Grading feather quality

[FeathersRUS 0]

How are feathers graded?

 

Can someone post a link or description of what makes a Grade A feather?

 

 

[flytire 0]

read this from whiting farms

 

http://www.whitingfarms.com/articles/grading.html

[tidewaterfly 0]

Good question, but likely hard to answer accurately. I would think that each grower has their own criteria for what they consider each grade should be. I'm sure that a person who grades for one company, may take a look at another companies product & grade it differently. Grading most natural materials is subjective, it's an opinion based on the experience & knowledge of the person doing the grading. I used to raise some chickens for my own tying, but not dry fly hackle. Mine were used for tying bass & saltwater flies. A grade "A" dry fly hackle is certainly going to be different than a hackle raised for tying bass flies, and again, the person grading or even the tier using the feather may have different views on what is "grade A".

 

I used to do some trapping too. Fur buyers also grade raw fur, and furriers grade it too. It's not unusual for any two of them to disagree on how a particular piece of fur should be graded. Again, it's the opinion of the person doing the grading.

 

I've also seen hackle that was graded one way & my opinion & those of others looking at the same hackle, didn't always agree with the label, or even each other!

 

Unless you're looking at barn yard type hackle, and if you're not sure about the grade of a particular type of hackle, the best you can do is rely on what the grower says it is. However, the more you tie, you'll likely develop you're own opinion of what a grade "A" hackle is to you!

[steelie 0]

Good Day,

 

Unless you are chosing the birds yourself... Like flytire intimated... Why grade when you can just get Whiting and know you have the best. :yahoo:

 

Steelie

[perchjerker 0]

There are two quite different facets to "grading" hackle. One is the 'mechanics of the process itself, and the other is 'what best meets your needs'. 'What best meets your needs' is far more important than the 'mechanics of the process', i.e., it is more important to first decide what size flies you propose to tie before deciding on what grade cape to get, as clearly, the price goes up, and sometimes drastically, as the number of smaller size hackles increases on the cape. A very important element is left out of the Whiting article: They fail to give grade price comparisons! Why spend top dollar for a cape that is blessed with an abundance of #24-26, and even some #28 hackles, if you never plan to tie anything larger than a #20? IHMO, this is where the expression I was exposed to as a boy in the '40's: "Never pay for something you can't eat."; has considerable validity; and as has so amply been stressed by many highly reputable dry fly tiers; some of whom tie commercially. Once you have decided on the preferred sizes you want to tie, buy the best cape you can afford that provides the greatest number of hackles in that size range; regardless of the brand.

 

The Whiting article points out the 'mechanics' of their grading system, and apparently, in general, it describes the other breeders systems. However, the grading is done by highly skilled, experienced individuals; and, therefore, is highly subjective.

 

With time, you will develop an 'eye' for the capes that best meet your needs.

 

perchjerker

[JSzymczyk 0]

FeathersRUS, perhaps if you provided a few clues as to what you are trying to do, we can provide more help. For instance, if you have a bunch of unknown hackle which you are trying to sell, it might be very difficult to assign a "grade" to it unless someone very familiar with the type of hackle you have examines it.