Thread: Buck tail Dye??

Originally Posted by willsjwills

The chlorine bleaches harden and stiffen the fibers. You can use a conditioner to bring the fibers back, since you want fibers that are "soft", not stiff. The conditioner you use on your own hair will work just fine. Make sure you thoroughly wash the tail with a shampoo or dish detergent after using the conditioner.

Thanks for the info Willsjwlls, not real bad news about the bleech at least it can be corrected.

If I wash the tai with dish detergent will I get a rash!?:D :D

Why wash the conditioner with soap after the fact? Just curious....

Back in the day I used Ritz dye. Use dawn dish soap to wash the tails let dry then dye. I hung them on the clothes line with clothes pins on a nice sunny day. When you get the color that you desire dump in a half cup of vinegar to set the dye. I used hot dye solution let cool and wash. I have tried the Kool Aid and it works but I had better luck with the Ritz dye. Be sure you bone and scrape the fat away from the hide. If you don't want to dye them right away rub the hide with Borax. 20 mule team borax that is used in laundry works well it can be bought at a grocery or one of the big box retailers. I stuck my tails in the freezer for a few days to kill any bugs that they have on them. Sometimes they have fleas on them and God help you if you they have lice on them.

As just a little side note if you can get them try to get the old curly hair Swamp bucktails. They have so much more action. It is almost like like tying with really long kip tail with the action of feathers. These come from the big Northern Whitetail deer. These little white tails down south won't and don't have this type of hair. At least I have never found one with type of tail.

Redman

Good thread with a lot of great info.
I dye some of my hair and feathers for colors I can't find. It's not hard and another tool you can have in this hobby.

I have use Veniards fly tying dye with great results. worked well on buck tail rabbit and marabou.

I have been dye material for many years one of the key companies that I've dealt with is called key the other one is called fly dye they make the highest quality there is though they are a little bit spindly but there dye goes along ways so get online and look them up we have used all other types also you can get online and they have dye for all kinds of material one thing to remember is make sure that you worship material and shall be dishwater before you start you have to either use some type of salt or something to set the dye if you're wanting any more information let me know one more thing if you are going to try it on feathers it takes very little and they will set pretty fast here something else doing feathers after you get through I rinse them out and put them in a pillow case make sure that it is closed tightly I use a plastic tie strip throw it in the dryer or about 20 minutes to see if they dry.