Piker20 0 Report post Posted August 18, 2016 Isn't the point of deer hair that the hollow hair holds air that ensures fly is buoyant? Coating any cut hair risks filling these hairs with the glue. Guess its fine if that glue floats, gorilla glue for example but I'm not sure id want to coat the whole fly in any substance. Following this one with interest. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mike West 0 Report post Posted August 18, 2016 Take Goop or Shoe Goo and thin it like thick water with Tolulene (this is Dave's Flexcement) Paint the bottom of the bug with this and the top of the bug letting it soak. Into the hair, for the face make it thicker or use the liquid fusion Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Capt Bob LeMay 0 Report post Posted August 18, 2016 I use Flex Seal on any hair bugs that I want to harden up (and make them waterproof as well....). It's been listed in Wapsi's catalogue for years and years... I apply it with a spatula (it goes on like honey then is absorbed up into the hair...). Yes, it's solvent based so you'll be wanting a bit of ventilation when using the stuff. It gives pretty good results even right over plastic eyes. Here's the Razor Cut Mullet - treated with Flex Seal.... You'll note it was colored with a marker before the Flex Seal..... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
deerhairdan 0 Report post Posted August 18, 2016 Yep. I use Liquid Fusion. Just a thin layer for additional durability on the bottom. The hair is packed so tight that the "sealing up" of the hair has no effect on the floating ability of the fly as previously questioned on this thread. I also use flexible UV resin on the collar of divers to stiffen them up just a bit....it makes them last longer and has a substantially louder pop when stripped. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheCream 0 Report post Posted August 18, 2016 Here's the video in question. I have used LF for several years on the bellies and faces with great results. I don't brush it on, I just squirt it right out of the bottle onto the belly, smooth it out a little with the tip, then the LF self-levels from there. It seems to shrink a little as it levels and dries, so I lean towards putting too much on instead of a super light brushed on coat. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
johnnyquahog 0 Report post Posted August 18, 2016 Deer hair is cellular and not hollow like a straw. Liquid Fusion is the brain friendly modern day replacement for some of these other nasty chemicals. I like to water it down to coat the bottom of the bugs and use it straight for the face. Pat Cohen uses light cured acrylic on the bottom of his divers. The relatively flat face of this bug is accomplished using Liquid Fusion and the parchment paper trick which causes the hair to behave while it sets up. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brian Myers 0 Report post Posted August 18, 2016 Take Goop or Shoe Goo and thin it like thick water with Tolulene (this is Dave's Flexcement) Paint the bottom of the bug with this and the top of the bug letting it soak. Into the hair, for the face make it thicker or use the liquid fusion Mix the tolulene + goop outside, It'll give you a headache fairly quickly at least it does me. Once they're mixed together you can limit your exposure by keeping the top on your goop mix bottle when it's not in use. The tolulene evaporates and the goop of course gets thicker so just open the mix long enough to get out what you need and place it back on quickly. Even without opening the jar very often you still need to add more tolulene at least once a year to keep the goop thin. I use a baby jar for the goop mixture. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brian Myers 0 Report post Posted August 18, 2016 Ok so I picked up some liquid fusion, I want to start tying some really nice stacked deer hair bass bugs, I want them to last and float really well, are you guys just coating the bottom with this? do you brush it on or put it on thick? and does it stay clear?? I looked back through the search and found comments but no dedicated threat to really using it. and how to best use it. I haven't used Liquid Fusion on deer hair but have used it to coat mylar tubing ( mylar tubing over a foam body for a floating minnow ). It looks good at first on the mylar , doesn't make it hard , as Add said it's rubbery but it does get cloudy with use ( easy to see on mylar) and gets scratched up after a few fish. I let the Liquid Fusion dry a few days to a week before use and it doesn't seem to make a difference . Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
josephcsylvia 0 Report post Posted August 18, 2016 Good to know Brian thank you, Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheCream 0 Report post Posted August 18, 2016 Deer hair is cellular and not hollow like a straw. Liquid Fusion is the brain friendly modern day replacement for some of these other nasty chemicals. I like to water it down to coat the bottom of the bugs and use it straight for the face. Pat Cohen uses light cured acrylic on the bottom of his divers. The relatively flat face of this bug is accomplished using Liquid Fusion and the parchment paper trick which causes the hair to behave while it sets up. Good to see it's working well for you. One trick I found to be important is to shave the face fairly flat before gluing. This helped in durability on flies I fished because if the glue at the face got dinged a little after several fish, the hair would push forward a bit instead of laying flat. Now I shave them flat first, then glue with parchment to fix that little issue. The flies still fished well when the face started to push forward, it just bothered me. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bruce Derington 0 Report post Posted August 18, 2016 Coating the bottom of the bugs helps them "keel" correctly in the water. I have tied a few that would land a little goofy, but after coating bottoms they land the right way all the time Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bryon Anderson 0 Report post Posted August 18, 2016 This might be some sort of deer-hair heresy, I don't know, but I've been coating the faces and bottoms of my deer hair poppers with brush-on Loc-Tite. I did it once just to see what it would do, and I liked that it made a durable, waterproof coating, but I liked even better that it soaked through the bottom of the fly and bonded to the hook so that the deer hair couldn't come loose and rotate around the hook shank, which was a problem I'd always had before that with deer hair bugs. No matter how tightly I packed them, or how many half-hitches I threw in, etc., the bodies always came loose and rolled on the hook shank. With the Loc-Tite brushed on the bottom, they're....well, locked tight. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
caloosa bug 0 Report post Posted August 18, 2016 Looks like liquid fusion will be on my order wish list when I get around to getting more hair. I've been using brush on lock tite or any ca on theface and belly, but it makes them brittle. Lf seems to be the best answer.. Thanks. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
deerhairdan 0 Report post Posted August 18, 2016 Looks like liquid fusion will be on my order wish list when I get around to getting more hair. I've been using brush on lock tite or any ca on theface and belly, but it makes them brittle. Lf seems to be the best answer.. Thanks. You can buy it at Hobby Lobby. It was on sale last week when I went....it may still be....worth a check. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
feathers5 0 Report post Posted August 18, 2016 joseph, I have used Liquid Fusion quite a bit on bullet and streamer flies on the heads. I like the way it looks and I think it has a rubbery feel to it. I do not know what you would use to thin it to be able to apply it for your particular application. Maybe SilverCreek will chime in and offer his expertise since is well versed in Chemistry. I really like Liquid Fusion I used it all the time to attach eyes to my flies instead of CA glue. Yes it is not an instant glue but your fingers do not stick together like when you use CA. Plus if you get some Liquid Fusion on the eyes it does not make them all cloudy like CA will do. Here's some flies I covered with Liquid Fusion and yes it dries clear. I placed these on a rotary wheel while they were drying. 20160814_134352_resized_1.jpg I used Liquid Fusion to coat my foam poppers after painting them with acrylic. It can be diluted with water and it's very durable. I don't dilute when finishing poppers. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites