Whiting Commercial Grade pelts have the same great feather characteristics as all Whiting Dry Fly pelts, just with some minor cosmetic issues like broken tips. This creates a very high quality pelt with unmatched value. THE OLYMPIC GRADING SYSTEMWhiting’s Olympic Grading System was developed to consistently grade capes and saddles across all dry fly product lines. Whiting Farms does not grade from harvest to harvest or “batch to batch”. We do not grade to push up or down pelts to meet certain sales requirements or financial obligations. We do not grade to meet consumer demand. Rather, our grading methodology remains consistent throughout the years and is independent of any bias that would skew the true value of the pelt. When grading our pelts, one rule-of-thumb always stands true: the quality level of the feather is always consistent. What does this mean? It means that each dry fly feather has a supple quill, void of twist, contains dense barbing and is greater than 85% web-free. If a pelt doesn’t meet this core criteria, the pelt is never sold in retail.
