An excellent point, Don. Thank you. I probably would never have thought of this until too late.
Jim Collins ------------ Fishing is not a matter of life or death. It's much more important than that! -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of DonO Sent: Tuesday, August 23, 2005 8:51 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [VFB] Non-Feather Wing Material- hides Just a hint/tip to those shopping for fur-on-the-hide for fur-strip style flies. THe tanning process must be different for different uses, as I've had some leather strips pull apart after getting wet, like the leather just disintegrated. I've had this happen with rabbit, carabou, and mink. On other same pelts from different sources, this didn't happen. Reality- I didn't check my 'glove-soft' carabou hide and made squid tentacles out of it. They looked fabulous and fished very well- once. After they got wet, they broke off right at the body. I also tried my brain-tanned elk hide (mouse-tail leather) for squid tentacles, and they looked and fished great, but if they weren't rung out of all water after fishing, they shriveled up like raw-hide and would not soften again. So my advise is to check the hides you buy for fishability if the leather is going to be part of the fly. Hides for fly-shops are tanned specifically for the purpose of fishing. Hides for the garmet and craft industry have different standards, and may or may not stand the fishing test. My 2 cents again, DonO
