Varnishing - What am I Doing Wrong?

[jacko1967]

Hello - I am very new to tying but have enjoyed what I have done to date and feel that I'm making progress toward something that looks fishable. I have been tying a few patterns but have done mainly buzzers, as they seem easy and have caught me a few fish recently.
The problem I have is that the fly invariably looks good pre varnishing but by the time I applied a couple of coats the fly looks if anything worse. The nice high gloss finishes I see on this forum are beyond me, I've tried doing a search here but nothing crops up. Does anyone have any suggestions / comments that may help, thanks in advance - Jack

[mikgee]

Several thin coats leaving each coat to dry before applying the next, I do as many as six coats, normally only three on the body to keep it thin but up to six on the thorax. Hope that helps, I am no expert.

[ruby pennel595664]

Its difficult to say without seeing the flies but it may be the varnish you are using is too thick. Several coats of thinned down varnish give better results than one or two coats using a varnish that is too gloopy in consistency.

[hopper68]

I used to use Sally Hansens hard as nails with 3 coats ....but now Bug Bond would not use anything else now ..1coat and dry with a UV torch.

[jacko1967]

thanks guys, I will try thinning the varnish, I am using "Loon Hard Head Clear"

[Bigfoot]

The varnish needs to be FULLY dry between coats I often leave mine hours between appying the coats of varnish.

Also I find 3 thin coats are better than 1 thick one.

Hopefully someone else may have some pointers for you.

( Plenty of faster typers here than me I see Lol )

Dave

[bigtroot]

Bug bond is the new sally hansen!
The stuff is awesome, no waiting about applying coat after coat!
A little expensive but better than having to buy 5 bottles of Sally hansen every year

1 coat and job done

[bigdon01]

one thing that helped me alot was to use a needle to apply the varnish instead of a brush.

hope this helps

[shortea]

I noticed a Davie McPhail video on youtube the other day usig bug bond x2 coats then a coat of varnish on a quill buzzer . Itried to read the type of bug bond he was using but it didnt look a regular bottle.Interesting to watch - he seemed to favour using a brush .Well worth a look

Hope this is of use Nick

[roll cast]

Best way to varnish buzzers I've found is to take a bubble of varnish and place it at the hook eye and then drag down the body, repeat until the whole fly is covered and the repeat 2 more times