Does anyone have a suggestion for filling the hook slot in these hard foam popper heads? I have used a paste of cork dust and wood glue in the past with cork bugs. The hooks have been set in the popper heads with epoxy.
Many Thanks,
Pipes
You could sand some Styrofoam packing material that we all throw away too much of and make a paste with that. Or maybe just pack the slot with a strip of it to glue in with the hook and then sand it off.
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I make a lot of poppers and one of the things I do to minimize the hook showing throughlike that is to give it a nice thick coat of thread, then I color the thread with a marker of the same color I will make the belly of the popper. If I have a “groove” indent where the hook slot is, I fill it with epoxy or UV Epoxy. That said, I really don;t think the fish care one way or the other.
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i fill mine with uv resin
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Thank you all, for the excellent suggestions. I never thought of using UV resin and have a large bottle on hand!!
That looks very nice. I just took a break from filling the gaps with Solarez Thin Hard. A micro spatula and a bodkin were used for tools. I have a hard-wired UV lamp from Amazon. It has horsepower!! 20 down, 20 to go.
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Can you share what hard wired UV lamp you’re using?
On the popper heads, I use soft foam (like Double Barrel heads, or the material Rainy’s Blockhead popper heads are made from) instead of hard foam and a small drill bit to put a hole all the way though.
That lets me push the popper head onto the hook from the eye of the hook and avoid an open slot on the bottom.
…I like the softer heads better because they take a beating and keep working forever. I color with a permanent marker and coat them with Gorilla Glue if I want to protect the color.
Hello Geoff,
I purchased this lamp from Amazon after watching a video of Gunnar Brammer. The lamp is wired with a USB plug. There are three power settings: high, medium and strobe. At $13.79, I bought two. Here is the Amazon description:
“5V 3W USB Powered 395nm UV Flashlight Torch Ultra Violet LED for UV Glue Curing”
Kind Regards,
JB
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Geoff,
I agree with you on the softer popper heads. I am particularly fond of the Double Barrel poppers.
The Project Healing Waters program (chapter) I belong to was gifted a lifetime collection of fly-tying materials including these popper heads. Our program lead (think “president”) asked if I would prep the popper heads for a tying evening where the beginner tiers would tie on the tail and body. I made holes for the rubber legs to be pulled through. Ten bodies were painted black, ten red, ten yellow and ten green. Eyes and accents have been dotted. I am on the last ten where they are being coated with DecoArt DuraClear varnish.
JB
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Thanks - I also ordered two of them. I hadn’t seen it in Gunnar’s videos, but I haven’t watched a bunch lately.
That’s very cool!
One of the local guys involved with The Project Healing Waters has asked a couple of us retirees to help set up a tying night to tie flies for an event here.
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I will look for the video and post it. You will like the UV lamp. I read a comment that its a bicycle light with a UV bulb. I can see that in its design.
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Thanks!
I have this UV light, and it’s works great, but something hard-wired should produce more curing power.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TQKY1GC?ref=fed_asin_title
As a former printer, I learned that curing UV is all about getting enough power to the material (in the right wavelength.)
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Here is Gunnar’s video where he describes this UV light.
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Thank you!
I’ll give it a look later.
I finished the set of poppers. These were prepared for Project Healing Waters beginner and intermediate fly-tying class where they can finish with body, tail and rubber leg material of their choice. Filling the glue slot with UV resin was perfect. Acrylic paint was used to paint the popper bodies and eyes. I like using matt finish paint as it dries harder than gloss IMO. Two-three coats sufficed for body paint. Once the eyes and belly dots were dry, 3-4 coats of DuraClear gloss polyurethane varnish was applied for a protective clear coat. Thank you for all of your suggestions.
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