Mike, the method given by Joyce is the one favoured by professional tiers; any other is too slow. Exceptions aside, feathers for folding fall into three categories, each generally for a specific purpose. 1. Long cock neck hackles for palmering: here you get a pleasing taper from rear to front. Folding gives a slight slant to the fibres and helps prevent fibres being tied down while winding. Heavily used in feather-wing salmon fly tying. 2. Small cock neck or saddle tied in at the head to serve as a rearward slanting collar or for pulling down into a throat. 3. Hen saddle; because these are all web they fold easily. Add to this the fact that they are inexpensive makes them the choice of most commercial Atlantic salmon tiers for collars and throats on wet flies.
To amplify what Joyce wrote: Step 1: Stroke the fibres rearward from where you want to begin winding into a vertical position. Step 2: With the shiny side facing you, tie in on the side of the shank directly "forward" (towards the tip) of first vertical fibres: after the first two wraps ease the feather rearward slightly to pull a small portion of the tip from under the wraps. Now finish tying off using the Type 3 "kink lock" in How to Choose... Step 3: With the butt of the feather in your left hand (scissors in your right), position the feather with the shiny side up and the butt pointing at you. Now run the back edge of your scissors down the left, and then the right, side of the stem (often just the right side is enough). The fibres will fold downward on each side. How radically will depend on whether or not you are in a webby area. Don't be afraid to repeat. Remember, the goal is not to have the fibres pointing vertically downward (although you see that in a lot of book photos), merely to have convinced them to orient in the direction you want when wound and stroked. Step 4: Proceed as per Joyce. Notes: 1. Some hackle stems are twisted and will not fold well regardless. 2. Sometimes fibres will shoot off at an angle after Step 1. If they bother you snip them out early. 3. I don't find the hackle pliers and fingers technique convenient for very long hackles. Better to mount a bulldog clip (a la A.K. Best's third hand but with more holding power) on your bench if you want to go that route. The clip is mighty handy for other uses as well. 4. Some well-known tiers moisten their fingers while folding with the pliers route. There are also numerous combinations of holding and stroking techniques. 5. Folding via the clip (or hackle pliers) method is a great way to get a bunch of hackle fibres for a throat. Cheers, Paul http://www.galesendpress.com -- Paul Marriner Outdoor Writing & Photography. Owner: Gale's End Press. Member: OWAA & OWC. Author of Stillwater Fly Fishing: Tools & Tactics, How to Choose & Use Fly-tying Thread, Modern Atlantic Salmon Flies, Miramichi River Journal, Ausable River Journal, and Atlantic Salmon.
