Magpie Tail Problems

[Stuart_B]

I was wanting to tie some Magpie and Silver using magpie tails for wings as per Davie McPhails video on Youtube . I got some tail feathers this morning but wasn't all that impressed with them ..looked as if the bird had been in a fight ( Veniards packet) .In Davie McPhails video he holds up the tail and has selected two slips ..one from each side of the feather and the stem appears to be exactly down the middle but the feathers I got the stem is to one side meaning it is hard to get matching pairs and also the barbs won't stay together as you strip the sections off....Am I expecting too much or have I got a **** set of tail feathers .

[arkle]

Best to buy a complete tail or skin, & cut the fibres away as low as you can rather than tear them which mis-aligns the barbule structure.

[midlander]

Sounds like you've got a side tail, i.e. not the centre tail, they're naturally biased to one side. That shouldn't matter too much as long as the tips of each slip align and they're still long enough for the wing. As John says, cut them as opposed to tearing. For a better quality of tail feather give Steve Cooper a ring at Cookshill.

[dabhoy]

I will 2nd what Midlander says regarding cookshills as I recently got a magpie tail from him and it was 1st class.

[REIDY10_0]

My old man could not believe his luck when he seen a road kill magpie at the side of the road.
He swiftly parked the car, dodged the traffic to get tot he bird and some Fecker had already taken the tail from it.

Munro

[Stuart_B]

Thx all....just ordered a Magpie skin from Cookshill and it should arrive tomorrow .