Hi folks,
My son gave me a beginner’s fly-tying kit for Christmas which included a cheap vise; I have been bitten by the fly-tying bug, and I am more than ready to buy a better vise. The current vise is a real pain in the neck when I try to adjust the jaws for different size hooks. The Regal (with stainless jaws) looks like the simplest hook-clamping vice, but I also find the Dyna-King Barracuda or Barracuda Jr. an attractive alternative–just in case I want to use the rotary feature–this will be the last vise I ever buy, so I thought I would buy something that would have any features I might ever want to use. The only thing I wonder about is the ease of locking different size hooks in the jaws. Unfortunately, there is not a fly shop that carries different brands of vises near me, so it would be very difficult for me to do a hands-on evaluation/comparison. What do you folks think about 1.) ease of hook placement in the jaws and 2) would you go with the Barracuda or Barracuda Jr. model (and why)? I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has had experience with these vises.
Many thanks,
George
George,
I would venture to guess that everyone who answers your post will suggest their favorite vise. One way to determine YOUR favorite, would be to hit your nearest fly shop, sit down with each vise you think may serve your purpose, and TRY them. OK … let the onslaught begin!
George,
To Betty’s point, I suspect that the input you’ll get will be somewhat biased as there are a number of “favorite” vises out there. You might check online to see if there are any fly fishing clubs in your area of Texas as a starting place. Many clubs have monthly meetings where members bring their fly tying equipment to swap ideas, materials, and flies. Perhaps you could get some more direct input and get to try a couple of differnt models that way.
Like you, I started with an inexpensive vise, since I didn’t want to spend too much mony on something I may not enjoy doing long term. Well, it turned out that I really enjoy tying, so my next vise was a Regal. I liked the Regal vise because it holds the hook very well and you don’t have to adjust the jaws when switching hook sizes. The Regal worked great as long as I didn’t tie on tiny (size 18 or smaller) hooks. With the very small hooks, I tend to try to place the hook near the tip of the jaws to give myself as much access to the hook as possible. The very strong, spring-loaded clamping action used with the Regal can spit out tiny hooks like little bullets if they are too close to the tips of the jaws. When the hook shoots out, it causes the jaws to snap shut, which can cause the jaws to chip and they have to be replaced. As I became more comfortable with tying, I wanted to try a vise with rotary capabilities, so I bought a Dyna-King Barracuda. This is also a very high quality vise that will last a lifetime, but I found the rotary feature cumbersome to use because the shank of the hook wasn’t easily aligned with the rotary hub on the vise. Still on the hunt for a rotary vise, I tried a a Nor-Vise and I stopped looking. All that said, there are plenty of people a whole lot more talented a fly tying than I am that will swear by any number of other brands and models.
Good luck in your search and if at all possible get some bench time with a few of the brands you’re interested in before you make your purchase. Remember, you said you want this to be the last vise you ever have to buy so pick carefully.
Jim Smith
This is the best comparative review of vises I have seen. It give a good side by side $ for $ type review. There may be some, I don’t know if they cover the Norvise, they did not consider but nothing is perfect. If money was not object I would get a Norvise. I would love to have access to a machine shop to try building my own with a old time treadle from a sewing machine.
http://www.flyfishohio.com/Vise%20Review%201/Fly_Tying_Vise_Shoot-Out.htm
Get a true rotary vise the rotates the fly with the hook shank at the center of rotation rather than one which rotates the hook along the circumference of a circle as many “rotary” vises do.
You will find fly tyers using all kinds of vises at a tying exposition but most trout fly tyers will be tying on a Renzetti. 'nuff said.
Get a true rotary vise the rotates the fly with the hook shank at the center of rotation rather than one which rotates the hook along the circumference of a circle as many “rotary” vises do.
You will find fly tyers using all kinds of vises at a tying exposition but most trout fly tyers will be tying on a Renzetti. 'nuff said.
Simple enough questions, not sure why previous posters are spinning off in all directions. Fundamentally, “ease of hook placement” only really matters to a point. For a commercial tier this is going to make be a key issue, hence why they like Regals so much. For a normal tier, most decent vises load fast enough these days with some sort of lever. Dyna-King makes very good vises so the only distinction I can think of between the Barracuda and the Trekker are weight. If you plan on travelling with your vise, you might like the Trekker better. The jaw design is identical, so “ease of hook placement” doesn’t really come into play.
Luck.
Renzetti Traveler.
I own two and have zero complaints.
I agree with CoachBob. A Renzetti traveler is great as is a Peak and they both are made in the U.S.A.
To answer your question, I have the Trekker vice. Its about 15 yrs old and I have never had a problem with it. I’ve tyed both saltwater and freshwater flies from size 2 to 22. Every once in a while tying a really small fly and pulling the thread to tight I will pull the hook out, but I think any vice will have that problem. The rotary function work well and I would buy one again if I had the choice. But I haven’t used a Regal yet so can’t help you there. I bought the Trekker because it was lighter and cheaper than the Barracuda. My friend just bought a new Barracuda and he has some nicer features on his but the vice is basically the same. Hope that has helped with the Dyna King part. Good luck with your search.
