I have to agree, feathers and materials have come a long way.
When I started tying back in the 40's it was a sin to use anything other than what was printed for the recipe. Now we use anything and everything including dryer lint.
I had a long absence from tying and when I got back into it I found that I was way behind.
They had come out with the new fangled bobbin that got in my way. I had never even seen a tying bobbin till then. We half hitched after tying on any material before adding any more material to the hook. We even had to wax our thread with a block of bees wax. There was more vices than the Thompson A and B. Some even went round and round. A neck like this variant would be a treasure.
The feathers we used back then came from the chicken markets, we did just fine with them. Still caught fish. I can remember finding a dead Starling and plucking it out. My buddy and I were always making "a secret fly". I had a good one made from the Starling, till he borrowed it and lost it in a tree. That was over 60 years ago, I still don't let him forget it.
I am getting long winded here so I had better quit. Your mention of the old stuff brought back memories.
One more thing,
When I started tying again, I took all my Herter material packages, removed the material from the Herters cards and wound them on those plastic thread cards and stored them in those nice plastic compartment boxes. Wish I knew then what I know now about Herters original packaging.
Tony
Deborah Duran wrote:
I agree Joyce. The variants are beautiful. I've only been tying a couple years and I've had three real cree hackles in my hands. I've only bought the one but I will use it and when I run low (which will take a long time) I will start looking for another. I bought two variants before I bought the one labeled Cree from Whiting and I like them all. Tonys are unique because of the age of them also. It is nice to see how far hackles have come with Whiting genetics. I have the advantage of getting to see up to 6 fly tying shows a year in my area so I'm lucky to see some really nice stuff. I have friends that have been tying for so long they have some of the older hackles and I can't match the look of them with what's on the market now. For some of the bigger creative saltwater flies I tie these older hackles are the best!!! So my friends just smile at me and say "oh I got that YEARS ago!" Deb
Tony, In my book..you did very well on those necks..does it matter if they are "true cree" or speckled variant /cree Joyce
