When it comes to tying wet flies and finishing the head a few things comes to mind:

First if the thread head is not propperly developed it will not matter what you use as cement. I did see some one mention Don's method, but a little bit of detail was left off.

1) Don & I only use Danvill thread. So when we spin the bobbin in a counter clock wise motion for right handed tyers, the thread flatens out.

2) We use a whip finisher to form the head after the thread was flattened with the counter clockwise spinning of the bobbin. This allows for a very smoothe finished head. If you have seen one of mine or Don's flies you will see a head that looks perfect before the head cement is applied.

3) Once the head has been completed and tied off, use some griff's thin head cement. This cement is absobed into the thread and any body materials. This product dries fast and clear and will not leave a permanenbt stain or mark on the material.

3) Next I use a coats of griff's thick. This is neatly applied with a bodkin over the head not touching any of the body material. I then allow this to dry for about 20 minutes. Now Don differs here because he would use Hillies head cement. He is now looking at the Griff's thick that I told him about. This is due to Hillies going out of Bussiness and that if a new owner does take over he will not be making or supplying this head cement any more.

4) I add one more coat of Griff's thick to the head again with a bodkin. You will see when this dries that it will fill in any bumps or dents that the first coat di not cover.

5) This step is optional!!! In most cases the two coats of Griff's thick when fully dried produced a really shiny jet black head. If this effect has been obtained, stop your fly head is completed. In some cases air bubbles or dust and or wax from the thred will lift off and get captured in the cemnet drying process. On in this case is when I will use Black Prolac. This material can be obtained from Don Bastian. I have been using the same bottle of Prolac for 5 yerars now. As the Prolac starts to thicken over timein the bottle I cut it down with some Griff's thinner and your good to go again another 3000 miles. down

Now please keep in mind that this process only pertains to fly heads that are black. Now keep in mind of some of the Carrie Stevens streams that uses a band. Black Prolac would never be used. In this case take a look at clear Prolac instead. I hope that you find this as help and has answered your question.

Andy Brasko