Category Archives: product

War on Six Dollar Items – Head Cement

Lacquer and thinner There’s thousands of glues, lacquers, shellacs, and cements, but no such thing as “head cement,”  that’s a term we invented to describe grabbing a gallon jug of something used in the woodworking industry, decanting into a tiny little jar and selling it for 97 times what the jug costs.

Fly tying cements are one of two types; the vinyl cement family, and the lacquer-shellac family. A good rule of thumb is high gloss = lacquer, and dull = vinyl cement.

Vinyl cement is available in many viscosities – and most of those sold in fly shops are thinned to a water consistency for maximum penetration. Lacquer is usually thicker and is almost always sold with thinner, allowing you to customize the mix to your liking.

Lacquer gets thicker as it gets older and is subjected to oxygen, vinyl cement mostly evaporates with exposure to air – without changing viscosity. Most tiers have both in their desk; vinyl cement is flexible and works well with feathers, lacquer dries shinier, harder and is brittle.

Both have great qualities, reinforcing a feather to make a wingcase would be vinyl cement; it doesn’t add shine, is more flexible than lacquer, and the first couple of fish won’t destroy feathers as it retains some of the original flex despite the coating. Exposed thread would be best served with lacquer as it dries harder and often the shine is desirable, like the larger exposed heads of steelhead or salmon flies.

Last year I wrote where to find cheap vinyl cement but I never touched on the glossy lacquers and what to look for…

I prefer the nitrocellulose lacquers once used in the automobile industry (which has since shifted to water based lacquer). These are the thin lacquers used with spray guns and are now used for finishing musical instruments.

Violins and guitars derive much of their sound from the resonance of the body, and a hard glossy lacquer is preferred to enhance its musical qualities (I assume a flexible sealer would dampen sound).

I buy the Lawrence-McFadden lacquers by the quart ($18.00), along with a quart of thinner ($10.65) and either use it as a 50/50 mixture for general fly tying – occasionally using it un-thinned for the “large head” flies, where gloss is part of the overall presentation.

Nitrocellulose lacquers produce a very hard yet flexible, durable finish that can be polished to a high sheen. Drawbacks of these lacquers include the hazardous nature of the solvent, which is flammable, volatile and toxic.

Decanting and resealing the larger containers has always led to quarts of wasted wood finishing products lining your garage, and how each time you’d opened one it had turned into a dried hardened mass.

Instead of pouring into a smaller container, save a couple of straws from your favorite fast food vendor – those big round ones that induce an aneurism because the milk-shake-substance hasn’t thawed yet.

Cut one of those about two inches above the height of your quart jug. When you need to refill your bench bottle – just press it down into the lacquer and when it hits bottom put your finger over the end. Hold your small bottle over the lacquer jug and transfer the straw – about three trips with the straw and you’ve filled a head cement bottle half way, repeat with the thinner, and stir. Toss the straw when you’re done.

No mess, no drips, and the large cans reseal tightly so you get to use all the goody.

I’m not sure how many years two quarts of head cement represents – but to a casual tyer it’s measured in decades. Store-bought head cement is at least $5 per bottle – double that if you buy thinner, so it’s a considerable savings over their product – whose bottles often leak or evaporates the product anyhow.

It’s the invention destined to make Catch and Release agreeable to the most hardened killer

Take a proud and noble prey and reduce it to a “turd” of shapeless fish flesh? The Wunder Boner is the greatest argument for catch and release ever devised…

Not even McDonalds has the nerve to display how a Fillet of Fish sandwich is made – with good reason, it’s liable to be as photogenic and noisy as pressure extruding a carp through a garden hose.

Freshly imbued with your day-long coaching of Wood’s Lore and sportsmanship – your proud child offers Mom the stringer, only to see them mashed into the cutting board as a sodden lump of flesh?

Why not just step on them first … and tell me you gutted the thing, or is that Sushi roll already stuffed?

Perhaps the most important addition to your fly fishing arsenal

OptiFade was one of the best purchases I’ve ever made, and the discovery that dipping the gear in the Little Stinking’s effluent adds a watery sheen – has made it an integral part of my fly fishing arsenal.

OptiFade - the Deer's Eye View

OptiFade is a new optical pattern camouflage developed by the Gore-Tex folks, the picture at left shows what deer see.

