Quill Body Advice Please

[MK19 0]

Just starting with quill bodies. Size 18, having difficulty wrapping the quills in that they tend to crack and then the outer part lifts up. Might be good if I was going for a porcupine fly. Should I be soaking the quills in water? Or do I just have poor quill material? These came from Stockhard and are fresh (to me anyway).

Also, using dyed quills, but am looking for some variegation/striping........have I got the wrong material? 

Thanks in advance for your advice.

[Heff2 0]

You could try a drop of vegetable oil. That will soften them and they won’t get brittle when dry. 

[Gene L 0]

Wet them a little.  Some natural quills like a grizzly, is variegated and will produce a nice effect.  There's peacock quills, but they're difficult to prepare.  

[mvendon 0]

 If they're along the lines like D's stripped quills, like Gene just wrote, soak them in water for a little while before trying to tie with them. The light colored ones can soak for a long time. The darker ones you can't soak for hours or some of the dye will bleed out. If your trying a red quill type body, the natural Rhode Island red feather that's stripped will have the more pronounced striping since its lighter in color where the feather barbs were pulled out. Plain dyed quills still look really good for bodies anyway. Make sure you try to tie a carrot shape body since it fishes better than one that's not very tapered. I tie mostly parachute patterns with quill bodies and they work really well. 

Regards,

                    Mark

[Sandan 0]

I put em in a small dish with water. By the time I have everything else ready so are the quills. Dry em by patting them in a paper towel. Before wrapping em,  put a very thin coating of super glue on the shank of the hook for durability. Stripped peacock quills I don't soak. 

[mrgramps 0]

When I use the D's stripped quills in my tying, I soak what I need in a tray and I add a few drops of Glycerin in the water to help keep them pliable for tying.

[Sandan 0]

29 minutes ago, mrgramps said:

When I use the D's stripped quills in my tying, I soak what I need in a tray and I add a few drops of Glycerin in the water to help keep them pliable for tying.

Never tried the glycerin. Might have to. 

[MuskyFlyGuy 0]

MK

Great advice from the other posters. Let us know how it is going and post some pictures. 
Tom

[MK19 0]

Thank you all for these great tips!

I should have said that these are Peacock quills.

When some of you say "D quills" does that mean the quills are somehow split quills that are thus "D" shaped? 

Thanks for all of your help, GREAT from a novice trying to develop some moderate competency (not yet).

ADMINISTRATOR: Any chance you could add a drop down in the user icon to include My Posts? Otherwise, I must search.

Best to the tiers and fisherman!

MK19

  

[flytire 0]

D quills are stripped hackle stems

[flytire 0]

8 hours ago, MK19 said:

ADMINISTRATOR: Any chance you could add a drop down in the user icon to include My Posts? Otherwise, I must search.

i am a moderator and have no idea what a "drop down" is

that request would have to be done by the owner of the forum

you can click on your user name and see your activity

[Sandan 0]

14 hours ago, MK19 said:

Thank you all for these great tips!

I should have said that these are Peacock quills.

Soak 'em just like the D quills.  They're called D quills because...the name of the manufacturer is "D's Quill Body
by D's Flyes / Hareline Dubbin, Inc"