I use Tuffleye. It's blue light cured instead of UV, so it won't damage your eyes like the UV light would. But I'm also a little biased on that, because my wife runs the company. haha I use a ton of the flexible material on surf candies, crabs, and spoons, and hard material for shrimp. All light cured materials will be tacky, but a quick wipe with rubbing alcohol takes that off, or a quick coating with Topcoat or Hard as Nails.
Fly Tying
- Thread starter SoDakDom
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I use Tuffleye. It's blue light cured instead of UV, so it won't damage your eyes like the UV light would. But I'm also a little biased on that, because my wife runs the company. haha I use a ton of the flexible material on surf candies, crabs, and spoons, and hard material for shrimp. All light cured materials will be tacky, but a quick wipe with rubbing alcohol takes that off, or a quick coating with Topcoat or Hard as Nails.
Heard a great one the other day.
I'm an awesome fly tier I tie em around branches, weeds, rushes...
I'm an awesome fly tier I tie em around branches, weeds, rushes...
lol, that's good. In that case I was a tier as well on the stream long before I knew how to tie. I decorated more than one tree in those days.
Since you must be getting a huge break on the price of your resin and curing light, I see no reason to change. I haven't used Top Coat to remove the tackiness. You must be tying more salt water patterns than freshwater. When there is full sun, I can use the UV resin to harden the coated flies somewhat and finish them in the sun. Seldom do I get tackiness when I sun cure my flies. So far, I have yet to see any yellowness of any flies that I have coated. I know some tiers who reported yellowness because the resin reacted to the finishing coat.
I used to do a lot of saltwater, but moved up near Lake Erie a couple years ago. So now I do a lot of steelhead, bass, and am getting into pike and musky. Most people I've talked to say it's the Sally Hansons that turns it yellow over time. The trick is not loosing the fly and keeping it long enough for that to happen.
Here's one of last night's attempts. Trying to get better at spinning deer hair.
Here's one of last night's attempts. Trying to get better at spinning deer hair.
Odd, tiers I know and I have never experienced Sally Hansen's turning yellow. Years ago I took a class from Bob Popovics. He used Sally Hansen's and never mentioned it. Has it happened to you?
I haven't tied clipped deer hair in a very long time and then only rarely. So, I haven't developed expertise at tying them. Yours looks promising for an early attempt. I guess it takes a lot of practice to get the colors completely separated. What books or videos do you use?
I've only used two brands of UV cure resin, Bondic and Loon. The Bondic always cures hard with no residue left over, but it doesn't penetrate really well. Most of the time this doesn't matter as I usually only use it for wing cases, but it was extremely frustrating when tying Pat's Rubber Legs. I've used the Loon thick and flow of the two flow is my favorite as it penetrates very well and can be used as a replacement for head cement. Unfortunately both Loon products have always left a greasy film, I'm not sure if I've gotten a bad batch or if its the light I'm using.
I've never tried Bondic, but I have used Loon. If the Loon UV resin doesn't cure completely, I would suspect the light doesn't use the wavelength the Loon product requires. I am curious about Deer Creek UV resins. This line of UV resins is getting a lot of positive reviews. Supposedly, it cures tack-free. Has anyone used Deer Creek?
I have seen Sally Hansons turn yellow after using the fly multiple times. I'm not sure what causes it, but it takes a couple months. I know Bob pretty well and he switched away from it a couple years ago. The guys that paint poppers don't use Sally Hansons anymore either because sometimes the colors run.
For spinning deer hair I've just watched guys like Pat Cohen do it live and I'm sure there are a bunch of videos on youtube. It's one of those tricks that just looking at pictures and reading a book wouldn't fully explain.
I've messed with all the UV brands and none of them are completely tack-free. Even talking to owners of the companies that market product as tack-free will admit they aren't. I know my wife's company is trying to make one, but won't release it until it actually is.
I'm just building my materials back up. All of my fly tying gear was stolen when I moved and I have been slow to re-acquire. I got another vise and a basic dr.slick tool kit, just started buying threads and other materials. I'm planning a trip up to Canada this summer so I need some big fly recipes to try to catch a Muskie on. It's been a few years since I tied anything, hopefully it's like riding a bike.
~J. Babcock
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
~J. Babcock
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
If I lost or had all my current stuff stolen, I'd just go back to buying my flies... It'd be cheaper in the long run.
Where in Canada are you heading?
Looks fantastic!
I suspect you may be correct. Some are less tacky than others. Normally, I'll apply a thin coat, use the lamp for a few seconds, and then after I have tied a dozen or so flies, place them all in sunlight. Sunlight ultimately cures them tack-free.
Well, it's been cloudy or raining all week without even partial sun until Sunday. Since you spooked me about Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails, I am now using Hard as Hull to remove the tackiness of UV resin. I'm certain Hard as Hull won't yellow over time. It definitely removes the tackiness from cured UV resin.
Some recent ties...
Beautiful pieces of art!Some recent ties...
Good evening
Friends talked me in to joining them on another low-budget two week trip floating down / camping on a remote river in Alaska this August. Guess I need to twist up a few dozen flies for the Silvers.
How do I tell the wife I'll be in Alaska on her birthday again? Third year in a row too...
How do I tell the wife I'll be in Alaska on her birthday again? Third year in a row too...
