Those of us who use Fireline for our beading projects have heard some disturbing stories about Berkley, the manufacturer, changing the formula to make the fishing line biodegradable and less able to stand up to those crystals and heavy beads.
Beadsmith, the distributor of Fireline to the beading community, has posted a whole page of questions and answers to clear up our confusion. In a nutshell, the formula for Fireline has not changed and there are no EPA regulations that would require it to be biodegradable. The stories may have come from a defective batch of Fireline Crystal that was manufactured about 18 months ago; those rolls have been replaced or money refunded.
To read the whole set of questions and answers, visit Beadsmith. I want to thank Stephanie Eddy for alerting me to the information from Beadsmith. I am so thrilled that I don't have to hunt down and stockpile massive amounts of our favorite thread!
UPDATE: Beki Haley (of the popular Whim Beads) has been in touch with the Senior Brand Marketing Manager at Berkley about our recent concerns with Fireline. You can read about the conversation at Beki's Bead Blog.
Thanks for your post and connection to the Beadsmith information. I used to get my crystal fireline at Walmart (anything to save some $$) and notice they are not carrying it anymore but are carrying something called Trilene. Not being a fisher-person, I know very little about Trilene - whether it is similar to Fireline and at some point was going to ask the clerk. Meantime, it's back to my LBS for my supplies I guess.
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