a number of types, and it is pointless to remove it all at once. Just shave off a 35 mm container full at most. Mark what it is, and whereabouts on the animal  you got it from, on the container. You will wish to use certain parts of the fur for other things, and shaving it all of as dubbing is a waste, and of course prevents you doing anything else with it!

For bulk removal, an electric  shearer with a depth setting like the one shown, is definitely the best tool. An electric beard trimmer will do at a pinch, and I carry a battery powered model  in the car for "emergency mobile immediate removal" operations. It is of course quite useless to remove some hair. Deer hair for spinning etc, is only useful on the skin. Badger, wild pig, and quite a lot of other hair is also pretty useless when "loose". We are mainly concerned with dubbing here, we will go into other hairs later.

You may also use scissors, and simply cut off the bits and pieces you need, but the trimmers are more accurate, and can be set to remove only guard hair, or a mix, etc. Ceramic rakes can be used on moleskins, hares ears, and some "smooth" furs very well, and may also be used for other things. For some precise work with certain furs, there is no substitute for scissors and hand selection.

For dubbing fly bodies, materials such as Seal fur, Mohair etc. were  used extensively by many old time dressers, less so by modern dressres, , but practically any fur or hair can be used. For wet flies, ordinary wool is quite good too, although it lacks the translucence and "life" of some other natural furs. It is however easily obtainable in many colours, dyeable if desired, easy to work with, and it works, one may also mix it with various furs easily, to obtain various effects.

It is not so good for dry flies, as it soaks up water too easily, causing the flies to sink quickly. This is not such a problem with modern floatants, but it can be a nuisance. Mohair is much better, if you can get it. These things can also be blended in to soften other dubbings if required, or to change shades. I invariably use hare fur for this, as I have large quantities of it, and it is eminently suited to the purpose. It is also eminently suited to a whole range of other purposes, which are little known to most fly-dressers, but we will also address that later.

Some good selections of premixed dubbing are available at tackle shops etc. Squirrel fur mixed with Antron can be good for instance. These come packed in special boxes of assorted colours, and are usually quite good value, as far as such things can be good value. Some shades will be useless of course, and most people end up filling the same three or four compartments over and over again, while most remain unused. Also, it is difficult to know what specific properties some of these things have. It is very much better to select and prepare your own dubbing material.It is of course also a great deal cheaper. Usually the boxes containing the dubbing cost more than the contents.

Some keen amateurs and a few good professional dressers , prefer to mix their own dubbing, as effects and shades may be obtained to match the natural insects colouring more closely. Also one may vary textures to achieve various effects. One may also select specific types or portions of fur. One can not do this easily with "ready made" dubbing. Of course it is also a lot cheaper to produce your own, but it takes time and application as well.

Coffee grinders or "blenders" are often used for blending dubbing, and work very well. Simply add pinches of the fur or other material you wish to blend, and give short bursts of the machine until it is blended. I will give some blending recipes later. Remember that this is a dry blending method, and if you are looking for special effects, then you may need to wet a piece of the result to check it. Dubbing always looks darker when wet, and some other effects may also surprise you.



Putting the fur through a blender makes it slightly easier to handle, and gives it a much nicer appearance. A coffee blender of the type shown here is excellent for this purpose. This has a double edged rotating blade, like two miniature scythes, which rotate at high speed. When new, these blades are very sharp, and it is better to dull them down a little before use. (If you buy a new one). You can do this by putting some coarse sand in the grinder, and giving it a number of bursts. Only operate the machine in short bursts, and check regularly, especially if trying to blend or add synthetics. Some of these will otherwise melt, and ruin the dubbing, and the machine. Only add large pinches to the machine, don't try to stuff half a pound of hair in it, it won't work.

Hopefully it is unnecessary to tell you that you should also endeavour to keep your fingers out of the machine? Blood just ruins the dubbing.

This is blended hare body fur. This is the stuff which is usually sold as "hare?s ear" dubbing. Using the right techniques, which are not at all difficult, one may blend any shade or texture of hare fur. This is great, as it means you don?t have to bugger about trying mostly unsuccessfully to scrape scrappy bits of fur, which is the wrong texture for dubbing anyway, off mummified ears! You didn?t think the shops were just using ears for hare?s ear dubbing did you?  There is more hare?s arse in it!




The "anti-static-wipes" now sold for use in tumble dryers and the like, are excellent for wiping out the machine occasionally. This will help prevent the hair and fur from flying all over the place, or sticking to the plastic hood of the machine. Incidentally, when working with dubbing later, use aluminium, bone, or "anti-static plastic" brushes and the like. This will save you an awful lot of messing on. Ladies make-up brushes are often of the "anti-static" type. If you are not sure, rub the tool on wool, fur or silk, If it is not anti-static, it will be "charged", and if you hold it near the fine hairs on your arm, they will stand up.  This does not matter much on your arm, and will subside anyway when you remove the tool. Not so with loose dubbing!  It will make it impossible to handle!

As I mentioned above, the hare blend in the photo is made up almost exclusively of body guard hair. At first glance this also appears to be the typical "sandy" colour which is usually offered in shops as "Hares ear dubbing". The close up photo of a fly tied with it below shows however, that it indeed contains a great many colours and shades. I like darker shades for some flies, and lighter shades for others, and I select the fur accordingly. Much of the commercial fur also contains all the underfur as well, which makes it unsuitable for quite a number of things.



I use the mask, and a lot of body fur for various things. Getting the very dark fur off the ears is a mess on, and hardly worth it. If you wish to do it, then the ceramic rake is the best tool here. Rather expensive, but you  will go nuts trying to remove it with scissors or a trimmer. You can also use a short piece of hacksaw blade, like a "draw knife" or spokeshave, it works quite well.  I also had some success years ago using a "safety razor", and shaving the ears "as normal" with soap etc. This is a bit of a mess about of course, and I don?t do it any more.

The best way to store fur or hair is most definitely on the skin. For larger quantities of loose fur, use zip-lock bags of the appropriate size. Label the bags with a permanent marker as to type, colour, etc before storing. For operational quantities on the tying bench, I like to use the small airtight plastic 35 mm film containers. Most photographic shops will quite happily give these away if asked. Hurry up and get your freebies before film goes out of fashion altogether!

Some boxes I use for holding blending fur etc, are also shown below. Because I ALWAYS! use blends, I don't need much stuff in all the various colours. Usually a pinch or two added to the main blend is enough to make fairly major changes. Be careful when adding some colours. This is much like mixing paint, but sometimes gives surprising results. Only add small pinches of "modifier" colours, and blend well before continuing.



I fill these boxes myself, with my own blends. I don?t use dubbing unless I know exactly what it is, as it may not work as I require it to, and that would be a total waste of time and effort. The more one learns about these things, and how to apply the knowledge the easire it is to dress better flies as a result.

Incidentally, when I say I ALWAYS! use blends, I mean exactly that, even for "single" colours. How so? You ask. Well it's really quite simple, supposing a "Mallard and Claret" calls for "Dark claret" dubbing. I will blend at least three shades of claret, and possibly one or two other colours until I am satisfied with the final result. The same goes for "dark olive", or many other colours. I almost never use a single colour, and I usually endeavour to use furs (most especially hare) with broken colours to start with. (I do the same for hackles as well, as far as this is possible, but that will be another article).

I will give you some more methods and also specific blends for certain purposes in the next article.

TL
MC