I endeavored to make my own Flexament out of Goop and Acetone. Results were not at all good.
Further internet research shows that some use toluene or xylene.
Any thoughts on this? My acetone and goop experiment led to a chunky slurry, nothing like the real flexament.
You answered yourself…
Acetone =bad
Toluene=good
Hi LigonierA1,
Yep, toluene works well, and so will xylene. I am not surprized that acetone worked very poorly.
Regards,
Gandolf
is flexament really that expensive that you need to make it yourself?
You must not have done a good mixing job – I use acetone and apply the mix with a small paint brush. BILL
Guess i’ll have to take that back-----I checked and I use Lacquer Thinner,easy to find in any hardware store.
Thanks folks, I’ll try one of the other solvents.
If you’re tying 1/0 bass bugs and you’re using a (homemade) Whitlock leg tool to put your rubber legs into your poppers and divers, you can use ALOT of the stuff. Likewise, I’m tired of purchasing it along with the Flexament thinner and having one of the bottles get supremely thick while the other just evaporates. Add to this that none of my local shops carry it and that I have to mail order it…vs everything to make it available at Lowes. I can make the viscocity exactly as I want it. I can have more than I’ll ever use for the same $ as the tiny flyshop jars. Why wouldn’t you make your own?
I change my own oil too. Some people are like that.
I make mine from Vyna-Bond and Naptha.
Toluene is the best. I have some in a good sealed jar and it seems to last for ever.
Xylene is good also but you have to mix it with more xylene to goop.
Just my two cents worth.
What is Flexament guys? here in New Zealand I don’t think you can get it, I have never seen it nor heard anyone use the name… also what is Toluene & Xylene - acetone I know about. What does flexament do? is it a new head cement?
Jeanne
FYI, I’m pretty sure that the thinner that is sold for daves Flexament is perchloroethylene (perc) which is used in the USA as dry cleaning fluid. PERC, tolulene, xylene, are all very volatile organic solvents and are all known to cause health problems (like cancer) in humans. I once tried thinning Flexament with lighter fluid and it worked but the result just wasn’t the same as using good old PERC.
Jmeyerc, Daves Flexament is a propriatary product that is sold in the US as a fly tying head cement. It is a clear liquid that dries to a tough rubbery consistency. You can coat feathers with it to ‘rubberize’ them. I don’t know of any other fly tying product that is quite like Flexament and it is handy to have around the tying bench. There are a number of rubberized cements generally available in the US like GOOP, Shoe GOO and probably a dozen others that would appear to be very much like flexament only much thicker (like jelly or toothpaste). One would think that you could thin them with something and create your own Flexament-like compound. The problem is that none of these products tell you what the ingrediants are and they certainly don’t tell you what solvent to use on them so you have to just experiment or ask around. It is possible that all this kind of material is banned in NZ. Volatile organic compounds like tolulene and xylene are bad for you and bad for the environment.
A couple months ago I emailed the Tech Sevices @ Goop asked the thinner question.
The answer was “toluene” I got a quart @ Ace Hardware for about $7. It works like
a charm. BUT…mix and use it in a well ventilated area. You do not want to be breathing that stuff
Thanks flyfshr, I appreciate your input, I think I have heard that a vynal goo thinned down with lighter fluid is a good binder as well – but different I think from fleximent.
Thanks again 
Jeanne
Here is a link to the Materials Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for goop.
I think it’s going to tell you what you need. Looks like the stuff uses both naptha and toulene. By the way, old fashioned Zippo type lighter fluid is naptha.
All manufacturers have to provide MSDS for products in the US that are used in any type of business and those must be on file in that business’ office somewhere incase of accidents. I’m pretty sure it’s an OSHA regulation.
Anyway, a quick Google search turned up the super goop msds.
here’s the link
http://www.hardwarestore.com/media/msds/610481.pdf
Jeff
Toluene is aslo known as toluol is some parts of the world. Xylene is also called xylols. I’m not sure that they are carcinogens, but they can be rough on the respiratory and central nervous system. Like most solvents, they sure do smell good though.
I’ll try and just answer your post,without a lesson in Chemistry #101.
I’ve made this concoction for years and it DOES work extremely well. Plus, as mentioned also, you can very easily make your own thickness/thinness to your liking.
Put a glob of Shoe Goo into a glass jar.Make sure the jar is large enough that you can easily STIR your mixture, without sloping it all over the place.
(a good old “jelly jar” sized jar, works great!).
The “glob” of Shoe Goo should be about HALF the size of a golf ball.
Now, add 3 tablespoons of TOLUENE, to the jar.
Stir, gently, until you achieve the consistency you’re after. (about the thickness of very warm honey, works well).
You may have to add more Toluene, it just depends on how thick/thin, you wish your mixture to be.
I like this mixture for head cement when thinned down slightly thicker than water. A tube of “Goo” and a quart of Toluene, will give you head cement for a very long time at a very cheap price.
I also, keep a small jar of the Toluene in my tying room, for when friends come over and want to thin my coffee, just slightly, to get it out of the cup.
When done, be SURE to cap your jar as tightly as possible. Toluene evaporates extremely fast.
I would reinforce what Paul says about tight…pick a jar with an air tight lid…if it does evaporate you can just add more toluene.
I usually have a tube of Marine Goop and or Shoe Goo around for various jobs/projects…it tends to get old and thicken in the tube eventually…at that point I cut the tube and express the thickened stuff into a jar and add the toluene…I don’t bother to stir I just let it sit …sometimes days and then check it…shake it and adjust the thickness to what I want …I’ve always got several jars with several thicknesses around.
Duckster;
I’ve tried a a lot of the “Goos” since playing with this stuff, but have never tried the “Marine Goop”. Do you see much difference between that and the actual “Shoe Goo”??
Paul…IMO the Shoo Goo when used out of the tube dries harder than the Goops but when cut with toluene I haven’t noticed a difference…but must say I haven’t paid close attention to the diluted end product hardness.
As far as the Marine goes I doubt there is any real difference with the other goops but what the heck maybe they actually do have a reason for calling it Marine Goop so I always make it a point to buy it. I use it to repair waders so waterproof is good.
Incidentally for those of you who haven’t played around with making your own…you can make what ever consistency you want and “paint” it on waders.
Thanks, Duckster, for the answer on the Marine Goop. I think, when looking at the package for it, one time, it said something about “can be used below water line”, so it must be pretty decent stuff for wet applications!?!
But, then old “Shoe Goo”, has never come apart on me when wet, either, so who’s to know?
Now, I DID, run into a wader repair problem, with a pair of my breathable, chesties. The stuff, (Shoe Goo), just wouldn’t stick and would sort of “ball up and peel off” after a day or three and of COURSE, always when I was at least mid-stream, too.
Checked the home page for Shoe Goo and sure enough, they mention on “Repairing fishing waders, Shoe Goo make not adhere well to “some breathable type wader fabrics”, so either wash the effected area with detergent and a brush, before application, or, apply the repair to the INSIDE of the waders”. (end quote).
Naturally, I read all of this, AFTER my waders leak, right!?
I had a pair of neoprenes that developed a leak in the crotch…well not giving it much thought and applying the principle of “more is better” I lathered on the Shoo Goo…well it was like wadging around with a raw potato in my crotch and it wasn’t great in a float tube either:(.