XPATier

Eastern Green Drake

Well it has been almost a year since I came here asking for opinions on the HMH TRV Vise and the Renzetti Master Vise. If some of you may recall, I went ahead and bought the Renzetti Master with the Deluxe base .I tie daily and the Master Vise has been just phenomenal. My only complaint with it was how light the pedestal base was when tying "some" flies. For most flies the base was fine but I felt for $800 they could have done better....and they finally did. They came out with an addon for the Deluxe base (it screws on to the bottom) that added 3lbs to it. The vise now weighs just shy of 7 lbs. Now it doesn't budge at all. So now the Renzetti Master is just perfect. So.......I recently decided to sell off 4 vises that were just not being used, all 4 were of higher quality and brought a pretty price for me. After banking most of the money I decided to revisit the HMH TRV since that vise has been on my mind probably daily since last year. Yes...I suffer from VAD ( Vise Acquistion Disorder ). Well JStockard just got 4 in From HMH and since I had an opportunity to use a 10% discount....so i did. I've had it for a week now and I have to say I really like it. Been tying on it a lot the past week and I find its been great. Fit and finish is wonderful. The jaws are nicely finished as well and hold hooks securely. I tried hooks from 1/0 to 24 and all held just fine with no slippage. Overall I can see the TRV and Master Vises with me the rest of my tying days. Cheers all......Terry

I had a Norvise for a little while a few years ago and didn't really care for it either. I do have 2 Regal vises, both are the Regal Revolution models. One is the standard jaw and the other has the stainless jaw which i really like but arthritis in my hands is starting to be a problem and squeezing open the jaws on the Regals are painful some days. I guess after tying for 45 years or so and tying 10's of thousands of flies commercially back in the day has taken its toll but I'm not giving in so easily. My hands are actually starting to feel better now that I stopped using the Regals for a few weeks. I do try and tie daily so I'm hoping I have many more tying days ahead. I don't have any fly shops anywhere near me here in Texas like I had in Pennsylvania. I spent 50 years in Pa and sure do miss it at times. Back there between PA and NJ I had some great fly shops but there aren't any here within 90 minutes from me. Most don't carry top of the line vises either. Here is a pic of the first fly off the Master. "The Humpy".

6500

Well after getting everyone's opinion here and on other social media groups it seemed that there was a love/ hate relationship with the TRV. Some guys loved it, others hated it. After much thought I decided to go with the Renzetti Master.......oh AND the Renzetti Saltwater Clouser/Streamer vise too (you only live once). Both fantastic vises. The Master is smooth as butter. I thought my Dyna-King Barracuda was smooth....the Master is a pleasure to use. I've been tying some Clousers on the Clouser vise for bass and it is a great vise use. Well again thank you guys for your input, very much appreciated. Terry trout-flies.com

Thanks guys for the info. I've been tying for 45+ years, 10 of those commercially and have more vises than I care to admit. I've been eyeballing the TRV for some time but I also have my eye on a Renzetti Master Vise. I had a salt water Renzetti for a few years but recently sold it. It was a very good vise . I sold off a few other vises recently and wanted to add a new one. On the TRV do any of you find the star knob for tightening the hook to be in the way when tying? Thanks again. Terry

I know this a very old thread on the HMH TRV but I wondering since I might purchase one, of the vise owners who posted here in the past.....are you still using the vise and if so what has been you long term opinion on the vise? Thank you. Terry

You guys really didn't need to be condescending to the guy. He asked a question about a particular vise. Just because some you won't spend a dime on anything there are those of us who appreciate tying on a high quality vise and can also appreciate the machining and finish a manufactures puts into their product. Some of you probably scare off newbies and that's not what this hobby or forum should be about. One thing I've noticed is over the years as a guy gets better and better at tying, most want to move up to a high quality vise and there is nothing wrong with that if it's in his means to do so. I was raised up and taught that if you don't have something nice to say.....don't say anything. Sorry I stepped in here today. Back to tying on my $650 vise. Hmmmm....but which one?

You might want to also look at the Jvise. It's very high quality and will save you a few hundred. http://www.jvise.com

I'd be real careful if I was you IF you don't have permission from Morris Media to copy and do this. It's all copyright material and you could be heading into legal troubles if you copy and sell their work. I battle this all the time with people who copy and repost my work as there own.

FliesByNight ....You are incorrect in your post that "Any bobbin with a mechanical tensioner has to be adjusted for different tensions even if you can squeeze the spool. The Norvise bobbin you mention must have a spring to control the length of the thread that requires periodic adjusting." Neither the Norvise or the Ekich bobbin need ANY ADJUSTMENT to the mechanical tensioner. I've tied with both for years and never have they needed adjustment to the tensioner. Both are sealed units. Terry

I have 4 of the Ekich Bobbins. You can only put the thread spool on one way. If if doesn't retrieve, take it off and put it on the other way. Most but not all brands of thread fit on the arbor. Some are too small but a quick reaming or a drill open the spools right up to fit correctly. I had a few Norvise bobbins but I found having to wind each empty bobbin was a pain plus you loose the factory tension on the factory spools. Thread control is very important when tying but a lot of tyers haven't figured that out yet. It's all about thread control. Ekich makes a great bobbin worth every penny.

Great job! Thanks for teaching the youth.

A mop fly doesn't teach any fly tying skills. The wooly bugger taught the technique of tying a fly and gave the new tyer a foundation to build on. You aren't teaching anyone anything doing mop flies. Next they'll move on to foam and crazy glue.

I tried a few different ones including a homemade one and finally gave in and bought the Regal one. I like it and use it often. It's not cheap but works the best of all the ones I tried.