Capes?

[greywulff]

Hi guys, I'm relatively new to fly tying and wanted some quality capes as the Indian Capes I have are already proving to be sub-standard. I have heard Metz, Whiteling and Hoffman are good capes. I can only find 'Bronze quality'.

Are there gold quality out there, and where to I buy from?

I am based in the UK and going to the fly tying fair in November in Stoke but wondered whether there is a reputable source i can get good quality capes from without having to view first. The reason being I'm off on holiday in a couple of weeks and want to spend it tying!

I mainly wanted to focus on improving my Grey Wulffs - I've been told I need a pale blue dun colour, also what hair should I use as he wings? Coastal deer or would roe or another do? Any tips/ step by steps very welcome?

Thanks
James

[ChrisDickey]

only thing in my mind is that gold standard whiting capes can be very expensive

[T1Viper]

for good quality capes, excellent customer service and speedy delivery contact Ruthvenflyfisher on here by pm.

have a look at his site here http://www.artifly.com/index.html

Tom

[stevekale]

There isn't any difference in quality between a gold and bronze Whiting cape. They're graded by the density of feather. So a gold cape simply has the capacity to tie more flies. Whiting bronze will do you nicely. Give Phil at flytyingboutique or Nigel at Laklandflytying a call.

[spidersplus]

greywulff,

Stevekale beat me to it! As he says, there is no real difference in QUALITY between a Bronze and Gold cape - just QUANTITY of usable feathers.

Take a look here for more details as to how Whiting grade their capes/necks and saddles:

http://www.whitingfarms.com/articles/grading.html

I don't think that any UK retailer brings any Gold capes into the UK at the moment - mainly because the price is so prohibitive - they sell for £150 upwards as they are so rare.

There IS a difference between Whiting "red label" and "green label" capes - the Green Label re from the Hebert Miner gene pool - stiff barbs and excellent for traditional dry patterns - half the price of the Red Label which are from the Hoffman gene pool - supple stems and the barb count (number of barbs per inch of hackle stem) is about 50% higher so less wraps of hackle needed.

A Bronze grade cape will provide you with superb quality hackles, a revelation if you have only been tying with Indian capes.

If you wish to email me your full name and address, I will send you some samples of Whiting Red Label Dun hackles. I also have some superb deer that I have recently obtained from Northern Sweden - again, I can post you a sample.

Kind regards

[arkle]

James, you have a p.m.