Cottarelli vs others - size 24 and smaller hooks?

[Slate_Drake_9 0]

Anyone here tying on a Cotteralli with little hooks? Any pictures?

 

Any suggestions for a good vise for these small hooks? I don’t need to worry about tying on anything much bigger than a 16/18 on the vise since I have several other vises. 
 

I don’t find the jaws on my standard or stainless Regal to be fine enough, nor my Renzetti 4000 with midge jaws or the very early 3000 I have with the midge jaws. They’re all dandy on bigger hooks though. 
 

Please provide a picture with the hook in the jaw with any recommendations.

 

Thanks!

[SalarMan 0]

I own 3 vises - Renzetti Master Series, HMH-TRV & Cottarelli T-Rex Kit. The extent of my tying these days is on larger hooks, specifically 3/0, 4/0,& 5/0 salmon hooks for Classic Atlantic Salmon flies.

That being said, there is no doubt in my mind the HMH-TRV and its LAW Vise jaw design would be my choice for smaller hooks. I've tied down to size 24 with that vise with no issues. Sorry I don't have any photos of that, but believe me it is super for a wide variety of tying applications. The HMH website's photos will give you a fair and honest look at the vise's abilities.

My Renzetti would be my very close second for the work you describe.

Of course your budget would be the final determination for the vise of choice.

[Sandan 0]

I tire 24s and smaller on my dyna king pro. I think this one is a 24. Maybe a 22 but I think 24.

[Slate_Drake_9 0]

Thanks Sandan, that’s helpful.  Is that the standard jaw or their midge jaw?  Doesn’t look any different or better than what I’m working with currently on my vises. I too, can tie small on them, but I’m looking for more clearance than I have. 
 

I’ve seen a lot of praise for the TRV, but I’ve not seen any pictures of one holding a small hook like I’m looking for. 

[flytire 0]

hmh micro jaw

[Sandan 0]

4 hours ago, Slate_Drake_9 said:

Thanks Sandan, that’s helpful.  Is that the standard jaw or their midge jaw?  Doesn’t look any different or better than what I’m working with currently on my vises. I too, can tie small on them, but I’m looking for more clearance than I have. 
 

I’ve seen a lot of praise for the TRV, but I’ve not seen any pictures of one holding a small hook like I’m looking for. 

That picture was with standard jaws. Midge jaws will give you more clearance. Here's a 22, I believe, in midge jaws. Granted the hook is shoved back in the jaws for the picture.  When I tie the hook bend would be flush with the front edge of the jaws.

[SalarMan 0]

As an addition to what I said earlier. The Cottarelli was originally conceived as a vise for classic salmon flies. The thinking was the double head design would protect the finish on the expensive hand made blind eye hooks preferred for those flies. However if you remove one of the vise's heads and set the jaws more upright you would have plenty of clearance to tie even the tiniest of flies, while having a vise that can handle LARGE hooks as well.

Hope this helps a bit more.

[Slate_Drake_9 0]

Just talked to the owner of HMH and asked about pictures of the TRV with a 22 or 24 dry fly hook in it and he informed me that model isn't designed to tie smaller than size 20. Said it would, of course, hold the hook but not in a useful way to tie on it. 

[SalarMan 0]

Any decision made on a vise?

[Slate_Drake_9 0]

Not yet. Seems anything from HMH is out due to their stubby little vise stems. Can't get it high enough for me to tie on.

 

Now considering a Petitjean Master. Can't find any pics with something like a 22/24 standard dry fly hook in one though.

[SalarMan 0]

One more thing to consider regarding the HMH TRV...and that is how you can position the jaws. What you see here is a size 22 fine wire hook. I don't have any 24's on hand, but you'll get the idea when it comes to access to the small hooks.

 

[DFoster 0]

3 hours ago, Slate_Drake_9 said:

Not yet. Seems anything from HMH is out due to their stubby little vise stems. Can't get it high enough for me to tie on.

 

Now considering a Petitjean Master. Can't find any pics with something like a 22/24 standard dry fly hook in one though.

HMH is out, stumpy stem?  I ordered a stem for the clamp version and use that on my TRV.  I think it was less than $25, not a lot if your looking at a $600 vise. That said I did build my own base out of wood to widen the foot print as the vise was a little tippy with the extended stem. it's rock solid now.  Jon Larrabee, the owner of HMH told me they can make a stem to any length within reason for about the same price as the clamp stem.  Also here is a photo of my vise with a #24 TMC 100 dry fly hook. I've never gone smaller than that so I don't know if this vise will work on 26's or smaller. I hope this helps.

 

[SalarMan 0]

Question...Has any of this been of any help? I'd just like to know what you plan to do. It would benefit all of us.

[Slate_Drake_9 0]

Thanks for the pictures, they’ve been very helpful.

 

I spoke with the owner of HMH and he told me they will not make any custom length stems because they don’t have the time to. I asked for something in the 12-14 inch length. 
 

So far from what I see in the pictures, none of these vises would be an improvement over my Renzetti 3000 or 4000, except for the HMH micro jaw, but that’s out due to the short stem issue. 
 

I also received some pics from a dealer of Cottarelli vises and same story as above when compared to my vises, even their midge jaw. 
 

I’m looking at the Petitjean Master and Jvice right now.
 

I see the feather bender guy ties on the Petitjean vise, but it appears he doesn’t tie smaller than size 18 hooks in any of his videos and usually not on standard/traditional dry fly hooks, so still searching for some useful pics. It doesn’t seem like many folks tie on those sorts of hooks anymore based on what I can find on the internet. Tying has changed a lot over the last 40 or so years. I guess I just need to wait until someone “invents” the traditional dry fly and popularizes it on some social media site. I figure it happened with soft hackles several years ago, so dries are around the corner.

[flytire 0]

might consider a "bit extender" to raise the vise to your comfort level