DIY Fly Tying Vise

[DFoster 0]

 

 

He has a perfectly good vise right beside him, he must prefer the hemos. I would like to meet him some day but I don't get down there to the shows much.

 

Just a guess but the hemos do offer a lot of open space around the hook. For me the down side would be that there is nowhere to rest my left hand.

 

Now that's going to get us into another three pages of potential solutions!

 

That's got to be better than working, right?

[salmobytes 0]

Tiann Burger of Soooth Aaafreeeka made this, from a pair of needle nose.

I've forgotten the terms. Heat it up cool it slowly. Grind away. Drill a hole or two.

Heat it up again. Quench it fast in oil.

Make it a vise.

 

You can put a #2 salt water hook in this thing and then pull down hard with another pair of pliers.

The hook bends. It doesn't come out.

 

 

[Poopdeck 0]

If you have a chance to meet Rim you will find him frugal, practical and very humble.

He also immigrated to the US when things were very tough in South Korea.

 

Kimo

It just dawned on me how frugal he really is. He made it so he could still use his forceps while fishing. It's actually genius in its simplicity and dualality.

[Poopdeck 0]

Being a hopeless tinkerer I just had to try it for myself. I got to say, they work great. I tested it with size 10 to 20 hooks and they hold rock solid. I think they will be perfect for midges. The only thing I did differently was bend the stem to allow my left hand a resting place. I also grinded a flat spot on the stem and cut in little recesses for the handle to sit in to prevent them from moving.

 

I'm keeping them and throwing the stem in my travel bag.

 

[DarrellP 0]

maybe a curved hemostat?

[heavynets 0]

The jaws were 3-D printed with bronze impregnated stainless steel.

[heavynets 0]

Here is another one I made, with the help of a Peak vise.

 

 

[heavynets 0]

This one is my favorite. I designed and had made the jaws and arm. Everything else is from a Peak vise.

[heavynets 0]

Whoops, wrong picture above. I meant this one.

[DoctorD 0]

Wasn't it Lee Wulff who would demonstrate tying a fly with no vice at all? Just holding the hook in his fingers.

 

I don't have an image, but an interesting one I once saw was a 4" +/- brass rod of about 5/16" diameter. Sliced for about 2" lengthwise to make the jaws. A winged screw to close the jaws just fare enough back to clear the nose of the jaws. The rear was set in a maybe 1" dowel of about 6" height with a hole drilled at a 45 degree angle near the top that the brass "vice" slid into and was also held in place with a thumbscrew. 1" dowel was set into a wood base.

 

All it did was hold the hook. But simple.

Yes, in fact there is an old "American Sportsman" had a video of Charley Fox and Lee Wolff siting on the side of a stream while Lee tied a fly using his fingers as his vise. I promptly tried it and was a complete failure.

DoctorD

[Poopdeck 0]

OK, it seems we've moved to discussion in the "Flies from the vise" thread. I'll jump in anyway.

 

"A good pair of Hemostats and a clamping system would do as well and be MUCH less expensive." Mike, do you really feel like hemostats are as good as a vise. I'm pretty skeptical. Maybe for a select few flies in a limited capacity. I'd hate to try to spin some deer hair in the hemostats.

 

I have also come to really enjoy the rotary capability of my vise. Could I tie without it, of course, but why. Somebody needs to spend all my money before I die. That's why I earn it, so I can spend it.

Mark, I really know a pair of hemostats are just as good as a vise, almost. Your right in that they probably would not work so well for hair spinning stream side. Other then that you could tie whatever and how many you wanted of most any trout sized fly. So far I've used my hemostats to tie seven size 14 scuds and I will continue to use it at home and in my travels. They work that well. To be fair, I tried four pairs of hemostats in it two didn't work so well but the other two did.

[chugbug27 0]

I like those a lot heavynets, the last in particular.

[mikechell 0]

 

OK, it seems we've moved to discussion in the "Flies from the vise" thread. I'll jump in anyway.

 

"A good pair of Hemostats and a clamping system would do as well and be MUCH less expensive."

 

Mike, do you really feel like hemostats are as good as a vise. I'm pretty skeptical. Maybe for a select few flies in a limited capacity. I'd hate to try to spin some deer hair in the hemostats.

Mark, I really know a pair of hemostats are just as good as a vise, almost. Your right in that they probably would not work so well for hair spinning stream side. Other then that you could tie whatever and how many you wanted of most any trout sized fly. So far I've used my hemostats to tie seven size 14 scuds and I will continue to use it at home and in my travels. They work that well. To be fair, I tried four pairs of hemostats in it two didn't work so well but the other two did.

Mark ... no, I would not trade my vise for hemostats. But how many people spin deer hair flies stream side? It's my understanding that most stream side tying is done to match some tiny mayfly/midge hatch, etc.

Spending $600.00 for that kind of tying ... in my opinion ... would be wasting $570.00 or so.

[Mark Knapp 0]

Hi PD and Mike, I agree they probably work well on trout sizes flies, and most people probably only tie trout sized flies. Hemos look like the work great for that. I tie and awful lot of flies in sizes 10 up to 11/0. Mikes blanket statement that the hemos "as well" as a vise just couldn't go with out a challenge. If that was true, no body would be making vises. As I read the statement it wasn't in the context of "stream side" or "trout sized". Maybe I read it wrong.

 

I think the idea is a good one, just not useful to me. The winters are long here, and the summers are short. When I'm on the water I'm fishing, not tying. I do all my tying in my nice comfortable tying room during the long cold winter.

 

Besides it would probably be raining and blowing stream side when I wanted to tie.

 

Have fun, whatever you do beside your stream.

[Mark Knapp 0]

It (finally) occurs to me that what most people think of as "Stream Side" is entirely different from my stream side. I gather that most of you will be tying in a camper, lodge or hotel next to the stream. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your perspective, most of Alaska's streams have no road access, campgrounds or hotels. For me, stream side is generally on a gravel bar and access is walking or floating.

 

I have tied some flies in the tent, holding the fly in a Leatherman Crunch or on the gravel bar with the hook stuck firmly in a stump. That was more about tying flies with no fly tying stuff at all as opposed to matching a hatch with minimal fly materials and a travel vise. I find feathers and fur in the environment around me and usually pull thread from my socks to tie flies with (for the fun of it).

 

There are a few streams up here that have road access, campgrounds and lodging but those are usually way too crowded for me and pretty expensive too.