Question- Quill Varnish

[MD_Gene]

Anyone know what this stuff is? Dave McPhail refers to it in his tie of the lite-brite buzzer. He uses it to coat the entire fly to improve durability.
Thanks in advance.

 

[whheff]

I haven't watched him tie that pattern but on most of his flies he uses Bug Bond. It is a product similar to Clear Cure Goo. Does he shine a UV light on the fly after he applies this coating? If so, he is using Bug Bond.

 

[sandfly]

A hard head cement will work. any head cement or a marine varnish will work.

 

[defranksflies]

Clear Cure Goo Hydro would be the fastest application, however a coat or two of Sally Hansen's quick dry clear coat nail polish will be suffice.

 

[FrequentTyer]

He uses one of the UV resins. If you read the comments he also adds a light coat of varnish to keep the shine. As mentioned any head cement would probably work. Real men use spar varnish
Mike.

 

[boychick]

I use sally hanson's for this kind of thing.

 

[JackM]

Not picking on this thread, but just commenting generally:

Do you think some tyers get a little anal about exact components? If I owned golden pheasant tips, I'd use them on Royals, but really, are they necessary?

 

[MD_Gene]

No, he does not shine the light on this covering.

 

[MD_Gene]

Yes, some of us do get a little anal and I am always trying to find substitutes for materials like my later post asking for what "flex floss" is and what might be used instead in the lite brite buzzer fly tied by Dave McPhail.

 

[WildTigerTrout]

I use head cement to coat all my quill bodied flies. It seems to work fine for me.

 

[lv2nymph]

Gene, I use Sally Hansen to put a coat on my flies too. Been tempted lately by the goo's but the price has stopped me, not sure if I'll use it enough to make it worth it. I use epoxy too but it can be a pita what with the time to set up and all. I imagine that's where the uv goo stuff would shine.

 

[FrequentTyer]

MD_Gene wrote:
No, he does not shine the light on this covering.

Sorry Gene, I was wrong. I went and re-watched the video and you are correct. He is just using several coats of varnish. He does tie another very similar pattern with bug bond.
Mike.

 

[afishinado]

Head cement works, but you should use the type that is glossy, not the deep penetrating kind of cement that dries sorta milky or cloudy.

For quills, I use Sally Hansens too, but it's best to coat and set aside to complete the fly after it dries. With the UV stuff you can hit it with the light and continue tying without any drying time.

 

[BrookieChaser]

To answer JackM's question on the use of golden pheasant on the Royal Coachman, yes I feel it's necessary.

The golden pheasant and actual wings is what separates that pattern from a Royal Wulff which uses calf hair as an indicator and moose or deer hair for the tail.