If you use a brush-on powder fly floatant with the initials FF you may be interested in this, especially if you have an empty brush bottle. This is an industrial supplier. The story is that they were surprised when they started getting requests for 1-quart quantities, since they normally sell in bulk. They started asking the quart buyers why they wanted this quantity. Turned out they were fly fishers looking for a bargain floatant.
One quart will last you many years! If you are refilling your empty bottle, be in a well-ventilated place and out of the wind.
I wonder - I got some arrow waterproofing, and it didn’t seem to work as well as the FF stuff - could it be that there are different formulas of the fumed silica, and what they use for arrows isn’t as good as what this company offers?
Hear-say has it that this can be bought in small quantities at your local hobby store. It is said to be found in the "dried floral arrangement’ section.
You need to be sure it is HYDROPHOBIC fumed silica. There are hydrophylic fumed silicas on the market. They will initially dry the fly, but the residue will absorb water. The stuff the OP mentioned is the real thing. I use a turkey baster to fill the small bottles.
Hey, just go to the local pharmacy and look for the women’s makeup remover called ‘Albolene’. I think it comes in 2 sizes of jars and the large one will probably last a lifetime. As I recall it probably costs about $11-12. Rumor, and a good one, was that the maker of a very popular fly fishing floatant, did nothing more than repackage Albolene in small squeeze bottles. The maker never denied that rumor.
Oh, and I’ve been using Albolene for many many years. My mother used to use the stuff and somehow I decided to try it. That was long before I heard of the rumor.
Actually, FF is supposedly a mixture of both – hydrophilic to dry your fly when it’s already wet, and hydrophobic to keep it dry. The presence of the hydrophilic is why the directions on the FF bottle tell you to always apply with the brush, and to blow off the fly before using. Otherwise, the fly ends up as a soggy mess.
LOL! Actually in those years the greasy spot may have been caused by Mucillin, any one of the homemade floatants, Albolene, Gink, line grease, etc. Lots of ‘usual suspects’.
I’d like to know how to get the silica into the little bottles without getting it all over the place. Certainly a bargain but my experience leaves me thinking it easier to just pay up…
