on making your own Flexament out of Goop....

[LigonierA1]

I endeavored to make my own Flexament out of Goop and Acetone. Results were not at all good.

Further internet research shows that some use toluene or xylene.

Any thoughts on this? My acetone and goop experiment led to a chunky slurry, nothing like the real flexament.

[ducksterman]

You answered yourself....

Acetone =bad
Toluene=good

[Gandolf]

Hi LigonierA1,

Yep, toluene works well, and so will xylene. I am not surprized that acetone worked very poorly.

Regards,

Gandolf

[Flyrodde]

is flexament really that expensive that you need to make it yourself?

[William Fitzgerald]

You must not have done a good mixing job -- I use acetone and apply the mix with a small paint brush. BILL

Guess i'll have to take that back-----I checked and I use Lacquer Thinner,easy to find in any hardware store.

[LigonierA1]

Thanks folks, I'll try one of the other solvents.

is flexament really that expensive that you need to make it yourself?

If you're tying 1/0 bass bugs and you're using a (homemade) Whitlock leg tool to put your rubber legs into your poppers and divers, you can use ALOT of the stuff. Likewise, I'm tired of purchasing it along with the Flexament thinner and having one of the bottles get supremely thick while the other just evaporates. Add to this that none of my local shops carry it and that I have to mail order it......vs everything to make it available at Lowes. I can make the viscocity exactly as I want it. I can have more than I'll ever use for the same $ as the tiny flyshop jars. Why wouldn't you make your own?

I change my own oil too. Some people are like that.

[Gigmaster]

I make mine from Vyna-Bond and Naptha.

[Bluewilly]

Toluene is the best. I have some in a good sealed jar and it seems to last for ever.
Xylene is good also but you have to mix it with more xylene to goop.
Just my two cents worth.

[jmeyerc]

What is Flexament guys? here in New Zealand I don't think you can get it, I have never seen it nor heard anyone use the name... also what is Toluene & Xylene - acetone I know about. What does flexament do? is it a new head cement?

Jeanne

[flyfshr]

FYI, I'm pretty sure that the thinner that is sold for daves Flexament is perchloroethylene (perc) which is used in the USA as dry cleaning fluid. PERC, tolulene, xylene, are all very volatile organic solvents and are all known to cause health problems (like cancer) in humans. I once tried thinning Flexament with lighter fluid and it worked but the result just wasn't the same as using good old PERC.

Jmeyerc, Daves Flexament is a propriatary product that is sold in the US as a fly tying head cement. It is a clear liquid that dries to a tough rubbery consistency. You can coat feathers with it to 'rubberize' them. I don't know of any other fly tying product that is quite like Flexament and it is handy to have around the tying bench. There are a number of rubberized cements generally available in the US like GOOP, Shoe GOO and probably a dozen others that would appear to be very much like flexament only much thicker (like jelly or toothpaste). One would think that you could thin them with something and create your own Flexament-like compound. The problem is that none of these products tell you what the ingrediants are and they certainly don't tell you what solvent to use on them so you have to just experiment or ask around. It is possible that all this kind of material is banned in NZ. Volatile organic compounds like tolulene and xylene are bad for you and bad for the environment.