Sorting jungle cock

[DaveB 0]

Would anyone recommend sorting jungle cock eyes by size and grade?

 

I have done this with Golden Pheasant tippets and crest as well as other materials and it has sped up the selection process and tying time.

 

However, since I am looking for a matched pair I am debating, before I start plucking, whether leaving them on the skin would be better rather than spend the time plucking and sorting.

 

Any thought?

 

Thanks,

Dave

 

[Silver Doctor 0]

Would anyone recommend sorting jungle cock eyes by size and grade?

 

I have done this with Golden Pheasant tippets and crest as well as other materials and it has sped up the selection process and tying time.

 

However, since I am looking for a matched pair I am debating, before I start plucking, whether leaving them on the skin would be better rather than spend the time plucking and sorting.

 

Any thought?

 

Thanks,

Dave

 

I have often thought of sorting them but never sat down to do it. I guess I like to pick feathers that are nested together on the cape for matched pairs. also I love the look of a cape (until it has only a few feathers left.).I think it would speed thing up if they where sorted. Any thoughts from others out there that sort.

[rockworm 0]

I prefer to keep mine on the skin. The feathers from one skin can be very different in colour and quality from those of another skin, so I like to select matched feathers from the same skin. There is also usually a subtle difference in curvature from feathers on the left and right sides of the skin. Finding matched (mirror image) feathers is much easier from a skin than from loose feathers.

 

 

[Guest]

I leave them on the skin but I can see the value in matching pairs and storing them in small ziplock bags.

[J.Z 0]

DON'T DO IT! I did it one time, and i have always regretted it. If you just leave it on the skin, you can usually find a match pretty quickly. If you sort them into little baggies, it will take up more room, and time.

 

But that is just me.

[picketpin 0]

I agree with all the other gents keep them on the skin

Tight lines mike

[DaveB 0]

Thank you all for your opinions. I will leave them on the skin. I think Silver Doctor hammered it home with keeping the beauty of the skin whole.

 

Cheers

[Ephemerella 0]

Keeping them on the skin lets you find matched pairs quickly. Looking carefully at the markings, you will see the feather's mate is the same distance form the center line of the pelt on the opposite side, at the same "row". Of course these are from once-living creatures and so don't have perfect symmetry, but it is amazingly close.

-E

[arkle 0]

I once bought some loose j.c's from a close out sale, someone had taken the time to put them on a post it and fold the glued part onto the plain. So that the eyes were trapped between the two. I think they must have come from damaged packets as they were sized quite well.

 

That would be a last resort though, the bird has the best method of sorting & storing them.

[Bud Guidry 0]

keep them on the skin, remember this, there are much more important things to do when it comes to fly tying than sorting JC eyes. the way i look at it, the bird growing these featheres already did us a big favor by keeping these beautiful feathers all on one small patch of skin. when you need a pair of eyes you just pick one from the right side and one from the left then thank mother nature for packing them the way she did,

 

 

Bud