Used Hackle

[ScienceGuy141 0]

Yeah, that's a good point. I have also noticed a lot of shops are sold out of common cape colors. I appreciate all of the advice and suggestions. Thanks on the well wishes too!

[DFoster 0]

Buy it, if you can get it for $20 great but $40 is still a good price.  Unless they are so old they're degrading, brittle or losing fibers.  From what I can see those capes would appear to have plenty of flies left in them.

A local fly shop here used to have a cabinet filled with usable bits and pieces they got when someone would come in to sell off a collection. A family member of a tyer who passed or someone who was no longer tying, for whatever reason they just wanted to off load the stuff.  They had a large cabinet filled with "estate" items for sale.  Sadly they no longer do this which is too bad because part of the fun of a visit was rummaging through that cabinet looking for gems.   I'm still using a lot of materials from the estate cab including a Whiting brown rooster cape I got for $5 and at least a dozen Orvis and Hareline dubbing packs I got for a buck each.  As long as you can inspect what you buying I don't see any reason not to consider used items.

[ScienceGuy141 0]

Ha, yeah the good bit of the fun for me is more so keeping my eyes open for used options that come up. So much of what comes up isn't of much value to me or is over-priced for used options, so picking through is kinda fun. If I am venturing to the area I might offer them $40, but otherwise it is also an hour drive round trip to go pick them up. Considering the time and gas, the cost almost puts me back to buying a new intro pack that could be delivered right to my door. With a little digging I have still found them new for $66. It still seems like a fair deal nonetheless, just not a sweet enough deal to make me feel pressured to jump on it I guess after I took the pickup into account.

[flytire 0]

price out half capes individually 

if its more then what youre willing to pay then buy the used capes

if your photo in your first post is of the capes that are for sale, i would buy them

doesnt look like many feathers were used from any of them

if the seller takes 40 bucks for all of them, thats 10 bucks each. no place on the internet is going to sell them at that price

[cphubert 0]

My whitings will gauge down to 24's and probably some 26's. The range of hackle is the best reason to buy capes vs saddles (and you get some tailing material). If you only tie a few sizes then look for a saddle that accommodates your needs.

[SilverCreek 0]

I have not bought a cape in over 10 to maybe 15 years. The capes I have I can use for very large or for tiny flies.

The most cost effective hackle for my needs is to buy a the pro grade Whiting or Whiting Hebert Miner pro grade saddles. Saddle hackles will tie only a limited range of sizes. The greatest number saddle hackles in any one saddle will be center on one size with then a spread of 1-2 sizes larger and smaller.

So if you tie mainly small size 18 flies you can buy a saddle centered on size 18 and it will have size 16 and size 20 hackle as well and perhaps some size 14 and size 22.

The most popular size for a dry fly is size 14 and the most popular dry fly sold in the USA is a size 14 Adams. So I buy size 14 prograde saddles and I use my capes if I need hackles that are larger or smaller than the pro grade has.

Prograde saddles and necks are the most cost effective way to ties flies. The cost per fly is lowest when you buy prograde hackle as this comparison of hackles has shown.

http://www.flyfishfood.com/2014/09/hackle-comparisons.html

 

[ScienceGuy141 0]

I had just about talked myself out of picking up the feathers, but happened that I'd have to drop my girlfriend off at the airport and the seller lived only a few minutes from there. I tried to negotiate down and started at $20, but they were firm at $40 and we eventually made the deal at $40. I'm pretty pleased with the quality at least on general inspection. Tips are all there, stems are straight on the sizes 14 and down with some good larger hackles too. It only looked like a few feathers had been used from the grizzly, but the others looked relatively untouched. 

 

[niveker 0]

Nice, that's a good deal.

[Moshup 0]

Good deal !   Glad we all muscled you into the right decision.  We enjoy company

with our addiction. 😎

[ScienceGuy141 0]

Haha, I always appreciate the guidance in choosing the right path. Going off of the chart @silvercreek posted, coming out at about 1/3 the listed unit price of a Whiting Bronze isn't too bad! Now I just need to find some time to put the feathers to use. 

[Moshup 0]

Badger

[chugbug27 0]

👍

[niveker 0]

8 hours ago, ScienceGuy141 said:

Now I just need to find some time to put the feathers to use. 

Better send them to me then, before they go bad.