Those of you who’ve read me for any length
of time know that I am a cynical Yankee & seldom endorse any products
except through very circumspect necessity, as I feel to do otherwise would be
to taint the zen purity of Soft~Hackle Journal, which we hold sacrosanct &
immutable. There are no ads streaming & blinking here & there never
will be. Yet, we need certain things. As Bert says: flyfishers are an
incestuous lot. And because there really are small companies with integrity,
founded & staffed by anglers who share our view of sustainability, who give
back, as well as being committed to quality, useful products, I feel it might
serve to further our craft & enjoyment to give the best of these deserved
mention – just the good guys with the stuff I like & find most useful –
& with that, I am pleased to welcome Loon Products as a sponsor of
Soft~Hackle Journal. Loon meets SHJ’s highest criteria with a quality line of
non-toxic products meant to enhance our game & environment. (And we like
the name.) I posted a link to Loon’s catalog in the right-hand column under
‘Stuff I Like’, & invite readers to check out their great line of
well-thought products.
I became acquainted with Loon
through my wife, who for a long time had been fairly patient & reasonably
cool about me clogging the kitchen table with fly tying stuff, her main source
of complaint being the noxious fumes from my head cement, which, according to
her, was giving me brain damage.
“…Why do you think they call
it fly dope?”
Then one day while looking
over fly tying potions in a catalog, I let it drop that there was non-toxic,
odorless, water-base tying cement available.
“O goody,” she responded,
“You better order some because that’s the only kind you’re opening inside the
house any more – I’m not going to let you kill us both with that stuff you’ve
been using.”
I needed a general-purpose
penetrating cement & something thicker for finishing heads, so I ordered a
bottle of Loon Head Cement & a bottle of clear Loon Hard Head. Both came
with handy applicator brush tops.
I immediately liked the Loon
head cement – it goes on white, which aids in seeing where you put it,
penetrates like water & dries clear, shiny & tough. And no toxic fumes.
My girl is happy &, turns out, wise.
I’m thankful for her prompt
because I tend to be slow off the base. And though I am well satisfied with the
non-toxic head cement, I’ve found the Loon Hard Head to be indispensable for a
lot of operations besides finishing heads, which it does perfectly. Hard Head
comes in clear & a spectrum of colors as well, it is the consistency of
epoxy & will serve in most tying operations calling for epoxy – without the
mixing & waste, & sets at about the same rate as fast epoxy. It can be
applied with the brush or a needle. One application gives a nice, working head
on smaller flies, & two or three coats gives you perfectly slick heads on
saltwater & salmon/steelhead flies. And I’ve found that the longer I use
Hard Head, the more uses I find for it. Here’s a few more:
* Make epoxy-back nymphs
easier – 2 or 3 coats of Hard Head over the shellback material produces a nice,
shiny, non-clouding hard back for nymphs, beetles & scud – also a perfect
coating for thread or floss bodied ants.
* Use a bodkin to paint a coat
of Hard Head over delicate quill, mylar tinsel, thread & floss bodies.
Eliminates the need to reverse wind wire over tiny quill bodies.
* Apply Hard Head to the
thread around the base of parachute wing posts, then wrap the hackle before it
sets – keeps the post & hackle bedded in place, hackle won’t ‘climb’ the
post with use – gives the fly a lot more mileage.
* Coat all thread wraps with
Hard Head when constructing foam flies, & can be used for sticking foam as
well. Your foam creations will look prettier & hold together with rough
use.
* Apply Hard Head over the
wraps securing hair wings to ensure they stay in place. When tying deer &
elk wing cripples I apply it over the thread binding the wing after tying the
hackle in, then wind the hackle & tie off over the wet Hard Head.
Everything stays put & the fly lasts longer.
* Use Hard Head to glue
eyeballs onto saltwater & large streamers – & it can be brushed on or
dipped into for building slick, durable hard heads on bait imitations.
* Unruly materials like
saddle hackles for flatwings, matched quill & feather wings, or cheek
feathers & jungle cock eyes, can be set in position with the aid of Hard
Head – take a couple loose turns of thread to tie in, tweak the feather[s] into
position, then apply a drop of Hard Head at the tie-in point, let it set for
about 15 minutes & continue tying with your materials set in perfect
position.
* Clear Hard Head is just the
thing for repairing split jungle cock nails & coating feathers to produce
classic, natural eyes for streamers & salmon/steelhead flies.
* Hard Head is excellent for
coating nail knots & line-splice connections.
That’s a lot of uses for one
potion – & there are probably more I haven’t stumbled upon yet. Loon Hard
Head is great stuff. And if you are still hassling with 2-part epoxy &
toxic head cement, I'm certain a bottle of Hard Head will be an upgrade to your
bag of tricks.
