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I bought a Thompson "A" Vise as my starter vice.... and am beginning to realize that it is a pretty dang nice piece of equipment... has anyone bought the midge jaws or the jaws for bigger flies? I am also looking at the bobin holder and the base... is this vice worth that investment or should I save my pennies and step up to something better... (the Thompson Cobra sure looks cool)
colt
Colt45:
Buy what you want and need. Most vises are have the same size shaft so your accessories could be made to fit others.
I will warn you that this is a disease.
I now own 4 vises, and almost a room full of fly fishing stuff. So understand right now that you are in the begining stages of a disease that the cure for has not been found. It starts as a little fly then becomes a rod, and then you will find you are building things to put things in and and and and well treatment is not expensive but the disease is.
Treatment is as follows. Sit down, read every article Al Campbell has ever written. Now you must take notes....
Then read each of the other writers from the begining to the last article Hurry or they will write something else. This will keep you busy and not able to go to the fly supply parts of the internet.
You will find that if you get it bad enough then you will have an ORVUS coffee cup on your desk. Thank fully I have not gotten that bad yet. But there are some on here that have gone over the deep edge.
Now here is the progressive stages of this disease.
1. Fly fishing
2. Fly tying
3. Rod building
4. Macro Photography
5. Bench building (work bench)
6. Art decorating (showing your beautiful flies)
7. Collecting fly tying materials. Not using them collecting them.
9. Reading fly fishing books, will lead to collecting them.
8. Becoming a published writer about fly fishing.
9. Teaching fly fishing
10. Dreaming about fly fishing.
11. The last one and probably the worse one is...... Finding a job that pays you to do all of the above. If you do not believe me ask Jim Hatch. I think he has progressed through all of them.
I am only on number 10 and I am searching hard for #11.
Thompson makes great vises to answer your question.... And should you upgrade.... YES
BY ALL MEANS...... How else are you going to be able to teach someone else you must have at least 2 or 3 vises. And and and
Told the doctor of my problem, he could not believe it. Guess who has the disease now....
Harold
[This message has been edited by Harold Hattaway (edited 07 February 2005).]
Harold, I am in the beginning of stage 2, and I already have a White River Fly Shop (BassPro) coffee cup on my desk with a big rainbow on it. I log on to FAOL at least once daily and then again in the evening at home.....Is it too late for me to recover or am I beyond help?
I, too am considering an upgrade from my entry level vise, and read all of the posts I see here about vises (vices?)
Jim A
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"Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that
it is not fish they are after." - Henry David Thoreau
Only you can answer that question. Many gajillion bugs have been tied on that vise by novices and experts alike.
Sentimentality makes us wish we still had our Thompson. The Nor-vise we eventually "progressed" to, has all the bells and whistles and we would not be without it.
IMHO, I would not "progress" to a new vise until YOU found a "purpose" to do so in your tying. Such as maybe wanting to roll the fly for visuals or materials application or maybe wanting fast, easy hook holding capabilities or something....? THEN get the best you can afford and do it only once. There is a rotary type vise for under $100.00 that could serve you as well as any rotary type and you can spend conciderably more to aquire an in-line rotary that will do it ALL.
.....lee s.
......lee s.
The Thompson "A" is a great vise. I used one for years. If you find yourself wanting switch jaws alot you might consider that it is more convenient to have a vise that can handle a wider range of hooks sizes without having to switch jaws. For me that vise is the Renzetti Traveller.
In any case, enjoy your Model "A".
Jim Allen;
First of all tell all your family and friends about this disease. I am afraid once it gets into you there is no way out. The fact that you have the coffee cup with a brand name on it is just an indication of how bad you have it. I am proud to say even I do not have a cup with a company name on it.
I do have a set of mugs with flies inside the plastic and coasters with flies on them, I was looking at some plates the other day and the wife hit me. Thanks God.
But once you have the mug with a company name on it, you are telling the world of your condition. Thankfully they do not know what we have or we would not have any friends.
I own a computer company and I have begun installing backgrounds for my customers that have flies on them. They think they are pretty. heheheheheh (evil laugh) I figure at least 2 out of 10 will get the disease.
