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flyfisher801

Quality Tools

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It's good to have a pair of quality scissors, but make sure you have a not so good pair for all of the rough cutting hair, cutting lead or regular wire, or other items that could dull or spread the blades on your good pair. I use the same set of sunrise scissors that came with a BPS hairbug kit almost 20 years ago now. They're great for everything that I just wrote above, and ensure that my good pair of scissors stay nice and sharp when I need them.

 

Regards,

Mark

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Oh, that reminds me, Mark ...

One pair of scissors I am keen to investigate, try out and perhaps buy, will be the serrated edge ones. The serrated edges are supposed to grip the hair/fibers so they don't "slip" out when cutting. Sounds good, but I've yet to actually see a pair.

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fiskar 4 inch scissors are perfectly fine for fly tying

 

sewing department @ walmart

 

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gingher 4 inch embroidery scissors

 

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I have a small pair of wire cutters in my tying box. I used to tie tandem hook trolling flies and cut the cable with them. The cable and cutters still reside in there.

 

Edit: never finished the statement here, I think my wife wanted something outside . Anyway, so I don't use any scissors for wire cutting because I have those cutters in my case for the cable.

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After readin AK Best's book on production tying I got a pair of Wiss snips. Great scissors. I like my "salt water" bobbin w ceramic tube. Learn to whip finish by hand. My cheap vise drove me crazy. I am a veterinarian and do a lot of surgery, so I have learned to hate cheaply made instruments from Pakistan, and I think there is a big difference between inexpensive tools and "cheaply made" tools. The two iimportant traits for me are how the tool feels in my hand, and how it closes for scissors etc, and lack of burrs in the bobbin. Get a Vise that will hold the hook when you pull with force. Whatever you buy, you will later find something else you think you want.

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I bought a little pair of Etos curve tipped scissors this morning actually. My wife and I were at the grocery store ( big all in place we have here, you name it, you can probably get it there) to get coffee , orange juice, and nail polish for her red, white and blue nails she wants to paint. I saw these scissors for $6.50 so picked them up. Stainless steel, very sharp, cuts thread fine . I'll let you all know in ten years how they hold up, my straight blade Fiskars are still going after 20, good as new but I have wanted a curved pair with fine tips.

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My cheapie bobbins all have ceramic inserts. I have that very same 4" fiskar in a curved blade. Works great but I don't use them often enough to know about durability.

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I totally agree that you don't have to spend a lot of money on tools . . . unless you WANT to. It's the difference between "need" and "want" and that is a very personal choice. When I started tying with a Thompson AA, it worked fine . . . held my hooks solidly and the trout seemed to like my results! But it was a tad hard to adjust and when I could afford to I upgraded to a Renzetti Traveler. I certainly didn't need to, but I wanted to!

 

My guess is that we all started as inexpensively as we could, not knowing if we would like tying. Once we found we enjoyed it some of us upgraded as our financial situation changed.

 

Financially we are all at different places and tying has different levels of importance to each of us.

 

But I do still get enjoyment from finding a "make-do" home hack!! And there are some great ones here! But don't feel guilty if you decide to purchase a more expensive tool if you can afford it and it gives you joy.

 

Just my opinion.

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Just hit me and I had to chuckle. I am on a motorcycle forum and asking what is the best tool is like asking what is the best motor oil. There is no best, just what do you prefer.

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I appreciate all the feed back and like all the discussion on the topic. From what I can put together in the form, fly tying is just like fly fishing in that it is all personal preference on cost, quality and feel, it sounds like the more important thing to look for in tools really is the comfort of using them while tying. I've just started tying and man just like fishing I'm hooked on it and i think I'm into my tools maybe about 40 dollars the vise really being the major cost. At this point I'm learning the basic of tying small streamers to throw on my 4wt and some nymph patterns as well. Just like in fly fishing everyone has "their way of doing it" common to fly tying, but in the end the results should come out the same hopefully "catching the fish" or in this case tying a pattern that fish believe is real!

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