Hackle pliers

[chugbug27 0]

@Bimini15

1. The rubber joint gives some flex to allow for flawed twisting during your wrap to avoid snapping the material. It also stretches a little if you gently pull.

2. As toothy says, the pliers hold materials really well. I do think they have a very thin coating (?) on the interior clip surfaces, some kind of what C&F calls a "non-slip surface" (I'll post a pic), and the edges are finished round and smooth. The spring open/close also is strong and easy to operate, and as toothy shows they are bent so there's more surface area than the old style English pliers.

3. They're light enough not to harm your material but heavy enough to hold them in place by dangling. They're big enough to hold easily but small enough to not get in the way.

@Poopdeck yup

Before these I had been using old English style pliers but had tried only one or two other basic styles. I chanced on mine for a song, fortunately. I do think there are some other similar pliers that aren't so pricey, Tiemco I think sells one and maybe Stonfo. But I haven't tried those.

 

[chugbug27 0]

Here are the pics. The first shows there is some kind of thin coating. The second shows what seems to me may be a very slight, rounded serration in the two inner surfaces. This is as close on the detail I could get with my camera.

[The Mad Duck 0]

5 hours ago, petelangevin said:

I use the ez mini hook.  Holds great.  Cheap too.

These little gizmos are really handy stream side helping to tie small leader knots

[petelangevin 0]

1 hour ago, The Mad Duck said:

These little gizmos are really handy stream side helping to tie small leader knots

Yes they are   I bought a bunch of these when the sports shop on mass ave in cambridge went out of business.

[Bimini15 0]

1 hour ago, chugbug27 said:

Here are the pics. The first shows there is some kind of thin coating. The second shows what seems to me may be a very slight, rounded serration in the two inner surfaces. This is as close on the detail I could get with my camera.

Thanks for the pics. It makes sense that these work better than any of mine. Much more surface area to hold on to more hackle, and that is before we get into the non-slip surface. I wonder if they close the jaws and run them on some emery paper to get matched gripping inside surfaces.

[Abel M. 0]

Hi guys! I've used many hackle pliers n the one's that work best for me are called swiss hackle pliers. They're inexpensive n hold dry fly hackles soft hackles biots n stems w no slipping. I've had mine for over 10 yrs.

Those c and f are nice but too expensive for me.

[flytire 0]

 

i use the tiemco hackle pliers shown for everything from hackles, tinsel, wire and even twisting and wrapping peacock herl

i had the pliers in the original post but threw them out. didnt hold tight enough for me

[DFoster 0]

I would add that identical hackle pliers made from the same manufacturer are not all created equal.  Take them out of the packages and inspect the jaws closely.  Both pairs of the chrome English style below we're purchase from Cabela's for $3.99 and they work really well.  That said I had to open and check roughly 6 packages holding each one up to the light before I found a pair that I couldn't see daylight between the jaw tips.  I also tested them by clipping onto the plastic bag they came in and pulling.  Most of them slipped off with differing levels of force so I bought the 1 out of 6 that gripped the best.  The ring pair work fairly well and the long handle pair work fairly well.

 

[flytire 0]

1 hour ago, DFoster said:

I also tested them by clipping onto the plastic bag they came in and pulling.  Most of them slipped off with differing levels of force so I bought the 1 out of 6 that gripped the best.  

thats a good tip

i might use that in my tips and tricks pdf

[Abel M. 0]

These are my swiss hackle pliers.

[DFoster 0]

1 hour ago, flytire said:

thats a good tip

i might use that in my tips and tricks pdf

Please do-  most of the inexpensive (generic) tying tools suffer poor QC from the factory.   I have no problem opening the zip lock bag tools come in and trying them out in the store.  Inexpensive tweezers can also vary greatly in tolerance from pair to pair.

[chugbug27 0]

39 minutes ago, Abel M. said:

These are my swiss hackle pliers.

Great find, that. This type of tweezer can be bought cheaply all over the net as a "vascular clip". I really like the spring over the end with the ring. Haven't seen that, but @Bimini15 you could make that easy enough.

[DFoster 0]

1 hour ago, chugbug27 said:

Great find, that. This type of tweezer can be bought cheaply all over the net as a "vascular clip". I really like the spring over the end with the ring. Haven't seen that, but @Bimini15 you could make that easy enough.

I agree!  that looks like a spring attached to the ring?

[RCFetter 0]

Tim Cammisa of 'Trout and Feather' recommends Stonflo which sell for about $13.

 

 

 

[skeet3t 0]

On 2/21/2021 at 12:40 PM, tetraodontoxin said:

Last night I was tying some gnat flies. A good for some relaxed tying, I decided to give my hackle pliers another try. I’ve always had trouble with them, both slipping and breaking hackle. One gnat I have to re-tie the peacock herl 3 times, twice the pliers slipped or broke a herl. I switched to my hands and finished the fly. So which begs the question, do you all use pliers? What ones do you use? I have the pliers I attached pictures of, I have been intrigued by the cottarelli hackle pliers, but also looking for other options as well. 

Mine is like the second one. Have one that is a swivel end but don't care for it.