The Rachis

[fflutterffly]

Questions. Questions. Questions. I tried to find the answer to my question on line before placing it here and have not found a suitable answer.
I am in the process of tying up Elk Hair Caddis. My problem, no matter how softly and precise I hold my hackle, it seems to break. I'm tying on a size 16 hook.

The question: Has anyone seen a difference in 'strength' of the Rachis, one that will not break so easily, in different breeders feathers?

[narcodog]

Very seldom do I have a cape or saddle hackle break. You must really torquing them down. You can eliminate the palmer rib and just use the dubbing. hair wing and a front hackle. Or you could go real simple and tye a cdc and deer.

[Hans Weilenmann]

Ariel,
Can you explain in more detail what is happening at which stage in the fly construction, and whether the issue is happening with feathers from a single neck or saddle, or multiple pelts?
Cheers,
Hans W

[fflutterffly]

I am using a dark grizzly hackle feather from the top of the neck of a half cape, the very small feather. I only have one pelt. I do not pull on the feather or torque it hard, more I am just holding it as I rotate it around the dubbed body. as I get to the end of the palmering the feather snaps. I think what is happening is the stem is being twisted because I am not rotating the hackle plier as the feather spins. Possible. I've tried manually wrapping and rotary wrapping (nor vise) my hackle and it still breaks. I'm tying on a size 16. The other thing is it might be old and dried out.

[letumgo]

If the skin is old and dried out, you may want to try steaming it to rehydrate the feathers. I have done this with old peacock herl, with nice results. Simply fill your teapot with water, bring it to a full boil. Once steam starts emanating for the spout, very carefully hang the pelt in the steam for a brief period. The steam will rehydrate the feathers, without making them soggy. With peacock herl, the small fibers stick out and look nice and full. The center stems also seem to be more flexible, making them a little less likely to break during tying.

You could also wash the skin, in warm water, using a little Woolite to condition the water. Then thoroughly dry the skin using a hair dryer. This approach is more time consuming, but may be more effective than simply steaming.

Let us know how you make out.

[Old Hat]

You certainly don't want to twist the rachis as you wrap.

A dry and brittle hackle or just poor quality (it happens sometimes, even from reputable places) sounds like the culprit. Ray's suggestion would be the best approach to see if this is it.

If it is breaking at your hackle plier point it could be those as well.

Rotary wrapping hackle takes more practice than you think. It is difficult to judge the amount of tension on the hackle.

Personally, on a size #16 I would option to tie an X-caddis. Even in faster water, with the size of the fly, you are not really going to gain much at all in floatation between the two. Of course unless you just enjoy tying the small elk hair caddis.

Years back there was a young man in our tying club, he was about 15, loved to tie #28 deer hair caddis.

[fflutterffly]

Thank you all.

[Hans Weilenmann]

Ariel - you gotta narrow down on the culprit (even if the culprit may be you )

If you have more than one hackle plier, see if happens across the board. If you have more than one neck or addle, even if it is not the one you will want to use for the pattern, still try to eliminate, or prove, it is that specific neck this thread started with.

Let us know how you get on.

Cheers,
Hans W

[fflutterffly]

Great advice Hans. Thanks to all I'll tie up a few trying all four pliers and different feathers in each skin.

[letumgo]

Ariel - Are the hackles long enough to wrap by hand? Maybe you would have more control (and hopefully less of a breakage problem) by hand-wrapping the hackle.