Bad Marabou

[Painter1]

I bought a large bag of light gray marabou 6 months ago and had it on my desk while working from it. I kept smelling something bad and when I checked the bag the lower third of the contents were rotting & decomposing. There was no visible source of moisture around it.

The smell permeated the top feathers so I tossed the whole bag. Anyone else have these type problems with natural materials?

[smalljaw]

I got a 1oz bag from Wapsi  that was like that, it was the blood quill and it means they never let the quills dry before stitching and bagging. I only use spirit river marabou now, the best stuff you can get, it costs a little more but you won't be throwing half a bag away like I've done with Wapsi. I also wanted to tell you that it has happened to me more than once, not with the smell but with the marabou just falling apart and being useless.

[LedHed]

Should've sent it back or took it back to where you got it.

[mark poulson]

I have some Marabou and some bucktail that was given to me 10+ years ago, from a friend who used to tie salt water feathers.  

The hide on the bucktail is pretty aromatic, but it still works.  The marabou is kind of stale smelling, but it seems okay, too.

Maybe it was from an old time supplier.  We lived near Oxnard at the time, and the stuff was bought from a local tackle store.  It was before the internet.

I'm pretty sure that, if a batch of material was bad, someone in the store would have known pretty quickly.

I guess that kind of thing is the downside to the internet, along with the death of mom and pop shops of all kinds.

[Painter1]

Should've sent it back or took it back to where you got it.

 

I got it from Barlows, but it would disgusting to send that package back.  I also doubt that they knew anything about it because it was fine when I first got it.  

[Painter1]

Thanks for the suggestion SJ.  I will order some from them

[smalljaw]

Remember, this isn't the fault of the vendors, what happens is they don't prepare the material properly which is why it rots. I know this as every other company doesn't have this problem, so far the only material I ever had go bad was from Wapsi and it was 3 bags of marabou, never again. I also contacted Wapsi but of course they never responded, maybe someone else should let them know their material goes bad a short time after air hits it.

[mark poulson]

Remember, this isn't the fault of the vendors, what happens is they don't prepare the material properly which is why it rots. I know this as every other company doesn't have this problem, so far the only material I ever had go bad was from Wapsi and it was 3 bags of marabou, never again. I also contacted Wapsi but of course they never responded, maybe someone else should let them know their material goes bad a short time after air hits it.

 

Would soaking it in something like borax help to preserve it?

[smalljaw]

I really don't know to be honest. Whaen I've been given feathers I just  wash them and let them dry and then cover with a borax and salt mixture for 3 to 4 weeks. The salt takes out the moisture while the borax deodorizes and also helps absorb moisture. I've done Pheasant and chicken feathers and they seem to be ok but I never got the turkey marabou so I'm not sure if that would work. I've used a lot of Spirit River material and not only doesn't it rot after a few days of being open, but the plumes are wonderful, a much better product, Wapsi should be ashamed of themselves.

[Musky Glenn]

I have used Wapsi a lot and never had a problem. Could it be how it was stored after you opened it?

[smalljaw]

When I pulled it out of the bag the quills already were falling apart and about 1/3 of the plumes were matted and basically bad. I had 3 bags from 2 different vendors in 3 different colors and all had the same problems. I haven't had any problems with other materials from Wapsi, so far it has only been the marabou but it turned me off to the point I'll never buy another Wapsi brand material. I reached out to them, twice, and got no response so if they really don't care then I don't either and will buy Spirit River, and to be honest, their materials are much better so it is a good switch.

[mark poulson]

We used to use Timbor, a borax formula, to treat wood to prevent fungus, dry rot, termites, and powder post beetles.

Timbor is a borate/glycerin/water treatment.

http://nisuscorp.com/architects/products/tim-bor-professional

Since the glycerin and water are the wetting agents that carry the borate into the wood, the borate is the anti-everything agent in the formulation, so I think it should kill the fungus/mold in the feathers and prevent it from spoiling.