Hook Clearance on a Vise

[Byron haugh]

Someone, perhaps Hans, mentioned how important hook clearance is in a fly tying vise.
I could not agree more. I own a few vises in which applying tailing material is not very comfortable due to not having good tail clearance.

Here are are photos of a few rotary vises I have or have had. I find the clearance afforded by the Matthias vise to be, perhaps, the best. Although, I tie almost exclusively on the Jvice. I think the "gooseneck" design offers great clearance when tying in rotary mode.

First the LAW - most beautifully sculptured vise I owned - (wish I had kept it!)




Then, the Jvice: Which I think offers more clearance.




Then the Matthias Vise: Which, I think offers the most of the three in terms of hook clearance when in rotary position.

[Crash]

Byron you had a sava rx in another picture of yours i was wondering how the hand room was behind the hook on that vise.

[Byron haugh]

Crash. I gave that vise to someone. It is sort of a "miniaturized" vise. Every part of it is significantly smaller than most "standard" vises. It's like someone poured water on it and the vise became 70% "normal" size.

[Crash]

Ok. I was curious. I like the way the jaws close. Like a renzetti 3000 but looked more substantial.
I guess pictures can be deceiving. I currently use a norvise with the fine point jaw conversion. I love the jaws
because they hold well and are easy to work with. But i dont find it easy to work beyond the hook bend due to
the geometry of its construction. Norm recently came out with a different configuration that is elongated and at s shallower angle which gives a lot more room to work.

It seems to give similar space to the jvice. But nothing like the law gives. That was one well thought out vise.

[Hans Weilenmann]

Byron,

Those Matthias jaws certainly give excellent clearance, as does for exampe a HMH fitted with midge jaws. They are, however, restricted in the size range of hooks they can handle.

That is the tightrope any vise designer has to walk.

Key decision at start of the design process - design a vise with a single set of jaws to cover the full range of sizes, or design it so the single set of jaws handles the entire range - fine tipped for the small hooks, with clearance, yet meaty enough to securely hold the big irons

Cheers,
Hans W

[hap]

Color me confused...

Cannot for the life of me imagine a less important feature. I run a Nor-Vise with ordinary straight jaws and just cannot imagine the space behind the fly being an issue... Sort of reminds of the pilot adage about runway behind and altitude above being useless...

Tonight at the tie-in at a local fly shop we were tying leeches for a theme. I was tying the monster Haymaker pattern and there is no Vise like a Nor-Vise for that.



For the record however I have very big hands with very long fingers... and I fell on the ice a few days ago and I am under the influence of several flavors of pain-altering substances...

[Byron haugh]

Hans,
I had a HMH with all three sets of jaws. It is not entirely the narrow jaws which give the clearance to the rear of the hook - at least for me. It is the angle with which the point of the jaws (midge or magnum) are held up. The HMH is also not rotary. One can take nearly any vise and adjust the vise head to present the jaws relatively unobstructed, but not a rotary vise in the true rotary position for the hook.

Matthias also has more traditional sized jaws. The midge type jaws of his which I have were in the minority. Most tiers opted for the "standard" sized jaws which hold a more expansive range of hook sizes. The jaws I have, however, are well suited to the majority of trout flies I tie and I would guess most trout fishers tie.

Matthias started making his vise again and was trying different outlet methods. The more refined new model is not offered in a "small trout fly" size. He was selling/offering his vise on ebay for a while. I think he was asking around $400.

[Hans Weilenmann]

Color me confused...

Cannot for the life of me imagine a less important feature. I run a Nor-Vise with ordinary straight jaws and just cannot imagine the space behind the fly being an issue... Sort of reminds of the pilot adage about runway behind and altitude above being useless...

Hap,

We all have our own take on things, and that is how it should be - but to satisfy my curiosity, what is the smallest hook size you routinely tie and fish?

Thanks,
Hans W

[jszymczyk]

would one of you nice folks please post a pic of a fly in a vise which they consider to have insufficient hook clearance? Just trying to get an idea because I have not (as far as I can remember) had this issue. Also it would seem to me the smaller the hook, the MORE clearance there is behind the bend, no matter the style of jaws or vise.

[hap]

Hap,

We all have our own take on things, and that is how it should be - but to satisfy my curiosity, what is the smallest hook size you routinely tie and fish?

Thanks,
Hans W

Generally 2/0 down to 4!





Actually the vast majority of the dries I tie are 12-16 and I only rarely go to 18. Softhackles bottom out at 12 probably. I do tie some tiny stuff for a local lake with monster char that like to sip 'em. But not many. I am currently tying a bunch of steelhead flies and fulldress Atlantics.

I actually prefer laying my hand atop the Nor-Vise jaws these days to steady things while tying in parts. The meat of my hand can rest on it while my fingers reach to the head of the largest fly. It took me quite a bit to get used to the NV because of many ingrained habits...