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nsillej

Hello and What tools can you NOT live without.

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Hello all, I recently starting tying and am loving it! I have been reading the forum and getting ideas for the last 2-3 months and figured i would actually post and get involved. I am looking forward to getting in some fly swaps and learning new patterns and challenging myself.

 

I would like to pose a question to every.

 

What 1 tool that if missing, you would get in the car and go get a replacement immediately? Please exclude scissors and bobbins.

 

 

.

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Hello all, I recently starting tying and am loving it! I have been reading the forum and getting ideas for the last 2-3 months and figured i would actually post and get involved. I am looking forward to getting in some fly swaps and learning new patterns and challenging myself.

 

I would like to pose a question to every.

 

What 1 tool that if missing, you would get in the car and go get a replacement immediately? Please exclude scissors and bobbins.

 

 

.

Welcome, nsillej, and small rotary whip finisher, used on most every fly tied

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Hackle pliers. They allow me much finer dexterity for winding not only hackles, but chenille, wire, tinsel, braid, etc. than I can achieve using just my fingers. Also, they are invaluable for those times when you need to hold a material in place without it unwinding before you've tied it down. Just clamp on the pliers and let it hang.

They're also quite handy for handling small hooks when proudly displaying freshly-tied flies to my endlessly indulgent wife. :)

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I agree, but the light weight teardrop style hackle pliers for my finer small midge tying that I do a lot of. The feathers sometimes are just too fine and short to wrap by hand onto a size 20 or smaller hook.. And for small hooks you really do need some kind of vise or vise grips. You're not tying a size 24 midge in your fingers.

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The vise. I can make do (and have) without any of the tools used for tying, except the vise. I don't have welding equipment at home, so making one out of a pair of vise grips isn't an option. (Besides, a good "Vise Grips" pliers is more expensive then the cheapest vise I can get)

 

But I am not a daily tier. I tie flies when I need to restock (Can be months between tying sessions), so I don't actually "need" any of the tools so badly that I'd whither away without it.

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Besides the vise, my top would probably be a dubbing twister/dubbing loop spinner. A close second would be the little comb I use to brush out dubbing loops. I think those are my most used tools other than vise, scissors, bobbin holder, head cement.

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I primarily tie bass, panfish or saltwater patterns, so can make due with just a vise, scissors & bobbin. However, a bodkin & small pair of wire cutters are both tools I use often, and always have them handy. I have other tools that only occasionally get used, so could do without.

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If I had to, I could get by with just a vise, scissors and bobbin. A bodkin, hackle pliers and hair stacker would be next on my list.

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3rd the whip finisher. I really like my hair stacker, nothing special about it, I have just done a lot of elk hair wings.

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