Modernity in the home and homestead
by Kuba Chruszczewski
If one were to compare the equipment and gear of today's fly fisher with that used by his grandfather 50 years ago, one would notice that basically nothing is as it was. Tonkin has disappeared displaced by fiberglass, carbon, boron. Silk in fly lines has been replaced by sophisticated synthetic materials. Almost no one sweats in wool and cotton anymore today - after all, we have fleece, goretex and other „space-age” inventions. Heavy and clumsy rubber waders are also probably gone forever, replaced by comfortable, breathable sleepers.
In a word, progress. However, there is one sphere of the fly fishing hobby that resists this invasion of novelty fairly successfully. It is the making of artificial flies. Admittedly, even here it is impossible not to note the novelties appearing every now and then, which enrich the set of materials useful to the „spinner”. Synthetic threads, yarns, hair substitutes, a huge number of shiny additives, yes, even ready-made semi-finished products such as tails, wings or legs.... One could enumerate for a long time, and it's easy to drown in an avalanche of these miscellaneous items. And yet... Bird feathers and natural hair still remain the basic materials used in fly construction, and there is no sign that anything can replace these natural materials. Yes, from time to time new uses for previously unused materials are discovered - as was the case, for example, with CDC. As long as we don't forget tradition, so important in the craft of „flageoletting”, if, blinded by the flood of shiny synthetics, we don't forget what a partridge feather, a hare's coat and a pheasant's dart are used for, I see nothing wrong in the fact that useful novelties will appear on our workshop. I myself gladly use some of them. Some time ago, for example, I discovered the advantages of two-component epoxy resins.
I used them to build the bodies of so-called mylar fish. They are good for imitating the carapace of gudgeons or shrimps. They also work well for flooding heads of pike and head flies, equipped with large, three-dimensional eyes. ( I wrote about all this in previous texts, which are available on my website. ) However, the two-component resin also has disadvantages. For it to work properly, precise measurement of both components is required - otherwise it will not harden properly. The time it takes to harden is usually 5 to 10 minutes. The fly with the applied resin must be held in the fingers during this time and rotated so that the resin flows where you want it to. At the same time the hardening process is going on - at some point it is no longer possible to get the desired shape, the resin simply does not want to flow. On top of all this, not very pleasant smell....
But since what modern technologies I mentioned above. We have a product that, with all the advantages of epoxy resins, is devoid of their disadvantages. We are talking about photo-curable gel. Such a gel is dense enough that it does not run off too quickly. On the other hand, it does not need an additional substance for curing as is the case with two-component resin. In order to cure, it is enough to treat it with ultraviolet light with appropriate parameters. The photoinitiator contained in the gel under the influence of light starts the polymerization process and causes the substance to cure. With a properly selected light source, 1-3 seconds are enough for this. So here is an invention that avoids some of the problems that arise when working with two-component resins.
Sets of gel plus uv flashlight are offered by some companies that sell materials for making artificial flies. Unfortunately, their quality does not always meet our expectations, while they always cost quite a lot. A common undesirable side effect with an ill-fitting kit is the occurrence of a sticky coating on the cured surface, which has to be removed with alcohol remover. In my search for the right product, I tried several „company” kits. However, it was not until I checked the offers on various auction sites that I succeeded. I acquired a gel and a uv light source matched to its parameters.
So let's let modernity into the home and homestead. Here are some examples of the use of light-curing gel:
The head of a large pike fly:
Photo.1. I apply the gel with a brush
Photo.2. I illuminate with a uv flashlight
Salmon fly head finish:
Photo 3. I apply the gel to the thread
Photo 4. Making a knot with a finisher, illuminating with a uv flashlight
Photo 5. Finished headstock
Wire mesh to imitate shrimp:
Photo 6. I apply gel to the flame-submerged ends of the line
Photo 7. I cure with uv light
Shrimp:
Photo 8. To the sea hook I tie imitation pincers cut from the feathers of a grizzly rooster, a bundle of dubbing with the addition of shiny fibers, eyelets from fishing line
Photo 9., 10. I make the torso using a Pseudo Hackle
Photo 11: I put a bunch of Crystal Flash fibers on the back.
Photo 12., 13. I apply gel with brush, cure with uv light
Photo 14. finished shrimp
Photo.15. Kit - gels and flashlights
Photo by Tom Bogdanovich
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