Who uses 'em? Why or why not?
I use mine. I find banging the bobbin around or trying to hold it with my right and moving the bobbin to grasp the hackle will cause the thread to loosen
I notice Hans doesn’t seem to be a fan.
Make a half hitch before hanging the bobbin on the rest.
x2. By the way sixex, welcome to the forum.
Regards,
Scott
Hi Steven,
Do you mean bobbin holder rest?
I do not tie rotary style, and indeed have no use for the bobbin holder rest - would only be in my way.
For rotary tying, on the other hand, the bobbin holder rest is a very useful tool.
Cheers,
Hans W
I use it but very seldom. The reason I seldom use the rotary to tye.
Yeah, I meant the bobbin rest.
I don’t tie rotary style either, but I still use it to get the bobbin out of the way.
I’m not a big fan of them. Probably because I started tying without one and now they just seem to get in the way. I don’t usually rotary tie, but I do for winding some body materials – eg, a coarse dubbed thread loop for a scud. In this case, I throw a half hitch and rest my bobbin on the tying surface off to my right while I wind the body.
As a general rule, I prefer to minimize the number of tools on my bench. For me, more tools means more clutter and less efficiency.
I find it gets in the way more than just the bobbin holder hanging there… why have two things in the way all the time?
Almost as cumbersome as a parachute gallows.
For flies like Trudes/Stimis/Convertibles where I like to pack in a lot of hackle wraps or when I’m wrapping 2 hackles at once, I like using the rotary aspect of my vise. Half hitching and then hanging the bobbin off the rest takes about 2 seconds, keeps it out of the way and allows me to better control my wraps, holding the hackle/pliers stationary and rotating the fly; allows me to get the density I’m looking for. Not sure what other vises are like, but the bobbin rest on my Traveler swings out of the way when I’m not using it.
Regards,
Scott
Couldn’t, and wouldn’t even consider, tying without one.
I do use the rotary function on my vise, almost constantly. To do this effectively, sometimes you need the bobin rest.
I get that many won’t consider acquiring the skills to use the rotary function of a vise. What I don’t get is why so many folks spend the money to buy such a vise then fail to use it? I guess it’s their money, but it just seems odd.
Buddy
Since I primarily tie on a Norvice and use the automatic bobbin the bobbin post/rest is a must. When I tie on my standard vice I find a bobbin rest very useful to move the bobbin out of the way. I’ve used one for so long now it has become second nature to use one.
I’m with TyroneFly on this one. The bobbin rest is an integral part of the Norvise “system”, much like the Norvise auto-rewind bobbin. I wouldn’t want to even consider not having either one of them to use while tying. It also acts as great place to store the bobbin between tying sessions by simply making a couple of wraps around the holder and letting the bobbin hang down. The whole Norvise tying system has made tying much more effecient and enjoyable for me. Just my 2 cents worth.
Jim Smith
I use mine all the time and don’t have a true rotary vise. Mine’s home made out of a piece of spring steel to hold insulation between floor joists. I got tired of the bobbin always hanging right there while trying to wrap quill bodies on dry’s, tinsel bodies on streamers, counterwrapping oval tinsel over the flat tinsel etc etc. Every wrap would hit the hanging bobbin! After tying in what I need to, on the rest it goes, out of the way, to give me lots of space to wrap all the other stuff. The rest is never in the way, and I can flick it to swing it to the rear of the vise at any time when I don’t need it.
Regards,
Mark
While a great number of us have rotary vises it would be interesting to learn how many of us use the feature consistently. I have a Peak and a Renzetti. They are very nice but the only time I use the rotary feature is to look at the far side of the fly while in process. All the neat rotary methods are novel but I guess I’m just too set in my ways to accept the changes.
I bet I’m not alone. 
I use rotary constantly. As stated in another post, I learned and tied for many years on a non-rotary style. Once I tied on a rotary style vise, there was no going back. SO MUCH nicer. As to “looking at the far side of the fly”, when tying rotary, you are constantly looking at the far side, as well as the top, bottom and all angles of the fly.
Bobbin rests— simply no valid reason NOT to use it when tying rotary. I don’t understand the comments of “one more thing to get in the way”. Every one I’ve ever seen (except Nor) just swings down, back, and out of the way until needed, then it takes about a quarter of a second to put it back in position.
Before I had a bobbin rest that came with my non-true rotary vise I made one. I found it convenient place to park the bobbin out of the way on occasion and always when using a rotary function. Of course with the overload on my bench swing it around is not as easy as it could be.