Do you know anything about these gadgets for curing fake nails? Looks like they would be perfect for hardening the UV glues some of us use?

I've looked into the UV activated glue. From my understanding, it's a certain wave of UV light that does it. They sell the flashlights just for the glue. If that thing matches the wave length or whatever you call it. It should work.

But is it cheaper to run some led UV strip lights in a box?

Hareline's UV flashlight is $15 from J.Stockard, and puts out 385-400 nM. Harbor Freight has a light for $8, that puts out 365 nM. Amazon has numerous ones that put out the right range, starting at $8.50. Looks like the you would have to put your fly inside the "nail" light to make it work. I just use Professional-Grade Super Glue and wait 5 minutes, but I'm not a pro fly tier. IslandJim

I just Googled that gadget. You could buy a lot of UV flashlights and batteries for what one of those cost. As an aside, I've never liked loop connections, and I've always used a nail knot to attach my leader to my fly line. I use a bit of UV glue to smooth over the knot, so it'll slip through the guides better and so it won't pick up floating grass so easily. That's a whole lot easier than "putting my knot in the oven" to cure it. I often do the same thing with the knots on my handtied tapered leaders, for the same reason A friend showed me the Bondic pens he uses for fly tying; they have a UV light built into the dispensing pen. I still prefer my Loon UV glue and my handheld light for the tying bench, but the Bondic pens are a great tool for coating knots in the field. Loon also produces a UV glue they named "Knot Sense" that cures in sunlight, for coating knots. It works just fine, and it also cures with my handheld light if it's cloudy or dark.

A word of caution: I was told years ago, when I first started using UV cured adhesives, that the UV lamps used to cure them have been associated with cataract generation. I have no idea if science has borne that out, but I'd be mighty careful about exposure when using those lamps.

I found em at an auction place (kind of like a honey hole for stuff junkies) for $10 new in the box.