I was able to borrow a prototype to attempt some carp sneakage, slipped in the creek and got the entire ensemble wet…

Apparently the unique combination of industrial effluents contained in the Little Stinking enhanced the land-based camo with a watery sheen, making me nearly invisible to the human eye.

Want Proof?

Me and Pal Tom, after the tour How about me standing next to Tom Chandler, after he’s revealed all his Upper Sacramento Secret Spots unknowingly…

It sure was cold that day, and I’m still feeling guilty Wally the Wonderdog got blamed for clipping Tom’s fine sandwich – but I was starving…

It appears that Gore-Tex is going to cut me in for a piece of the pie. Up till now I’ve held out the “mysterious formula” that makes the water-camo, faithful Singlebarbed readers will get a discount – but I want a piece of whatever you shoplift.

“Secrets of the Upper Sacramento” (as writ by hisself) available from Amazon.com – just in time for Christmas.

The only beverage that ice can’t help

In California the only clue that it’s winter is the volume of sick, sniffling co-workers that insist on sharing whatever malady they’ve contracted.

There’s a special hell waiting for the guy that wipes his nose on his sleeve then hands out the meeting minutes – this time the bastard got me.

My personal Jesus

A short advert from our sponsor, we’ll return when we’re human again.

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Rivers in Motion: The Yellowstone

The Yellowstone DVD The lads at DryFly Media sent me a DVD entitled: “Rivers in Motion: The Yellowstone” – it’s a novel idea akin to “visual white noise” – the sights and sounds of the best stretches of your favorite river to put you at peace with the world…

Knowing that Singlebarbed wouldn’t be at peace if the Holy Ghost hisself was present, I volunteered to give it a look see.

No, it didn’t lull me to sleep, but it made the fly tying 10% faster. The omnipresent roar of big water in the background made me feel like I was tying on a park bench before the hatch started in earnest. Tongue firmly sandwiched between teeth, casting furtive glances at the monitor to see if the fish are rising yet –  and the only thing missing was the afternoon breeze sending my materials flying.

It played hell with my blood pressure.

I watched/listened to a couple of the scenes at home with my tinny little headphones – which destroyed the entire purpose,  so I swapped it out for the Dolby SurroundSound setup, which upstaged the book my girlfriend was reading – who stomped off to bed in a huff.

In the right hands this could be a powerful tool, clear the ManCave with the sounds of thunderous, slippery, rapids then enjoy the bliss of tying uninterrupted. 

I took it to work to try it there, had a couple simple speakers meant for cubicle use and with a pair of monitors had the Yellowstone flowing down one screen and a document in the other … worked swimmingly, but I had to turn it down whenever the humans intruded.

The guy next to me leans over, “Dude, you frying bacon in there?”

“No, Meathead – that’s the sound of some severe Blueline rapids filled with ravenous giant trout.”

He grabs the DVD cover, “Yellowstone, I got to go there. You going there?”

“I was there until you poked your nose into the cubicle, now I’m having trouble breathing through my eye lids, my aura is out of kilter, and your fruitless search for a free donut has messed with my ‘Happy Place.'”

In short, the audio dictates most of effect, 10 different stretches of the Yellowstone filmed for 9 minutes duration, and you absorbing it all via computer screen or TV/Stereo.

I found myself wishing there was some fellow fishing, or a herd of something peacefully grazing within the view of the camera, adding the perspective of size to the mass of water flowing past. All in all it was an interesting experiment.

The final scene hosted a large pod of fish munching their way through a nice hatch. That was a difficult watch – as the volume of rises and their frequency had me extolling the cameraman, ” .. are you a Man, to hell with the video, get a rod and get down there, dammit.”

I think adding a couple fellows fishing has potential – you’d have to edit out all the swearing, but watching another fisherman fish would likely glue you to each episode. It’s the reality of fishing, it’s so rare that you’re alone on a river these days – it’s almost part of the experience.

Something for the stocking this Xmas – or something to send someone whose been shoveling his driveway for three months, and hasn’t touched a rod for same … it’ll likely torment hell out of this erstwhile pal.

