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Last year I'd been reading on the American tying forums about a photo curable resin called tuffleye . at its launch everyone that used it seemed to love it , it was hailed as the new epoxy . but without the mess
Initially I was interested in it and I decided to order some with my next bulk buy of materials from the states A few months passed and I noticed some people were having problems with tuffleye , some said it was too hard and cracked easily, others said that it was starting to yellow and some were having problems with getting it to cure properly, although the latter could be down to user error . I decided to find out for myself and ordered the tuffleye with a bulk order of saddles and buck tail . the next day I got an email informing me that the tuffleye was out of stock , oh well I thought ...next time
During December on one of the Uk forums David Edwards posted about a product he was using called Bug bond , this was a light curable resin he was producing in the UK . My interest was immediately aroused and I got in contact with David requesting some samples
I have to say David bent over backwards to answer my questions and duly sent me out the samples
I was impressed both with the product and the customer service , so I resolved to order the kit after the Christmas holidays
The kit consists of a UV torch which is needed to activate the resin and a bottle of resin (£59.95). It may seem expensive but bear in mind that you only have to buy the torch once , the resin is £14.95 for a 20ml bottle
When the kit arrived I used the product to attach a set of moulded eyes onto a fly , normally i'd use epoxy to stick eyes on. but Bug bond made it so easy , the best thing about the product is that its not sticky i could move the eyes about the head of the fly and when i was happy with the positioning zap it with the torch for a few seconds and bingo eyes fixed firmly in place . I repeated the process with the other side then encapsulated the head and eyes in the resin zapped it again ..job done
I took the fly outside set up my 9# rod with a t14 shooting head, attached the fly and double hauled it into a wall as hard as I could . the eyes didn't come off nor did the head crack or chip ..so I did it again still the same , satisfied that the eyes weren't going to come off \I returned to my tying desk to experiment some more .
I tied a buzzer one coat of Bug Bond gave me a glass like finish which could've been achieved with several layers of varnish , but why bother when one coat and a quick zap of the torch gives you a perfect buzzer
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Quill bodied bugs were the same .. a perfect glass like finish with one coat
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Moving on to the salt water flies that I'm perhaps better known for .. I tied a simple surf candy . Normally epoxy would be used which is a pain in the arse , mix it .. apply it ...turn it by hand to get an even head etc
Three coats of Bug bond , cured between coats Job done ..its os easy
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Another advantage of Bug Bond is the fact that its not sticky . I use a synthetic material called polar fibre in a lot of my smaller patterns and it has a tendency to foul the hook , but it has a fantastic action in the water so I continue to use it and warn customers when they order a fly tied with it , that it will foul the hook , however it does catch fish so just stick with it
I was able to brush bug bond into the fibres to stiffen them ( try doing that with epoxy ) after testing the flies yesterday I had no problems with hook fouling
I've stiffened the fibres on this sea trout fly around the head area and back towards the bend in the hook
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I'm still experimenting with patterns but so far I'd give bug ond 10/10 .. it has made my life behind the vice so much easier
Bug Bond is available here http://www.bug-bond.moonfruit.com/
Initially I was interested in it and I decided to order some with my next bulk buy of materials from the states A few months passed and I noticed some people were having problems with tuffleye , some said it was too hard and cracked easily, others said that it was starting to yellow and some were having problems with getting it to cure properly, although the latter could be down to user error . I decided to find out for myself and ordered the tuffleye with a bulk order of saddles and buck tail . the next day I got an email informing me that the tuffleye was out of stock , oh well I thought ...next time
During December on one of the Uk forums David Edwards posted about a product he was using called Bug bond , this was a light curable resin he was producing in the UK . My interest was immediately aroused and I got in contact with David requesting some samples
I have to say David bent over backwards to answer my questions and duly sent me out the samples
I was impressed both with the product and the customer service , so I resolved to order the kit after the Christmas holidays
The kit consists of a UV torch which is needed to activate the resin and a bottle of resin (£59.95). It may seem expensive but bear in mind that you only have to buy the torch once , the resin is £14.95 for a 20ml bottle
When the kit arrived I used the product to attach a set of moulded eyes onto a fly , normally i'd use epoxy to stick eyes on. but Bug bond made it so easy , the best thing about the product is that its not sticky i could move the eyes about the head of the fly and when i was happy with the positioning zap it with the torch for a few seconds and bingo eyes fixed firmly in place . I repeated the process with the other side then encapsulated the head and eyes in the resin zapped it again ..job done
I took the fly outside set up my 9# rod with a t14 shooting head, attached the fly and double hauled it into a wall as hard as I could . the eyes didn't come off nor did the head crack or chip ..so I did it again still the same , satisfied that the eyes weren't going to come off \I returned to my tying desk to experiment some more .
I tied a buzzer one coat of Bug Bond gave me a glass like finish which could've been achieved with several layers of varnish , but why bother when one coat and a quick zap of the torch gives you a perfect buzzer
Quill bodied bugs were the same .. a perfect glass like finish with one coat
Moving on to the salt water flies that I'm perhaps better known for .. I tied a simple surf candy . Normally epoxy would be used which is a pain in the arse , mix it .. apply it ...turn it by hand to get an even head etc
Three coats of Bug bond , cured between coats Job done ..its os easy
Another advantage of Bug Bond is the fact that its not sticky . I use a synthetic material called polar fibre in a lot of my smaller patterns and it has a tendency to foul the hook , but it has a fantastic action in the water so I continue to use it and warn customers when they order a fly tied with it , that it will foul the hook , however it does catch fish so just stick with it
I was able to brush bug bond into the fibres to stiffen them ( try doing that with epoxy ) after testing the flies yesterday I had no problems with hook fouling
I've stiffened the fibres on this sea trout fly around the head area and back towards the bend in the hook
I'm still experimenting with patterns but so far I'd give bug ond 10/10 .. it has made my life behind the vice so much easier
Bug Bond is available here http://www.bug-bond.moonfruit.com/
