Flexament, Flex-Seal, Softex... ?

[Mike G]

There are other flexible sealers also. What is the difference between these products?

 

I am using Flexament. Am I missing anything by not stocking some of the other ones for specialized uses?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Joe D]

I use both flexseal and loons hard head finish. the flex seal has a strong smell to it like a solvent. when I color swiss straw for shellbacks with a marker I use it cause it makes the marker"bleed" or "run". that makes for a neat effect. but I have found that the loons product makes excellent thread heads, it is perfect. loons is what I use the most, unless blending the colored markers. loons is also water based and is much easier to thin than flexseal. if I had to choose just one I would go with the loons product. I have also been told that flexseal is very toxic to breath. loons also comes in a few colors, red, yellow and black for sure. they may make other colors but those are the ones I've seen. hope this helps

 

Joe

[Mike Flyrodder Miller]

Mike,

There are major differences between the softex and the other two. Softex is used to build up polymer bodies and head and I think comes in two viscosities (thicknesses). The Flex-Seal and Flexament are head cements. The odor on the Flexament is perchlorethylene, which is what used to be used by dry cleaners. If you want to thin the Flexament, you shioud use their thinner or you'll either gum up the entire bottle or it will could up which is the insoluble polymer. I'm not sure about the Flex-Seal, but I think its solvent is hydrocarbons, ethers, esters, and ketones, which can usually be substituted with lacquer thinner and sometime naphtha, xylene, and or acetone. You have to try a small amount to see if it works. The thing to consider is that onse the fluid dries out in the bottle, it will take some time for the solvent to redissolve the solids and make it usable again. I hope that helps.

 

FWIW

[bjensen]

I tie a lot of trout flies and use a flexible agent to coat the wings on grasshopper patterns & the like. I usually use turkey feathers (tail or wing) to make the wings & after cutting the wing slips to size, coat them to keep the feather wing in one piece. I've used Flexament before, but found it usually thickened or dried in the bottle before I could use it all. Then I bought a jar of Softex & have used it ever since. I'm still using the same jar that I bought 4 years ago. After doing a little research I found out it is Toluene based. I bought a gallon of Toluene at Menards & use it to thin the Softex to whatever consistancy I need. I just mix whatever I'm going to use in a small container. That way I still have the thick Softex for when I need it for other uses.

 

Thinning the Softex to nearly a water consistancy, I simply "paint" my feather wings with it after I've cut them to size & they're dry in about 5 minutes. I usually apply two coats for a nearly indestructable hopper or stonefly pattern.

 

For a nice, hard, glossy finish on fly heads (Clousers in particular) I use Sally Hanson's "Hard as Nails" available at any beauty supply store.

 

The Loon "Hard Head" is thicker for building up a smooth, hard, head, and is available in multiple colors.

 

Brian

[Mike G]

Thanks for some great replies. Each one gives some insight.

 

Softex sounds like something I'll look into.