Steve, That's what happens with soaked or saturated leather when it dries. It shrinks down and gets brittle like raw leather.
Rewet the brittle rabbit strip (which will soften it again) and then blot-dry it with a cloth to soak in all the excess water from the leather and the fur. Let it dry again and it should be like chamois cloth- a little stiff, but not brittle. Some leathers will actually dry soft again, depending on the tanning process. When you fish and put away a rabbit-strip fly, or similar leather fly, just get the excess water out of the leather, and it won't shrivel up and get brittle. As far as the fur itself, the water you're fishing in has some to do with it, as with saltwater, muddy water, etc. Wash the flies in clean water with just a tiny bit of hair conditioner in it, and then blot them with a dry towel. They'll dry up just right and soft for the next trip. I even do this with my big saltwater streamers, as the salt and the set from drying on the boat make them look and feel pretty ratty. I did an experiment a few years ago just to see how well this works. I used the brain-tanned elk that I use on my mice tails. I get this from an Indian reservation here in Wyoming, and it is used for ceremonial robes and is not available for retail sale. It is extremely soft and feels almost like a piece of felt, not leather. I cut two narrow strips, soaked both, squeezed and blotted all the water out of just one of them, laid them side by side, and let them dry. The one that I got the extra water out of dried real well, and was almost back to it's original condition. The one that dried while soaked shriveled and dried hard like a piece of dog-treat leather. It looked like a dead worm that had dried on the pavement. This was such a stark difference because the leather I used is so exceptionally soft and porous. Other leathers will do this to varying degrees, but it sounds like your bunny-strip flies have this trait to a good degree. Hope this helps. DonO ----- Original Message ----- From: Steve To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, July 09, 2004 8:15 PM Subject: [VFB] rabbit fur I was tying up some fly's that use a long strip of rabbit fur as a long tail, when I noticed that on some of the older Bass fly's I was coping, that long rabbit fur tails have gotten hard and brittle. What do you use to soften it? Is this a come thing. Or should I have been doing something all along. PS I am not sure some of the Bass flies are rabbit, could be something else. I was just guessing, But fur is fur, The care should be the same. Steve Clark Moreno Valley, Ca. http://www.deepcreekflyfishers.org/ The only difference between a good day and a bad day is our attitude. ><((((�>`..����`..�..��`....�>(((�> ..��`..><((((�>`..��..��`..�..��`....�><((((�>
