I acquired all of my materials and tools in the same fashion. Probably $1000s of dollars worth of inventory. My father-in-law had multiples of everything. Including vises, lamps, magnifiers, furs, feathers, rods, reels, etc... I could open a fly fishing store! I inherited the materials when he passed away. When I first brought everything home I didn't know how to organize it or where to put it! I now have two rooms that have been taken over for material storage. What I have done (this takes a little patience and time) is when I see a fly I want to tie, I look at the list of materials and if I cannot identify something, I do a Google image search and try to best match the picture to what I have. I have also searched (on here and through Google) to see if there are any adequate equivalent materials that could be used. Good luck in your adventure in fly tying!
