Different Color Mole Skins

[letumgo]

Here is a picture of a number of different colored mole skins I bought from Anglers Den (http://anglersden.net/english-angling-t ... als-tools/). I know there have been questions about getting mole skins in the past and figured someone may be interested to see what is available. It can be difficult to find mole skins in colors other than black, natural (dun) and brown.

The colors shown below are (listed left to right) Claret, Red, Forest Green, Olive, Tan and Light Brown.

[Ron Eagle Elk]

Oooohhh, Claret, I don't have Claret. Thanks for the link, Ray.

[DOUGSDEN]

WOW! THAT'S AMAZING! I USE MOLE ALOT AND WASN'T AWARE THAT COLORS LIKE THESE WERE AVAILABLE. THANKS!
DOUGSDEN

[mvendon]

Hi Ray,

Have you bought a LAW rake to go along with all of that mole? Your going to need one now !

Regards,
Mark

[CM_Stewart]

Definitely good to have mole in different colors. I got a brown and an olive skin from Great Feathers http://greatfeathers.com/moleskin.aspx. Very, very nice.

[letumgo]

Mark - I have a metal dubbing rake, but found it to be a fairly useless tool. I imagine the ceramic one is much sharper and does a better job. I've looked at the LAW Ceramiscape dubbing rack (http://www.danica.com/flytier/law/law_rake.htm) but after my experience with the metal one, I just learned to clip the fur from the hide and finger blend the fur. I take it from your comment, that you use the LAW dubbing rake and like how it works. What version (course or fine) are you using and how much did you pay for the tool? It looks like it would be expensive. Is it worth the cost?

Edit - I found a nice link giving some answers to my questions regarding the LAW's dubbing rakes, from our friend Han's. (http://outdoorsbest.zeroforum.com/zerot ... id=1576366). Looks like the course and fine tools both have their place.

It looks like the smooth round handle would multi task as a great silk/rayon floss burnisher. This would be very handy when tying classic streamers...hmmm...maybe I do "need" one...

[Ron Eagle Elk]

Ray,

I got into this conversation with Mike Conner once. He suggested using small sections of hacksaw blade as a dubbing rake. Your able to vary between course and fine tooth spacing by using different grades of blades. A dowel with a bit of epoxy makes a fine handle.

I have been using the dubbing rake from Wasatch tools and it's worked fine for me on mole, hare's ears, etc.

As an aside, I looked and I did have Claret. Here I was looking at buying something new. Darn it.

REE

[letumgo]

Thanks Ron (and Mike). That hacksaw blade idea sounds intriguing. Polly Rosborough also recommended using a hack saw blade to rough up the bodies of his fuzzy nymphs. I like tools that can multi task.

[daringduffer]

As some of you have realized by now, I am mostly words (although some of them nice), and little practise. I laid my hands on this LAW ceramiscrape a few weeks ago, and it was a revelation. No more hacksaw for me. It is astonishing how easily you can separate the underfur from the guard hairs on different pelts using this scrape, making it very easy to mix and blend just as you wish. A couple of days ago, I dyed a piece of winter white mountain hare - turmeric yellow, yes - and have made interesting blends of other natural and coloured furs with it. I would never advise against putting money in mr Waldrons pocket for this one. I bought it directly from him; money well used. I don't find it necessary to use it on mole, though. As far as I can see, mole has no guard hairs, just as my dogs have no underfur.

dd

[mvendon]

Hi Ray,

I can't tell you how it compares because I never tried any other type of dubbing rake before buying the Law rakes. I read thread after thread on other boards for years and finally just had to try them. I'm not a big gadjit person either. I use the fine tooth one for mole, squirrel and other short fine furs and the large tooth one for rabbit, woodchuck, Australian opossum, etc. I can tell you that after I bought these that I never need to use anything else when I need dubbing that's still on the skin. It's been at least several years, probably more like four or five since I bought mine from Lawrence through Han's. They were $25.00 each. I never spoke to the man, and there's no way that he could have received my payment and then sent them out, since I received both rakes within a week after mailing out my payment. If it seems like a lot, to me it's really not that much at all. I pay way more every two months for the electric bill. When gas was $4.17 a gallon, I was putting in $45.00 at a pop and that was barely enough to just go back and forth to work for a week. All that money is long gone, but these rakes are still sitting right on my bench and probably will be for the rest of my life to use when I need them.

Regards,
Mark