The re-emergent Thomas-Phelps-Xuron, it’s hard to keep a simple design in obscurity

I’ve known it by many names – but mostly it’s “the vise I can’t get rid of…”

One of my buddies found one at a flea market, it was an original “Thomas Vise” complete with a sheet metal C-clamp. Elsie and Harry Darbee swore by it, and it enjoyed a brief resurgence as the “Catskill Vise” – never manufactured as such, just a common name for the old Thomas specimens still in existence.

I owned my first when it was the “Phelp’s Vise” – bought a second one for parts from Peter Phelps after it was rechristened the “Xuron”. It was popular with Eric Leiser and some of the eastern tiers in the Eighties, but like all simple, elegant, sturdy designs, it vanished.

A fly tying vise without any moving parts doesn’t wear out; no “forcing collars” to split, no seals or gaskets, no midge jaws to break – and even when you turn a stainless steel 3/0 into a pretzel – there’s nothing in the assembly to protest or groan.

The best part is they’re making it again.

It’s still called the “Xuron” vise – and in this day and age of rotating gizmo vises, its price falls into the “entry level” of fly tying tools. The Deluxe model with pedestal base is $160.

That’s a far cry from the $400 contemporary miracles of rotary design – and it still offers a feature you can’t buy in any other vise, the base has a “ball and socket” joint that allows you to adjust both the attitude of the jaws, and tilt the vise to any degree in the “X , Y” coordinate plane. You can pull the vise jaws backward into an upright position, or thrust them forward and rotate the jaw to make the shank of a salmon-double level.

Simple screw to tighten, and palm pressure to rotate It appears the only change to the vise is the presence of a “knurled” knob where the Allen screw used to be.  We modified the design by rotating the head 180 degrees (so the tightening lever is on the far side) and replaced the screw with a small “L” shaped bar of metal so we could rotate the jaws into a new position by pressing your palm against the bar.

The knurled knob isn’t as easy to manipulate while tying – so I’d recommend modifying the assembly, or asking the vendor whether he still stocks the old threaded “bar” – or can modify the assembly for you.

Some companies still do that – it’s called “customer service.”

Which is the “best” vise is hotly debated in every fly tying forum available on the Internet. “Best” seems to be important to new tiers – while us old guys are more interested in what works. This is the “General Practitioner” of fly tying vises – able to accommodate hook sizes from 6/0 to 26 with the same single tightening motion – and handles the rarified styles like Waddington shanks and tube flies with a tilt and tighten.

Considering the contemporary vises I’ve used – which seem to be moving into more of a “specialized” style, with a plethora of knobs, dials, and gauges to handle hook sizes and styles – this vise is uncommon.

It’s rare that simplicity reasserts itself – I must not be the only fan, as someone still thinks there’s plenty of life left in the design. After putting about a quarter million flies through it in the last 20 years – all on the same set of jaws, I’m sure you’ll find this tool more than meets your needs.

Christmas is heading our way, and it’s going to be a tough holiday what with the turmoil in markets and decline in the economy. Maybe this is worth a second look – it may be the “best” price for the service you’ll get.

It’s like learning to tie flies, only cheaper

Fly shops and canny fellows Them heady days of a commercial resale license are long gone, compliments of the Internet. Manufacturers use minimum order to separate the riff-raff from the genuine capitalists – something I gleefully exploit at every opportunity.

With the economy in the tank those $50 orders from “Fatty” over at Singlebarbed are doubly precious, and plays well with my shameless hoarding nature…

I figure you’re interested, hence my mentioning where to find vast quantities of feather dander on the cheap – unfortunately not all my readers are Real Men fly tiers, so not everyone gets to take advantage.

Among the largest sources of capital outlay for fly fishermen are flies, it’s the reason most attempt to learn the craft somewhere in their career; the smart ones fail, realizing that’s it’s twice as expensive  – leaving us slow learners to master the craft.

India and Malaysia have provided most of the flies found in fly shops for the last couple of decades, but China and Africa are coming aboard as direct competitors – and a canny fellow may be able to take advantage.

Minimum orders from Kenyan manufacturers are often only 4 dozen flies – and counting your fishing buddies and their need to lighten your fly box, that’s a single outing. The rest require a minimum of 100 dozen, which represents a season of pals and their grabby mitts.

