Using old hooks

I have been given a lot (many thousand) hooks by a retired salmon fly tyer. Most are all in little tan cardboard boxes with Mustad paper stick-on labels containing a picture of a key, words 'Key Brand' above and below the key, and red-stamped words Mustad-Viking Hooks. The hooks themselves are wrapped in waxed paper inside the boxes. I can find some some of the hook numbers on the Mustad website, but some numbers and hook shapes leave me puzzled.

What might be the approximate vintage of these hooks? Would they compare favorably with new hooks in brittleness, sharpness and such? Will I be at a disadvantage using them to tie flies, I.e. is there a practical difference between a new, say, 3906 and one of these? Is there a link that might help me identify some of these tghat I can't find on the current Mustad website?

As long as they were properly stored and don't appear to have oxidized, there is no noticeable "disadvantage" IMO. I actually bought some old Mustad hooks just like you are describing not too long ago and tied up several different kinds of flies with them. I've caught decent sized fish on some as small as 20's with no problem. Some of the ones I acquired don't even have numbers that I can find but they work great. Hope this helps.

Without knowing what the numbers on the boxes are, nobody can give you a comparison between the vintage and the new hooks.

More info is needed from you.

I meant to ask for comparison of same-number hooks. A lot of them have Mustad numbers which are still available today. So if I consider a 3906 or a 94840, how would it compare to the same hook purchased today? There is no visible corrosion, although it's possible that barbs are slightly larger than on such (same-number) hooks purchased today.

josko, those hooks have all broken down by now and shouldn't be used in all fairness to the fish. Best thing to do is send them all to me and I'll dispose of them in the proper and most ecological manner possible.

Hope you saw the humor in that ! I have some of those white boxes also and I'd like to know their vintage too. I've used a few of them and they worked fine. I have a feeling technological advances have much improved Mustad hooks since those were made and I'm thinking I'll leave my 10 or so boxes where they are right now, in my big fly fishing collection bookcase/display. Someone will chime in shortly as to vintage I'm sure.

Cheers,

MontanaMoose

I also have many of that era hooks and I purchased them in the 50 and 60's, I use them now and then - the old hooks that I have are from Herters

This sounds like a job for DR. Fish! 8T :D

Hey, didn't you guys watch Toy Story? I'd bet many of those hooks sit in their boxes feeling sad that no fly tyer has used them!

I'd say tye some old patterns on them and fish them for the sentimental value.

They will work just fine I have well over 2000 of those old mustad hooks and just bought from this board another 400. The reason I like them is I do not find the old ones having as much variance as the new ones do from hook to hook. The new ones from Mustad I often find have a variance in the hook bend which will cause a bead or cone head to slide onto easy one hook from a package of hooks but not the next. With the older hooks when I find a bead of cone head that goes around the bend easy it will do the same for every hook in the package allowing me to not have to sort through the hooks saving me time at the tying bench

Is there really nobody here who remembers when Mustad stopped selling hooks wrapped in waxed paper inside little tan cardboard boxes?

You didn't ask when Mustad stopped selling hooks in the tan boxes--I answered vintage buy saying that I bought them in the 40 and 50's. To get a answer to the time they stopped send a e mail to the Mustad service department custserv@mustad-usa.com
Send me a message with a few of the numbers that you cant identify and I'll check my old catalog :) BILL

Josko,
What are the model numbers of the hooks in question?
The hooks will work as well as the day they were made. Quality wise they should be as good as what mustad currently produces today, aside from the more "techno" hooks.
I'm looking fotr certain hooks and would be willing to trade for hooks that you may not want , need or have an abundance of.
Jim