Alright I’m finally fed up with thick head cement ruining my flies. What is a good thinnner to use for Rumpf Head Cement??? Thanks.
Rcream…Lacquer thinner…J. 
R:
Listen to jaybee and DON’T get suckered into buying the little bottles of Head Cement Thinner; regular lacquer thinner available at the hardware store works PERFECT.
The next best thing is to buy and use Griff’s Thin Head Cement. It stays thin for a LONG time. Rumpf head cement drys out VERY fast IMO.
What happened to the ever popular Sally Hansen’s ?
Ray,
SH Hard as Nails is still in use here. Best head cememnt I’ve found so far.
I use Sally Hansens, almost all the time. I even furnish a bottle to all of my students. John
Try laquer thinner even though it turned my jar to gum. If it works, you have new life for the jar. If not, a new jar is only $2.00.And you will be left with most of a $5.00 can of thinner which is the best for cleaning epoxy off if paint brushes.
Thanks, that sally hansen’s sounds like good stuff. Where is a good place to buy it? Does anybody use the colored type (ie. black) for fly tying??
RC, you can buy Sally Hansens, any place nail polish it sold. I get mine at Wally World. John
Lacquer thinner WILL turn SOME head cement to gum. It does not always interact with certain cements, chemically, but it’s the only thing that works with Rumpf’s, and it works goo 
d ! jaybee
Sally Hansen can be bought at about any drugstore with a cosmtic counter–the colored stuff–Sally Hansen Extreme is great also. It does wake the young women up at the counter though when you show up with 5 bottles of nail polish!
Tip: The applicator brush in the SH bottle will work better for you if you trim it down to 1/2 or 1/3 of the original size. This is especially important with small flies.
The black SH gives a very nice finish to fly heads. My wife, VEE, ties full dress Atlantic Salmon flies and uses that to get that “showroom” shine on the heads.
REE
Not necessarily SH but there are inexpensive colored nail polishes with glitter in them…nice for coating thoraxes ,etc.
SH always on my tying table in black,red and clear for a final gloss----- :lol:
yep there is always a bottle of sally hansens on my tying desk also :lol:
another good cement to use is loctite brush on superglue
I very rarely use head cement, but if I do it is SH clear. I have never found that the head cement makes my flies more durable, However I do use it on quill bodied wet flies along with a counter rib. No doubt the head cement can make a fly look great, but it can also ruin a fly if misplaced. I don’t display my flies, so a neat small head and a whip finish and thats good for me.
But for your question about thinners. Laquor thinner, acetone, or denatured alcohol. You can find them all at home depot or lowes in the paint section in little blue cans for under $5. Test the thinner on a small amount of cement to see which one works for your cement. They all have their place on your bench so they are good to have just incase. Good Luck.