Both Chinese and African vendors charge about $3.40 per dozen, about thirty cents a fly, making a 100 dozen only $340 US.

Split an order with a buddy, and laugh all the way to the bank…

Alibaba.com lists 605 manufacturers of flies in their sales leads, all contain contact information and sample pictures of their wares. All it takes is an email to the manufacturer requesting samples, and you may find a new best friend, and score enough freebies to cover your next couple of outings.

Most of you may not have noticed the resurgent dollar, how in the last couple of months it’s beating almost every other currency available. As long as the dollar is strong against the Yuan, Drachma, Lire, Pound, etc – you’ll be paying even less for your tackle.

While you’re at it consider one of those really expensive pontoon boats – the ones listed at $1500 or more in the catalogs .. Who do you think makes those?

Minimum order is 10, and direct from the manufacturer it’s pretty much guaranteed to be less than half price. Shipping will add more, but 9 guys at your casting club might be interested.

… and no, you’re not harming American fly tyers – most shops use their best talent on the specific patterns they can’t get from the offshore vendors; all the watershed specific patterns, flies that require higher skill levels, and those patterns that are useful only a couple weeks each year.

It’s all the standard patterns that flesh out their fly selection that are imports.

It’s raining iPhones

It could lead to a $300 projectile I love gadgets as much as the next fellow, and after eyeballing an Apple iPhone some months ago – I figured sooner or later I might end up owning one.

Now I’m glad I waited as there may be a better than average chance at scoring a free one. The software geniuses at Freeverse have debuted the first fishing game for the iPhone, and like the Wii, it’s motion activated.

You’ll remember the Wii as the cause of all those smashed TV screens, the “heat of battle” caused the controllers to slip from sweaty fingers – neatly imbedding themselves in some fellow’s expensive wide screen.

… reading the fine print of the iPhone game, it mentions “casting is activated by an overhand throwing motion” – which means the well heeled fellow at the bus stop may want you to “go long” ….

If you want one – just keep running.

It’s a thought … $300 per catch may put you in the middle tier payscale for NFL receivers.

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What in hell am I going to make with that

togen_steelhead It was an oddball hook, normally I would’ve kept moving without another thought – but a sale is not to be taken lightly…

Togen has an overstock sale on an odd shaped “Salmon-Steelhead” hook in black nickel, only a single size available, size 2 – but I took another gander and saw a “creepy-crawly” hook rather than steelhead-salmon steel.

Traditional hooks can be turned over to ride point up only with some heavy add on, bead chain eyes or similar physics-altering device capable of overcoming the weight of the bend and point. Hooks are naturally heavier towards the arse end – and something’s needed to reset that balance point.

“Creepy-Crawly” describes everything that’s big, sinks, and used early season, when the water’s heavy and the fish are looking for the big bug.

This has just the right kind of oddball shape that I can easily flip it over just by positioning the lead on the shank. The size is right for big stonefly nymphs and heavy … you guessed it … crayfish patterns.

Early season nymphing is hell on hooks, and it’s common to rescue a fly from a rock snag to find a nice “L” shape to the point – getting that precious point out of harm’s way would be desirable.

At $7.50 per hundred, they’re half price.

Furry Foam by any other name is a blanket

JC Penny's Vellux blanket with 9 colors available I was tracking some quarry for the Roughfisher, and as the supply is ample figured I’d share with everyone else, as many of you tie flies with baby blankets …

You call it Furry Foam, and are content to pay $1.25 for a 6″ X 6″ square, I call it a Vellux Throw, and pay $15.00 for 36 square feet. At retail that’s a 600% profit for the middlemen – who score them wholesale I’m sure.

J.C. Penny’s offers nine colors in stock, available as a throw wrap ($15), and Twin through King sized sheets ($19 – $34).

Hareline sells it in the fly shop, but why buy it from them Big stonefly nymphs and Darth Clam come to mind, likely it’s something you’ll want to split with a buddy, or share with your fly tying class – 36 square feet is a lot of flies.

One of the few investments for a toddler they won’t outgrow – once they get too big you can launder it and chop it into manageable pieces, you may even have it longer than the bronzed baby shoe.

Just cut around anything that looks like “urpy-chuck.”