Re: [VFB] Lawn sale find

[DonO]

Dan, Was the mink sheared or left long with guard hairs intact?   Awhile back I bought a large bag of mink pieces from Moscow, and the pieces covered a wide range of colors and lengths, from white to black (dyed), and a bunch of browns.  Some of the pieces had been sheared short, though.  I also bought some muskrat, possum, fox, badger, nutria, squirrel, chinchilla, ermine, and a few more, and am experimenting with these.   I also bought a few whole mink hides so I could get the long back guard hair pieces for large mink sculpins.  I've also used mink strips for zonkers, double bunnies, Kiwi Muddlers (ala Jack Dennis), and white strips for saltwater flies.  I've also made eels out of long strips of fur from the sides.  (Chinchilla is awesome for these, but the hide is thin and needs reinforcing. )   Mink dubbing can be made different ways, depending on the length, location, and whether or not it was sheared.  Dubbing with guard hairs and underfur mixed is very bushy and does a nice hare's ear, but weight it and bead-head it to get it down.  Also, clip off a hank and pull out the lowest downy body hair, and put this fine down in a separate container.  Do this for as much as you need and then blend it.  Use this for dry fly bodies as it has good water resistant qualities, unless it was dyed, which seems to remove most of the natural oils.  I rope-dub it and it segments very well.  (But there are a lot of mink dubbings for sale on the pegs, too.)   Good find for $5, tho- I spent a wee bit more.    Back to work.   Be back tonight.   DonO   ----- Original Message ----- From: Dan Gober To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, June 15, 2003 7:02 AM Subject: [VFB] Lawn sale find I think I got lucky yesterday. I bought an old mink neck piece made of five full mink skins for $5.00. Any good uses for mink out there. Dan