Pearsalls no 4 , now i am confused

[otter]

will the real no 4 please stand up

no 4 on the left was purchased last year from pearsall's online website from the trad gossamer section - and has worked well.

no 4 on the right, was purchased from flytyingboutique this week , i like it, a stronger yellow.

between 3, the 2 4's and 5 one can achieve many shades of olive by adjusting the waxing and a nice strongly yellow olive from the latest no 4 when very lightly waxed with beeswax as against a beeswax/rosin/castor oil wax.

any comments on these no 4's from the real north country lads.

[wingman]

Hi otter, the yellow no. 4 should be a much stronger yellow than yellow no. 5.
The stronger yellow no. 4 is the one I use on my spiders unless a pattern calls for the weaker no. 5. Traditionally the yellow no. 4 on the left could have been the original yellow no.4 but has since changed for the stronger yellow no.4 but don't quote me on that. god even I'm confused now.

[spidersplus]

Otter,

The little sticker on the spool of No.4 that you purchased from the Flytying Boutique says it all - ANTIQUE 4.

The "original" No.4 from Pearsall's that was around until about 35 years was a vibrant, stronger colour that when waxed with cobblers wax turned a deep olive shade.

The later No. 4 that Pearsall's sold until they discontinued the shade about 15 years ago was a washed out version - the left hand spool.

Langley Threads, who dye the Pearsall's silk, obtained a spool of the absolute original No.4 last year and have re-created that shade - now marketed as "antique 4".

Hope that helps!

Kind regards

[otter]

Thanks Phil,

Funnily enough the washed out version worked very well for me

I have a sneaking suspicion that the antique 4 will be quickly used up.

[noeyedeer]

Originally Posted by spidersplus

Langley Threads, who dye the Pearsall's silk, obtained a spool of the absolute original No.4 last year and have re-created that shade - now marketed as "antique 4".

From a previous thread, Phil has indicated that John @ Langley Threads is now using a spectrophotometer to measure the exact shade of his thread dyeings.

Given he has used this technology on the Antique no 4, you can be highly confident of the accuracy achieved compared with the original sample (albeit the original could have experienced some ageing as natural fibres aren't colourfast to exposure to light, nor the old dyestuffs fast over long time period.)

To all intents and purposes, the "Antique 4" is probably the nearest you'll ever get to the real deal from a supplier today.
Furthermore, once a spectro reading has been achieved, the shade can be "archived" electronically for eternity without change.

So.....anyone with original old spools lying around?

End of the day, if it's what the fish want - they'll have it!