Tell Me about Lacquer

[Rex S]

Flies I tie for fishing, I rarely use head cement. But seeing the beautiful, glossy heads on traditional flies has made me envious. I know it starts with the thread of the head, but what goes next? I've used a couple coats of regular, thin head cement. Then a coat or two of high gloss nail polish, like Sally Hansen, but it is so thick, it is hard to keep it from bleeding into the feathers and over the eye.
None of the fly shops here carry a black lacquer, which I've seen people refer to.
Your experience and wisdom is requested

Rex

[LadyFisher]

look for black fingernail polish - I've also seen flies with red heads too.

[Albannach Cuileag]

The lacquer that gives that ultra high sheen on those flies is probably Cellire. This is available on our side of the pond from good tackle shops and comes in three viscosities, light, medium and heavy.

Gives a beautiful finish and total coverage of the thread on the head.

Cheapskates like me buy the heavy and thin some of it down for lighter work!

[Bamboozle]

I use two or three different products to get super shiny heads on my fancy wets but the first step is always 2 coats of Griff's Thin Head Cement. That is followed by a quality thicker head cement like Griff's Thick, ProLak, Rumpf or any other solvent based product.

Once all of the thread wraps are filled and invisible, a final coat of Black ProLak makes 'em shine, fills and hides any imperfections.

You can get the Black ProLak and Griff's Thin from Chris Helm at Whitetail Fly Tying.

This is STRICTLY a show fly head prep, not something I do for fishing flies.

No matter what route you go to get super perfect heads, you need to have thinner of some type at your disposal for the head cement, even Sally Hansen's. Due to evaporation it all gets TOO thick over time and needs to be thinned to flow properly.

[Normand]

response from another board

The most important thing to remember is to make sure you get a nice smooth bed of thread underneath the head cement. I always untwist my thread before I wrap the head.

After the whip finish (by hand; that way I can more accurately place the wraps), I apply a generous coat of Griff's Thin Cement and let it dry. This seals the thread so that subsequent coats ride on the surface rather than sink in.

Next come two coats of Griff's Thick Cement. Apply thick cement sparingly, or when it dries it'll pucker on you.

By the time the third coat is dry, the head should be looking pretty smooth. The final coat is a layer of black lacquer or black nail polish.

I use a very sharp bodkin to apply all four coats, one small bead of cement at a time.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that this is essentially Don Bastian's head-cement routine. The only difference is that he uses E. Hille's clear cement for his third coat and Pro Lak for his fourth.

[William Fitzgerald]

I have three bottles of Sally Hansen--Hard as Nails. Stop light red ,Black magic and Clear. Your problem may be that you dont wipe the exsess on the side of the bottle. Some cut off half of the brush. Never had a problem,one coat of black stick on eye if needed then a coat of clear. The shine comes with the clear. BILL

[Rex S]

Thanks for all the tips. I'll keep working on it and let you know how it goes!
Rex

[Donald Nicolson]

All good advice, one point 'AC' did not mention,
Cellire comes in red and black as well as clear,
it marketed by Veniard.
I am sure there are US brands as good.

[thorarinna]

Those two are both in colour.
I'm buying from US and UK, so why can't you


http://www.sportfish.co.uk/product/3...2815ml%29.html
http://www.carrilon.co.uk/product_in...roducts_id=713

[Buddy Sanders]

Rex,

You can go to all that trouble to get several different 'fly tying' products, and apply them to your fly heads.

Or, you can go to the hardware store and buy a can of lacquer.

Plain old clear gloss lacquer. A quart runs between 10 and 12 bucks. You'll also need a can of lacquer thinner.

Thin it down up to 50% for a fast penetrating head cement. Use 'as is' for a thicker coating.

To get a nice glossy head, all you need to do is apply several coats. Use a bodkin to apply to small heads, a small artist's brush for the larger ones.

The thin stuff dries fast (like right now, if you say 'is it dry?', it's dry). If I want a high gloss head, I'll tie a dozen or so flies, applying a drop of the thinned down 'head cement' as each is finished. After all the flies are done, I'll go back and apply a second coat of unthinned lacquer. After that application, I'll go back to the first fly and apply the third coat (yes, it will be dry by then). If you build reasonably smooth thread heads, three coats is all you need. If you get sloppy like do at times, then a fourth coat fixes it. If I'm going to paint on eyes, I do that on top of the third coat, then finish with a fourth coat of the clear.

If I want a black head, I use black thread, etc.

If you want 'colored' lacquer Jann's Netcraft sells it. either separately, or in a kit of several colors, in their lure making section. A 2 ounce bottle will make thousands of eyes or colored heads. It's not expensive. Sometimes you can find colored lacquer at a paint store....then it's 'cheap'.

If you want a 'one step' high gloss head, then go to epoxy. DevCon 2-ton makes a clear, hard, glossy head in one application. It's non reactive, so you can put it over any other finish.

Good Luck!

Buddy