-
Ceramic Bobbins
I feel like a junkie but I think I need another bobbin.
I'm thinking of buying a ceramic bobbin for the first time but I am somewhat concerned about breakage.
Have any of you who use them broken it by a drop on the floor, etc? Also what about damaging it by spreading the legs apart to adjust the tension?
-
I've never broken mine, and I'm a pretty big klutz. How long have you been tying that you're just now considering one? It only took me two weeks to realize my thread would keep breaking until I bought a ceramic bobbin.
$8 seemed pretty expensive to me at the time, but it has been worth every penny looking back on it. I now use my old all metal bobbin for tinsel and wire.
------------------
"With luck, it can be like quitting drinking without entirely losing the sense of fun you learned while you were smashed." - John Gierach
-
TomL:
Believe it or not I have been using Matterelli metal tube bobbins forever and I really can't complain at all. Maybe I'm easy on bobbins but I have one that is more than 20 years old and it doesn't fray thread.
The reason I'm thinking about a ceramic is for the UTC 70 denier Ultra Thread I use for certain patterns. This thread is more like floss than thread so I like a real smooth bobbin for it. I have some Renzetti Ruby Tip Teflon lined bobbins that I'm using now for it but I could use another and I just was considering a Tiemco ceramic instead, just for a change.
-
I've used a ceramic bobbin for the past five years with no problems at all. I think that you'll notice the difference with little/no thread breakage or frayed thread or floss. Well worth the money in my humble opinion.
Jim Smith
-
The bobbin I have has done very well over the past year, a Griffin PeeWee Ceramic. If you use a couple of pliers to open the bobbin up, you take less chance of breakage. The area which really gets stressed from opening is the joint where the tube attaches to the spool arms.
------------------
There's almost nothin' wrong with the first lie, it's the weight of all the others holdin' it up that gets ya'! - Tim
-
I bought a dozen of the Tiemco's when they first came out and have never switched back. These must be 12 years old or older? I have dropped them many times on the cement floor and they are still going strong. Nothing better for the job. I must have 20 or 30 others and they do not compare. Well worth the few extra bucks. I have lost one at a show. It some how walked off? I still have the other 11 going strong. Ron
-
Bamboozle
From your post:" Quote- Also what about damaging it by spreading the legs apart to adjust the tension?" End Quote-I am thinking you must be thinking that the whole bobbin is made out of ceramic? Nope. Ceramic bobbins have metal or plastic parts so spreading the bobbin apart is the same on both kinds. No worries there.
There are two kinds of ceramic bobbins that I know of: 1) The kind that has a small piece of ceramic tubing pressed into the end of a normal metal tube bobbin, and 2) The kind that has a full length ceramic tube standing alone, or supported by an outer metalic tube.
I have both kinds and the first kind is one you don't want because they are hard to thread because of the ledge, or step inside the tube created by the short ceramic tube segement. The insert came come out too. If you use a theader this cheaper kind is OK. Otherwise-get a full length ceramic tube style bobbin. Worth the extra money.
All ceramic bobbins are not the same grade of ceramic materials, nor do thay all have a a fine, smoothly polished ceramic lip as well. The Tiemco ceramics, the Ekich ceramics are pretty good.
That said, a very high quality highly polished stainless tube bobbin is arguably superior to ceramic bobbins for most tying and certainly for tying using the very lightest threads.
Rich
[This message has been edited by flymaker2 (edited 06 October 2005).]
-
Funny you should ask...
I just, for the first time, broke a ceramic bobbin by dropping it onto the floor.
I've dropped it before. Didn't think anything of it. It is a concrete floor, though, and I usually have an apron on that catches stuff. Not this time...
Picked it up, went back to tying, started breaking thread.
Sure enough, cracked the ceramic. I'd had if for a few years.
Bought a new one yesterday. One of the 'cheap' $8 ones.
I like them.
Buddy
------------------
[url=HTTP://HOMETOWN.AOL.COM/RSAN2708/INDEX.HTML:020e5]HTTP://HOMETOWN.AOL.COM/RSAN2708/INDEX.HTML[/url:020e5]
-
I've been using a Tiemco Ceramic Bobbin for quite a while now and love it. In fact, it's the only bobbin I use now. It's the straight model (there's a curved one available also). It has been dropped on the floor, had things dropped on it, had the feet bent to adjust thread tension numerous times, etc. without any problems whatsoever.
-
Yes....as a klutz (my kids were yelling while I was tying a midge; also spilled beer
on my fly tying desk) I've broken a ceramic bobbin....buuuuuuuut.....I still prefer to use them; doesn't cut off the thread !!!!!