Beaver
If this is going to be the last vise and you are looking and you like for it to do many things, I would suggest looking at the Nor-Vise. I had the Barracuda and traded it for a Nor-Vise. While the Barracuda is a rock solid vise, it could not come close to flexibility of a Nor-Vise. The one drawback I find with the Nor-Vise is portability. For that I have a Dynaking Voyager II.
George, I agree with Betty. Either go to a fly shop if available or hook up with a fly fishing club in your area, again if available and try different vises. Oh and don’t kid yourself to think that whatever you buy will be the one and only that you ever will. 
George,
The best tying vise is the one that suite your style of tying, as talk about in previous post there are several vises available. I would agree with the other members, try as many as possible before making the investment.
So George, why dont you join our beginners’ swap so you can play with the new toy?
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/showthread.php?47725-2013-beginners-only-fly-swaps-applications-are-now-open&highlight=beginners
I upgraded my old vise to a Peak and have enjoyed it. Does using a norvise require you to re-wind your thread to one of their bobbins? Seems like that may be an issue, I dont know for sure as I have never used one, just an observation - Good news is J stockard (a FAOL sponsor) has vises on sale this month!
http://www.jsflyfishing.com/cgi-bin/category/80100
Everyone has to put in an opinion so here is mine… The first question I would ask is, “What kind of fishing do you do?” If you particularly a bass fisherman, small, large or whatever the Regal would be my choice. I have one that I use for that purpose. It is great for gripping the larger hooks and holds really tight when spinning deer hair too! But… if you are into trout and smaller hook sizes I would suggest the Renzetti traveler. I also have one of these for the itty-bitty flies that I tie for trout or pan fish. It will also do larger hooks, but in my opinion is not as sturdy as the Regal.
If you are going to do both however the Renzetti is the only way to go… have fun figuring all this advice out!!!
Pillcaster,
The Nor-Vise retractable bobbins are another great and separate invention from Norm. If you decide to use these bobbins, you do need to rewind your thread from the regular thread spool onto the aluminum spools for the Nor-Vise bobbins. That said, it usually takes me about 2 minutes to transfer the thread on a spool with an electic drill. I have about 20 extra Nor-Vise bobbin spools all loaded with different color/size thread. Changing from one thread color to another takes about the same as with a regular bobbin. Once you get used to using the Nor-Vise bobbins (they work great with any vise), most people don’t want to use any other bobbin. Norm’s whole system between the vise and the bobbins really makes tying faster, easier and more enjoyable for me.
Jim Smith
+1.
I used the Automatic bobbin long before I got a Nor-Vise. The learning curve is short. Being able to control the amount of slack quickly makes for easier and faster tying. I rarely anymore use a standard bobbin. I find the Automatic bobbin has become second nature to my tying allowing me the freedom to concentrate on the tying rather having to pause to take up slack.
Regal with stainless jaws. Will hold anything from #2 streamer flies to #32 midge hooks snugly without chipping. This time of year I am tying midges on #26 - #30 Gamakatsu midge hooks with no problems. If you intend to rotary tie, look at the Renzetti. I owned a couple of true rotary vises over the years, and never really utilized the rotary tying method.
I don’t think a perfect do everything vise exists. I do think my Dyna-King Ultimate Indexer is fairly close. It has one useful feature that exists on know other vise as far as I can determine - the vise shaft pivots. This allows an additional degree of freedom for positioning the vise the head.
I tie on size 24 through 10/0 hooks. With the optional midge jaws I can cover this entire range with the D-K vise.
In addition to the Ultimate Indexer, which was my latest acquisition, I have a D-K Professional, Renzetti Traveler, Regal, and a couple of Thompson copies. I got the Regal for the simplicity of mounting hooks, but as my tying catalog increased it was not as effective for the real small, and for the large and extra large hooks (larger than 2/0 and even some heavy gauge wire 2/0 hooks). I got the Renzetti for the true inline rotary function, which really simplified a lot of tying sequences once I learned how to use it. This vise worked well for me for flies size 24 to 4/0. I now consider inline rotary to be essential for my tying. My first D-K I acquired used for tying large flies. The jaws hold hooks rock solid. I graduated to the Ultimate Indexer to get the benefits of true rotary, the ability to hold hooks of all sizes, and the added flexibility of the articulated stem.
I really looked into the Norvise, talking with tyers who loved it and hated it. In my case I could not find a way to mount the Norvise and thread stand in a way that works for me. I have problems with my shoulders and holding my arms up for lengths of time gets painful. So for my tying at home I mount the vise so the head is just above table height, using a D-K right angle extension to move the vise away from the table. One cool feature about the Norvise is that it can easily be used for creating dubbing brushes, eliminating the need for another tool.
There are many other good to great vises out there all across the price spectrum that will provide decades of service.
While I have my favorite Travelers, the two questions you should answer for this forum so we can give you exact recommendations are:
- How much do you have to (want to) spend? There is a very wide range of prices for vises, even between well respected models. If you are on a limited budget, some may be out of your range.
- How wide a range of hooks will you be using (tiny nymphs to salt water or somewhere in between). Not all vises handle very large or very small hooks. The Traveler actually has two sets of jaws for different work.
The other thing I forgot to mention is that you want to get a “true rotary” vise. Those who have one can’t live without it.