Fumed Silica - right kind or not?

[fishabuoy]

Stuck chained to the work desk the past few days, with epic CA weather, I've been fantasizing about drifting some dry flies down my favorite rivers this summer, and how to keep them floating high...

So I've seen multiple articles/posts about fumed silica here and on various other boards, and its equivalence to products like Frogs Fanny. I've never purchased any yet, but stumbled across what seems like a great bargain, at a quantity that isn't absurd for us fly fishers....

Wondering if anyone has used this, and if it is the "hydrophobic" as opposed to "hydrophillic" type of said Silica... I've gathered that one will float your flies like a boat, and the other not so much....
[url]
http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/124527 ... Quart.aspx[/url]

Bobby V

***EDIT*** well I finally got through to System 3 tech rep, and this is NOT the right kind, it is Hydrophillic - bummer

[briansII]

You want the "hydrophobic" stuff. I do not know if the stuff in your link is hydrophobic.

http://www.epoxyproducts.com/silica.html

briansII

[fly addict]

This is the right stuff, if you go through it all you are a lucky dog.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fumed-Silica-Fl ... 3399c4deb7

[Baughb]

I too use the fumed silica that I bought on Ebay and it works great. Then when one of my old Frog's Fanny bottles broke (I use it and its brush with the Ebay stuff), I bought a real Frog's Fanny to replace the other.

Now it seemed to me that the original Frog's Fanny does a better job with CDC that the Ebay stuff and provides maybe a few more floats after application. Now all of this is subjective but, I would use the Ebay stuff without ANY hesitation. The one quart size has lasted me about a year and it's still almost full.

Bob