calf tail curl

[Bigwater 0]

How do you take out the curled and twisted end of a calf tail.

[NoSlack 0]

How do you take out the curled and twisted end of a calf tail.

 

 

Steam it gently.

[JSzymczyk 0]

good luck, let us know how it works for you.

[Ebrant10 0]

Use calf body hair instead, it works much nicer and stacks a lot better!

Evan

[Piker20 0]

Do you mean the actual hair has curled and twisted? I've had few where the tail root is twisted and I just snap that off for easy storage but all the hair has always been straight.

[flytire 0]

How do you take out the curled and twisted end of a calf tail.

 

what part is curled and twisted?

 

like piker said break or cut it off

[SBPatt 0]

I don't think steam will do much if it's the twisted end; steam does a great job of restoring fibers to their natural state. I guess if you really wanted to take the curl out you could try some product like hair relaxer; not sure if it would be worth the trouble. Calf tail is great for lots of applications and if you pick and choose, you can find one with fairly straight fibers (no two are the same); I use different ones for different applications. Calf body, as suggested is great if you want straight fibers; only problem with it is the fibers are shorter than those of the tail and it might not meet you needs.

 

Regards,

Scott

[perchjerker 0]

I am surprised to see that some of you apparently are not familiar with the curl of hair on a calf tail. I have handled hundreds over the years and have seen very few that did not have hair at the very tip that has a pronounced curl to it. Of the thirty (30) that I currently have, only three (3) do not have the typical curly hair. For those who have responded that don't seem to recognize what Bigwater is referring to, here is a photo of a few of mine, randomly selected, to show the curly hair.

 

Relative to how to eliminate it, I do not know, as I have never tried. One of thehair straightener products for humans would be where I would start.

 

Regards,

Frank

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

Man, you've got to go with the flow. If you need straight hair, use the part of the calf tail that has the straight hair. It varies in length from very short at the base to pretty long just before the tip where it curls, maybe that's where hair dressers got the term cowlick to describe hair on your head that is twirled.

Anyhow, I'll use the curled ends often to top a hair winged streamer similar to how the curved golden pheasant crest is used to top salmon flies.

 

Kirk

[bowfin47 0]

Man, you've got to go with the flow. If you need straight hair, use the part of the calf tail that has the straight hair. It varies in length from very short at the base to pretty long just before the tip where it curls, maybe that's where hair dressers got the term cowlick to describe hair on your head that is twirled.

Anyhow, I'll use the curled ends often to top a hair winged streamer similar to how the curved golden pheasant crest is used to top salmon flies.

 

Kirk

 

Having purchased and tyed with calf tails for over 20 years, all I can say is ditto to what Kirk said.

 

Kyle M.

[flytire 0]

there is absolutely nothing wrong with using the kinky calftail hairs directly of the bone.

 

if you want to use a hair stacker to get the tips even, then just comb it out and get rid of all the underfur and short hairs. stacking isnt always necessary if you know how to handle the hair.

 

when you buy your next calf tails inspect them and buy the one with the straightest hairs

 

if you feel the hairs are still too kinky, then use the straight calf body hairs.

[Bigwater 0]

How do you take out the curled and twisted end of a calf tail.

 

 

Steam it gently.

Thanks,I've tried that, but no luck.

[bowfin47 0]

Kip tails are not that expensive... just use what ya' can and buy another one...

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

Those nicely curled tip ends of every calftail.... After years and years of trying to find some use for them (and buying ten at a time in almost every color imaginable).... I've finally learned to value them for the solid thunk they make when you toss them in the round file....

 

Seriously, I buy calftails (oldtimers call them kiptail since they're actually a substitute for impala - long on the prohibited list) by the hundred (since almost every tarpon fly I produce has a kiptail spreader, and almost every bonefish fly has a kiptail wing). Almost every one of them, as Perchjerker's photo shows, comes with a very badly twisted tip end -and nothing I've ever done has worked to straighten them. As a result I use every last bit of the hair on any kiptail - but not the tip end. I just toss that portion and piok up a new tail...

[WhiteBuffalo58 0]

I havn't tried it yet, but I have about a half dozen dyed calf tail tips, wouldn't they work ok for blending into dubbing?

 

Rob