I first noticed the use of resins in fly tying when we lived in Florida, which led me to believe that saltwater fly tiers were the first to use them. At the time I was still in my fly fishing and fly tying hiatus; spending my free time looking for work and immersed in the blues scene around Orlando. Back in trout country now, going on 9 years, I’ve been working on getting my fly fishing chops back in order and, this year, have gotten back into fly tying.
Just getting back to the vice recently I’ve stayed within my comfort zone of using mostly natural materials and a few synthetics. I didn’t think I was ready to be messing with chemicals in my tying. That changed when I started watching Tim Flagler’s videos on YouTube and how he used UV-cure resin on some of this patterns. More accurately it was the product he was using that got my attention.
In his recent videos he is using a product called Bondic(R) which you can get in a very convenient dispenser, which has the UV torch (light) built in. Best of all I found this product at my local ACE Hardware store.
Here is one of Tim’s videos using the resin (after the commercial).
Landing In The PNW 