There was a thread a while back about whether or not to apply head cement to the fly head.
I mentioned that I rarely, if ever, use it and do not have thread wraps coming loose.
Anyway, was reading “Hatches II” again and noticed, for the first time, Caucci and Nastasi saying this, while showing how to tie their Comparadun patterns:
“Important Tying Notes: Do not cement or lacquer head. It is not necessary and quite often the lacquer bleeds back to the dubbing affecting the buoyancy of the fly. Four or five jam knots will outlast the materials of any fly you can tie.”
Page 313
Not sure that was in the original Hatches book. Will have to look again.
Byron I still like to cement my nymphs, if fished right they get pretty banged up bouncing the bottom. I do not cement my dries just a 4 turn whip finish. Of course if fished right they probably don’t last too long anyway cement or no cement.
Gene
I use cement on pretty much everything in the nymph/wet/streamer box. I seldom use it on dries below #16. Never noticed a negative. The potential positive is obvious. The head on most aquatic insects is fairly prominent. I prefer the head on my patterns to remain a bit glossy and prominent as well. Does it matter? Maybe so…maybe not.
I don’t head cement unless I need a shiny head for streamers and such. A 5 turn whip finish is all I use.
I learned this from a professional Montana fly tyer and guide. If one of his flies unraveled due to a lack of head cement, he gave the customer a dozen of the same pattern. He told me no customer ever asked for that dozen flies; and as a pro tyer, every step saved meant more flies tied. He figured he saved enough time over his tying career to tied many dozens of flies more by not using head cement.
So I agree with Byron that head cement is not needed when you whip finish a fly rather than use half hitches.
Certainly…agreed, its a step in the process that if left out saves time. And for a commercial tyer, time is money.
I look at it this way. It doesn’t hurt a pattern. And I’m far past filling commercial orders. Its not a step that I chafe at. If it was I may feel different. It basically comes down to personal choice.
Everything is a matter of choice.
I did find it interesting that Caucci and Nastasi found it important enough to actually warn against the danger of using it in their Comparadun patterns due to the possibility of it bleeding into dubbing, thus reducing the buoyancy in addition to their not finding it necessary anyway.
Obviously, most tiers learn their craft from others, and the practice gets handed down from generation to generation.
Prior to waxed tying threads, it may have served a useful purpose, but modern threads are waxed, thus allowing much better holding whip finish knots.
I think it also depends on the head cement one uses. Early on I learned to use Head “Varnish”, which was much thinner and it soaked into the materials pretty quick. It also slightly yellowed. I could see it in that case being a concern. But I doubt it is a concern with SHHAN.
I like o go with history. Both the Dette’s and Darby’s used lacquer on the heads of their flies. Mary Dette and her grandson still use it on their flies. Noe when tying North Country flies I wax the silk heavily and don’t use head cement on them, same with flymphs. Neither Hidy and Leisuring used head cement but the waxed their thread.
Narc,
Sorta my point earlier. A carry-over of early fly tying.
I think her flies are beautiful. I have a shadow box of her flies. I asked for, and she tied a Coffin Flly…Mary, that is.
Please correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think I’ve seen Hans Weilenmann ever use head cement, at least not on conventional (non-salmon) flies. Perhaps not Davie McPhail either.
They are pretty good modern tiers, in my opinion…
Here’s an interesting article on the use of head cement I found recently.
I follow most of what Davie ties. It wouldn’t surprise me if Hans didn’t use head cement though. His approach across the board is very minimalistic by design.
On large flies with significant amounts of materials tied in at the head it matters. Think heavily dressed bucktails or similar flies made with synthetic wing materials. Binding in a rather large bunch of bucktail or squirrel tail makes a relatively large diameter head which is much more subject to torque and abrasion than a few tiny wraps holding down one hackle. We’re not all living in a trout-centric universe. Head cement absolutely has many valid uses.
True, but when talking about bigger flies, especially those with hair wings, head cement is still not that useful, and epoxy becomes very important. However, the original post/quote obviously dealt with dry flies, and in that case I tend to agree that head cement is not needed in the majority of ties – although the effect on buoyancy is overstated in my mind.
The commercial tier’s point of view is a bit misleading because economy of motion becomes important where a non-commercial tier can be more concerned about durability. Head cement used throughout a pattern can have a very significant effect on how long a fly lasts.
I tend to very lightly glaze the last half inch of thread with cement, then whip finish, on most dries & nymphs. It would be interesting to know if some of these " voices from the past " would reverse themselves given the chance today. Materials and techniques change, sometimes open minds do too.
Not quite following the “voices from the past”…as I pointed out, Hans Weilenmann has not used cements of any kind on any of his videos I’ve watched…and, I think most would agree he’s a pretty good tier.
My reference to Caucci and Nastasi was done for two reasons:
They are a couple of my Herod for their tremendous contributions to tying, fishing, understanding insects/hatches, and the behavior of trout. They are perhaps the only authors (that I recall anyway) who warned against its use on their delicate dry fly patterns.
Their statement provided a reason not to use it…other than its not really necessary…it can bleed into the dubbing and deter buoyancy.
I don’t think it is only those of us with voices from the past. I think, rather, from say 1930 - today, most “famous” tiers use head cement. It may be like the old practice of putting half hitches at several points in a fly pattern…many did that…not many do today.
