Thompson A Vise

[Northwoods]

I have been using since the early 70's of and on what I believe is a Thompson A vise. The vise is primarily black including the jaws with only the upper part of the stem is brass.

Does nyone still tie on this and what tips do you have for its use? How do the jaws hold out etc?

Thanks

North woods

[Panman]

That is the vise I use. I have no problems with tying down to 18's with it and if you are not wanting a rotary I think this will work fine. Only thing I can say in the way of a tip is to make sure you have the hook good & secure before you start or it can pop out on you.

Tim

[shorthaul]

I tied on one for about 10 years---i wore out a set of jaws---sometimes a hook would slip if i was spinning hairbugs.

it would break partridge hooks on a regular basis.

[dudley]

I use a Thompson
I've had it about 25 years and got it to replace my Herter's vice (which really slipped).
I tie size 24 through 4/0 on it and I have no plans to further "upgrade"
I know a rotary would be more efficient, but I'm too stubborn to change

[modocdan]

I used a Thompson for about 20 years, wore out a couple sets of jaws. They hold very well down to 18's or so. The vise disappeared several years back along with some other neat stuff, and 7 years ago when I got back intotying after a few year's absence, I built my own vise from memory, a near exact copy of my old Thompson A...I have two sets of jaws that I hardened to a point harder than Thompson's and I like it even better than the Thompson. I have given the rotaries some thought, But now I'm old and set in my ways, and I'm stickin' with what I got. I would reccomend a Thompson to anyone.
..............................................Modo cDan

[Gandolf]

Hi All,

I tie on a Thompson A, and like it, but have tied on a vise that can be rotated, but not a full function rotary.

The Thompson A is a used Ebay vise and was bought for use as a travel vise after breaking the cheapo rotation vise I learned on. Then didn't tie for several months thinking I wanted a good rotary and couldn't imagine tying without one. Well, after a while I wanted to tie, but only had the Thompson, so used it.

Later got a used moderate priced rotation type vise, but finally decided that the Thompson held the hook better, and have been tying on it ever since.

For now lack of rotation doesn't seem like much of a sacrifice, and tying on the Thompson seems fine. (May buy a good rotation type someday but not now. Won't get a full blown rotary vise, just one that can be rotated.)

For what it's worth, my "A" sounds just like the one North Woods uses.

I do have a set of the super jaws that I use for #4 or #2 hooks, and also have a set of midge jaws, but have not needed them yet. The standard jaws seem just fine for hooks down to #18, for me. The super jaws do help with the larger hooks.

Older Thompson A......works good and is cheap (on Ebay)...good combination. For me, it's a keeper, even if only for a travel vise.

Regards,

Gandolf

[DG]

This is the vise I use. The cam flattened off on mine before anything else wore out. Went out, spent $29, got a new one. Took twenty-odd years, 30,000 flies, give or take. I tie down to 26, up to about 4 on mine. I have a couple extra sets of jaws in a baggie here somewhere, never bothered with them. Have the old vise, too, in case I get a wild hair some day and build a new cam.

[John 3:16]

I started tying on a 23yr old Thompson A that belongs to a friend of mine. I bought the last new Thompson A I found about 5yrs ago. I don't plan on tying on anything else.