Did you see how easy we got Diane hooked, she is now teaching classes..... I think she has a mug she just is not telling anyone. <smile> But she is paying forward. And she is going to infect that whole college, D. Micus does the same thing.
I disagree with Lee S, (evil grin again)
You need more than one vise. One really good one and one nice one like the "A" and 2 or 3 cheap ones.
Now here is the plan. Someone somewhere will need a vise, for whatever reason, give them the cheap one, it will get them started. You see this happen a lot on the wanted board. We call it paying forward, but in reality it is spreading the disease.
Here is what I have been known to do, take one cheap vise, and a few tools, cheap ones, some material, usually the material that I am running low on... ( This allows me to place an order.) Then I teach someone how to tie a few flies. They find out how relaxing this is and they are hooked. I stand proud and present them with this box of stuff and send them on their way. I have a place on my website (hidden of course) that they are given access to. This site has most of the suppliers that I buy from linked. A few other places are linked also. (FAOL) has a link but I am thinking of using the banner as a link, but it is a hidden site so only my victims will see it.. heheheheh
If you really want to lay blame on this I can tell you exactly where I got the disease.
JIM HATCH, not only did he give me a lot of help getting started, but he sent my GRANDSON some of his flies. A 4 year old that has participated in a swap.
Then AL Campbell, Ronn Lucas, Denny Conrad, Ladyfisher,Oh and Parnelli he is one of the worse one about spread the disease. He gets you into his class and you are toast.
There have been many others that have helped spread the disease to me... Flats Dude came over and gave me tying lessons, took me fishing, with some of those other disease spreaders, Stev, Purebs,Floridaflyer. Then you get Mikemv to come teach you how to cast, and Saltydancindave, brings a pickup truck full of flies.
OH I did forget one of the progressions. It is called hosting a fish-in. Did that last year. Spread the disease to Bill's lovely wife Jill. I think Reuel is to blame for that one.
Reuel the hostess asked about you the other day. Said she needs exercise..... My face turns red thinking about her telling him she was going to take him out to the parking lot.
Oh well.... I think one of the progressive traits of this diesase is talking too muc
h............ or writing too much...
See I do have it bad.
Jim tell your wife at least you are home and you keep your fly room clean. Well I just looked around and that might be stretching the truth a little... It does have a door on it with a lock so I can keep the guest out of it.
Sorry but you are way too far gone. Just sit back and understand there is not cure.
Take the treatment. (it keeps me out of the doghouse when the wife tells me not to spend any more money.) I just bought the fly rod case that Cabelas has on sale, holds 4 rods and 4 or 5 reels, looks like a gun case. 60 inches long, and was only 50 bucks. She knows it is to protect her custom rod. Beats the heck out of the PVC one I built for her.
Harold
[This message has been edited by Harold Hattaway (edited 07 February 2005).]
Extra vices come in handy. My beginning vices are great for when I'm teaching the scouts that I have in my flyfishing merit badge. Also the first ones were so cheap that I don't have a problem letting them leave my possesion for a week or three so they can experiment on their own. What I do is make up a zip lock bag with materials for a fly of the same pattern and let them take it it with them. Let them be creative.
Colt45,
I really like that name. I carry one and believe it to be one of the finest weapons in the world!
I also consider the Thompson A to be one of the best vises in the world. I have the midge jaws installed on one of mine and the regular jaws installed on the other one. Wish I had a dollar for every fly I've tied on those two vises. I have tied down to a size 30 on the "midge vise" as I call it, with no problem. On the other one, I have tied up to 4/0 bass and saltwater flies. Mine are both mounted on pedestals and they are stable enough for spinning deer hair etc..
That said, I have also purchased a Peak vice that has the regular and midge jaws. I'm beginning to love this one because of its rotary capacity. I would put a mirror on the other side of the fly to see what's happening on that side but I would get an occasional glimpse of myself and that is a very disheartening feeling.
I too use the Thompsons when teaching others and they are great for that. Start and work your way up. After all,,, as Al Campbell, a master of simplicity, would say; all the vise has to do is hold the hook.
They say golf can be so much fun and exasperating at times,too. They ain't got nothin' on flytyers!!
Andy
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all types of fishermen must pull together for the good of all!!!