Sitting on my tying bench are two tubes of Overton’s Wonder Wax. The first is 2/3 full the other is 98% full but dummy me let is sit in my travel tying case in the car on a sunny 90% day. The wax is all there and works great but it looks ugly. LOL I am seriously thinking about selling the 2/3 on eBay. The only time I use wax is when I tie nymphs and this stuff seems to last forever. Will I regret my decision in about 10 years?
Of course you will! 2 months after you sell it, you will need it. LOL!
[SIZE=2][SIZE=4]I Know times are tough and prices have gone out of this world! Selling Wonder Wax is a bad idea. You ever try using it to a whip finish? All you do is coat the last inch of thread closest to the hook and make a whip. Fishin’ Jimmy[/SIZE][/SIZE]
So what’s a tube of that stuff worth? Why is it so special?
It’s selling in a price range of $40 - 50 a tube. “Why is it so special?” Because it’s an excellent product, actually the best ever made, it’s no longer being made, and no one knows specifically how it was made so it cannot be exactly duplicated. Not sure if there’s any other product that allows you to ‘touch dub’. Additionally, a tube will last a lifetime. I’ve had one of my tubes of the stuff uncovered and on my tying bench for over 15 years. It’s in great shape and hasn’t dried out one bit. Hope this answers your question.
Allan
It’s not that it is so “special” but that it is not “available”.
(A good example of supply and demand)
Ray,
Question - Do you consider any ‘wax’ product on the fly tying market to be the equal of WW?
Allan
OK I have been talked out of it. This stuff is magic and I don’t want to give that up. I will have to try whip finishing with it.
Saw a tyer using STICK-KUT at a recent conclave.
Might that be a substitute?
I’ve always wondered about this stuff. When I started tying, I bought a tube of Overton’s Wonder Wax because that’s what was available. I used it happily for a couple of decades until it ran out. When I found that it was no longer available, I tried dubbing without it. I got about the same result. I don’t use any fancy dubbing techniques - I just apply the dubbing to the thread and twirl between my fingers. I’m not really sure what “touch dubbing” is.
I’ve never used it, but I am interested to know exactly what it does that other waxes do not?
I use Loon’s low-tack Swax for touch-dubbing and it seems to work just fine.
Nothing, but there’s a mystique about it that drives the market. Wonder Wax has its fans, but there are a lot of other solutions.
Considering how few techniques actually require wax, never quite understood the brouhaha.
If you ever tie full-dress Atlantic patterns good wax is a must… WW has no equal for many applications and many of the things done with it cannot be matched with waxes currently on the market… And no secret blends that have been touted on the internet come close IME&O.
It is the combination of sticky enough and non-drying that make it hard to match
If you were wondering what Wonder Wax does?? Look on you tube and watch the Guy tye the a one feather flatwing streamer and repair and prepare a set of junglecock eyes with WONDER WAX!! PS the guy who made Wonder Wax is now fishing fishing from the other side of the boat,NO MORE WONDER WAX! Fishin’ Jimmy
Did you know him? I remember in the 80’s my local fly shop guy seemed to know him. He implied (way back then) that the guy may have been “sent away”. Know anything about that?
I guess I am just cheap but I use some stuff I “found” at work. It is the waxy stuff people use on their fingers when going through papers or counting money… It works great for fly tying and lasts forever. It is called SORTKWICK… the empty little containers also make great storage for hooks ect.
Bryon
NO I never met the Guy. Did you ever use his fly Line Cleaner, it was in a small Green ( same color as wax container) Tin about sakes size as Walkins Sauve was in? Fishin’ Jimmy
Glenn Overton, maker of WW, lived in Binghamton, NY. He moved to Montana and some of the last tubes of WW have Libby, Montana as an address. There was speculation several years ago that WW may be produced again but that didn’t happen. If ‘Fishin Jimmy’ means that Mr. Overton has passed away, I guess the secret of his formula will remain just that. Fortunately, my stock of the wax will never dry up.
Allan