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petelangevin

When is a vise too valuable to use

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I just sat and watched someone spend the better part of 4000$ for a one of a kind damascus law vise. I had to laugh a little because it just seems surreal that something as simple as a fly tying vise would ever be that valuable. Yes i understand its a LAW vise and that it is one of the finest tools ever made, that combined with the fact that mr waldron is not currently making them. However if you had this vise on your bench and you spent that kind of money would you actually use it? Or would you encase it in glass and dust it once a day like another museum piece.

Ironic that litterally minutes after the auction ended that another law ( non damascus) was put up for an auction for nearly 3000. Keep them clean boys they are only going up in value, until mr waldron decides to start producing them again.

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I suppose it depends what type of person you are. Personally I take pleasure from owning/using nice gear and don't mind paying for it. On the other hand I have friends who think I should be commited to an institution for spending what I do on fly tying gizmos! For them a vice is purely something to hold a hook in one place.

Would I pay $4000 dollars for that vice? Aye, I would, if I had it spare and it wasn't going to be the only thing I had left after the divorce! I would like to think I have another 20 or 30 years tying left in me and would not mind paying up to $200 dollars a year for the pleasure of owbwership of that vice.

As for using it, I would happily use it every day. The last car I bought was considerably more and I use it every day. Every day it goes down in value. With a vice like that you can only add value (unless you break it!).

Good luck to the new owner. I wish it was me....

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when people pay silly amounts (hundreds of dollars) for a card of darning yarn (chadwicks 477) whats so wrong with paying $4k for a one of a kind fly tying vise? but then again i know what my financial limits are and would never have played around in that bidding war :)

 

would i use it? absolutely! for tying 2 flies and wearing silk gloves :D

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I dont argue the fact of just using a tool, It just shocked me as to the wild bidding for something in the end just does a simple job. Trust me i would love to have a law vise but in no reality would i ever spend such a price. Now if i were buying new directly from law i

might consider higher than the original retail. I still found the final bid total amazing. Perhaps 4 times the original sale price.

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Hi petelangevin,

 

To answer your question about the LAW vise that just went on eBay, yes, I'd use it. If I bought the Theodore Gordon collection that's coming up pretty soon that includes his vise, no, I wouldn't use that one.

 

That entire LAW vise auction was pretty strange from the ones that I've watched on eBay anyway. The entire time of the auction, they had basically a running advertisement about it on Clarks Classic forum tying section started by a guy that very rarely starts topics on that particular section. Clarks doesn't allow eBay links, and frowns on plugging of things that are on there, so if someone does post a link there, it doesn't stay up for very long, yet this one is probably still on their forum board. The bidding never ceased for even one day. High end, or rare items usually go up the first day or two, then stop for a while until towards the end. This one just kept on and on every day, which only benefits the seller. Folks that are new to eBay are usually the only ones that keep bidding like that. If you look at the bid history, the guy that won it swooped in at the very end instead of going back and forth, day after day just driving the price up.

 

Regards,

Mark

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Some say a fool and his money are soon parted, and others have more money than

brains and others if you got it flaunt it! It doesn't bother me in the least,

my Peak rotary with the 15 buck Materelli whip finisher work fine.I guess it

all comes down to"whatever floats your boat".---John

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I'd use the Theodore Gordon vise, if I had it. A good tool is meant to be used and enjoyed. On the other hand, I'd never pay the price they are asking.

 

Also, regarding eBay, you can't count on the winning price being the actual selling price. There's a lot of shenanigans that go on over there.

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