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chasely

Applying head cement other places on the fly

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I'm going to get into some gold ribbed hare's ear today and I was looking at the pattern and it tells me to apply head cement after the tail is tied in.

 

Is it common to apply head cement after tying in some materials or is this just a special case?

 

Chase

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I use head cement anywhere on the fly I need it. I suppose it's called Head Cement because that's where it's used the most. Most cases it shouldn't be a problem.

 

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I apply head cement after every step I also put a few half hitches after each step. That way if any thing happens during the tying process it will only unravel to that point. It also makes for amore durable fly. So I guess you could it it an all over cement. :yahoo: :yahoo:

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personally i dont find it necessary on a parttern like the hares ear... but for the amount of time it takes it wont hurt i suppose. I just think that its durable enough as is. I usually do it on like dry flies after i tie the hackle in to help surrport that... hope that helps

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Thanks for your responses.

 

Seems like a very common practice. Can you continue tying with the head cement not being totally dry or will that cause stiffness to the materials that you are placing on afterwards?

 

Chase

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You would only want to apply a tiny bit to lock the wraps holding the tail in place. Too much cement under the body, could soak through and mat up the fur. Even at the head too much cement can flow back into the hackle or thorax area, and ruin the fly. Better two applications of too little cement than too much.

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I use Zap-a-gap on many of the larger streamer patterns that I tie so that they are more durable. Use to tie about 3 dozen special streamers for the annual fall trip to montana before using the stuff, but found that they are so durable with it that I can go a whole day with one fly if you don't toss into a submerged log or a tree. :D

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If I want a durable fly (and that isn't always my primary goal) I use head cement liberally. I find it best to tye my flies in several steps. For example, I will tye on the tails, an underbody and the wings; then I will tye off the thread and soak the underbody and the bases of the wings with lacquer. I will do this with a dozen or more flies before moving on to the body dubbing and hackles (which I generally do the next day after the lacquer is well-dried.)

 

 

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I only use head cement on the head and rarely use it on any other part of a fly. If a fly is tied properly with sufficient thread tension you shouldn't need to soak it in a chemical bath. There are some tyers that swear that fish can "smell" the solvents in head cement and don't use it anywhere on their flies. I don't necessarily agree with them, but the over use of cement is just a cover-up for poor tying technique.

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