UV Cure Product Tests...

[bcarson4374]

If I had to guess they would say I was using old product....

I dont have any of the new stuff to test. Ill take a UV Cure over epoxy any day call me lazy but I hate Epoxy.

Heres an update...

I just went outside and checked on the coloring.. they have been out for two days...

The Tuffleye is clearing up...
The Clear Cure Goo is still clear....
The Rio Knot Sealer is turning a bit yellow.. Not bad yet.
The Loon Wader Repair is turning a bit yellow.. Not bad yet.

I dont know if the cracking/shattering issue is maybe the TF hadnt cured all the way but after these flies have been out for a week I will take pics again to show the coloration.. Then I will recast them to see if the have become more brittle - or in the case Tuffleye, more pliable.

[Rich Leonetti]

I am going to try the rio product for some copper johns im going to tie....thanks again for the great post.

[Darian]

Hmmm,.... interesting test. One thing, it might be expecting too much that product intended for wader repair or knot sealer would not become yellow in short order. It probably didn't even occur to the manufacturer that it would be used for fly heads. I've used UV Knot sense for fly heads on occasion and find that I don't like to use those UV, LED lights. The product is OK. So,.... I'm not a devotee of UV adhesives for heads on flies.

Cost/benefit is also a factor in making a brand/material choice. Doesn't do much good to spend a lot of money on a product that isn't durable, regardless of the cosmetics.

For my purposes, I use 5 min epoxy but freely admit that there's a big difference between one brands idea of "clear" and another. If you go to any store where multiple brand containers are displayed, you'll see that many of them are not clear (even tho the label says it is). Fortunately, none of my epoxied heads have yellowed within a year of application. Many have not yellowed after several years. I believe that is due to coating the cured epoxy with Sally Hansens, Hard As Nails or Loon, Hard Head. Creates another step but worth it IMHO.

Be careful in making your choice. Certainly not scientific but....

[Bjorn]

WOW... that is just a fantastic post!

[bcarson4374]

Okay... Here are the results... Tuffleye cleared up after 2 days in the sun. Clear Cure Goo remained clear, the Rio and Loon tinted a little yellow after 2 weeks in the sun.

Now some say that exposure to salt changes the color of the UV cures... Nope... After leaving all 4 brands in salt water for a continuous 4 days, Not one change one way or another. I would venture to say that salt has absolutely NO EFFECT on any of the cures...

The next thing that I was told by some is that heat turns some flies yellow. Like if you where to leave your flies in a hot car in the summer, some stated that they melted, others said they changed colors... Interesting results... I used the flies that I had tied up for the Sun Exposure Test...

Here are the results.

an oven at 170 degrees representing a car in the summer with out side temps in the mid 90's leaving your flies in a sealed up car or trunk to back for a little over 2 hours.


2 hours later and here are the results..



You can see the Loon and Rio products show significant yellowing. While the Clear Cure Goo and Tuffleye seem unaffected.


Science Class is dismissed. A good bit of info. Hope you all enjoyed it and learned a bit.

[Scott V]

That is really nice that you took the time and did all this testing. Thank you very much for all your effort, I am sure it has been appreciated by many.

[Jgoding]

That's just a little caramelization (sp?????). Still a cool test.

[Bob Laskodi]

You must be single because my wife would never let me use her oven to bake flies!!!!!!
Thanks for a great post though!!!!!