Traditional Bucktails and Streamers: Straightening Saddle Hackle Feathers

[@chasecook3854]

Man, you have a wealth of knowledge and I'm so grateful you've decided to put it online for all of us.

[@FlyTyer1948]

Amazing. That is a very neat solution. I’ve progressively pinched feathers to straighten & used steam to straighten barbules on dry flies that have gotten squished, but this is new to me. Thank you for demonstrating.

[@SavageFlies]

Peter- this was such a welcome tip! I have so much bent strung saddle hackle that I thought was generally useless for feather-wing streamers. Now I can rethink my entire approach to them. Thank you for this one. Cheers. -Matt

[@hectatusbreakfastus6106]

You have got so much knowledge to pass on. I love that you are doing this channel. I'm literally going to comment on all your videos that I watch to feed the youtube machine.

[@sttokes]

Thanks Peter. It seems any time I have a question you have a video already posted. All the best

[@robertwest7197]

Nice, thanks Peter.

[@jmrose60]

Just what I needed! Thanks.

[@stevetrybalski3082]

Great tutorial. Thanks for the tips and tricks.. Just walked into my wife's craft room and found a mini iron she uses for quilting. Me, I wonder if she would miss this for awhile..lol Have a great day. Cheers!!

[@hooked4lifeca]

When she asks, just look real innocent and say, "But dear, what on earth would I use a quilting iron for?"

[@stevetrybalski3082]

@@hooked4lifeca LOL, I have been married to many decades for that trick, she knows me all well.

[@SavageFlies]

@@stevetrybalski3082 If my wife saw me with an iron in my hand she would know something fishy was going on. :-)

[@roberta.k4213]

I’m surprised 390 degrees Fahrenheit doesn’t burn that feather? Interesting, good tip. I have tons of curved feathers

[@TheFlymanJim]

Thanks Great Tip

[@garynoonan7373]

This is fantastic. Now I do have a question. When the feather is wetted - I fish a fly - will the feather return to its original shape? I ask this because I tie salmon flies and golden pheasant crest is the usual tail. Those feathers can be shaped by wetting and placing on a glass surface (stuck) to dry. It works great for a mounted fly. However, if I fish the fly, it will 'relax' again to it's natural form. I wonder if the heat actually permanently 'sets' the shape. If it does, this video is pure gold for tying classic salmon flies as finding good tails is really difficult and some people buy many many golden pheasant head-necks for this reason.

[@hooked4lifeca]

I've done this to loads of feathers and the results were mixed, but predictable. A cheap saddle hackle with loads of curved feathers could be stubborn. They'd straighten then later return to the original curve. More expensive saddle feathers were much more pliant. I haven't done any empirical testing on this, but my impression is, the cheaper feathers have thicker quills that return to their prior curves. The better feathers have thinner quills that can be "trained".

[@garynoonan7373]

@hooked4lifeca sounds sensible. Thanks for the reply and lots of great content.

[@mikemcguire1160]

I would surely expect that a regular clothes iron on say linen setting on regular ironing board would work too. There may be risks....

[@hooked4lifeca]

Burnt fingers most probably.