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Foam ? for Crease flies - part 2

3K views 4 replies 5 participants last post by  striblue 
#1 ·
Thank's to all who helped in part 1.
I have been at it for 2 days now and have a basic design that I think will work.
I am trying to delay using Epoxy to harden the "shell" part of the fly, mostly because I have very litlle experience with the stuff but I will use it on one of the prototypes I am building.
What type of epoxy do you use ?, I have only worked with the hardware store 3 minute type.
What proportions of resin & hardener do you use?
I am not worried about the eventual yellowing of epoxy since pike flies never last beyond the season anyway.
I also wonder if any of you folks have an alternate hardener. I tried nail polish & hardener and have a decent result so far. I also tried head cement and it also gives a good result.
I tried various enamel paints & Gel-Coat paint (used on my fiberglass boat) but both chip badly so they are out. Besides they are expensive and not available in small quantities, like art supply style containers.
I want something that will make the foam hardened and protect against the pike teeth as best can be expected, without the weight of multi coats of epoxy.

Any suggestions form the chemists out there?
 
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#2 ·
I haven't tied or fished a crease fly yet so I may be off base but here goes.

Since the flies are for pike why not make the foam sacrificial, and bring extra bodies to glue on?

Skip Morris has a book about tying flies with foam. In it he had suggestions on how to preserve the color added to flies using permanent markers. I only looked at the book in a book store but I think he coated the flies with a diluted shoe goo or soft-tex.

I've used fabric paints on foam body flies before. They have lasted well, but, they are on a solidly supported surface rather than a crease fly where the foam can flex.

Whatever you do Pete I know from seeing your flies in the past that they will look good.
 
#3 ·
Pete- The only epoxy I ever use is the 5-minute type, mixed directly in a one to one ratio of resin to hardener. That being said, I'm in the same boat as John....I've never tied a crease fly. But for what it's worth, I find the 5-minute easy to work with.
 
#4 ·
Pete, I've used all of them, and whatever you choose is the right one. That's not a smart-ass answer.

Duro Extended Time. Devcon Five-Minute. Devcon Thirty Minute. SuperPoxy One Minute (my latest favorite, though it really isn't one minute exactly).

Ninety minute (I think it was Devcon). Two hour rod builder's. Eight hour golf club maker's. It really doesn't matter. All these materials are a 1:1 mix; most of the difference is kicking time and the tyer's level of patience with waiting. I don't find a significant difference in the one-minute, 3000# tensile strength finish against the 5000#, five-minute. they're both glass smooth when cured.....not just hardened, but cured.

The other night Striblue watched me dangle One Minute Superpoxy off a bare hook shank and rotate the shank while the stuff set up. It didn't kick in one minute as I might not have mixed it just 'enough'; it took about five, set up nicely, and was touchable within seven to ten minutes - but, next day, it was bulletproof on the hook.

Don't forget things like Goop, whether Carpenter's, Plumber's, or Marine, for bonding and fixing to the hook as well as an epoxy base material.
 
#5 ·
Pete, all I do is use the 5 minute epoxy and after it sets for a little while I coat it with Hard as Nails. simple..You don't need to complicate this step in the finishing touches. On the crease flies... do a very thin first coat.. let set ..then do a second to smooth it out.
 
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