I was wonderiing how many of you use a cauterizer when tying? I was thinking about getting one for those times a just cannot cut close enough with scissors.
TyroneFly,
I use one, but, I use it to remove the material from old flies that are too chewed up to fish with anymore or for those flies that I have tied that I do not like afterward or did not work as well as I thought they would. It really makes short work of removing material and leaves me with a hook with a bead already on it for the next fly or a hook with lead already wrapped on the shank for the next fly. Sometimes in the evenings when I really do not feel like tying, I will get the box of old flies and mistakes out and just sit there removing material. It really is a time saver for me.
Warren
I use one, especially to clean around the head on my dries. Takes a bit of practice to not burn everything up, but it really does a nice job. At about $15 it’s probably one of the cheapest tools I have on my tying desk!
Joe
I have two, one with dim batteries to cleaning around heads and bending legs etc… and one with a full battery for more severe butchery!!
Do you know an online source I can buy from?
I own one and use it on occasion. Really very good tool but you must be careful not to set your newly tied fly on fire.
Jim Smith
I use a cauterizer for cleaning up around the head on the fly pattern, and zapping hackle barbs that are out of alignment on collars.
For those of you, who do not know what a cauterizer is (or looks like), here is a picture of what one looks like.
JC wrote an article on cauterizers that can be found in “Tying Tips”. You can find the article by clicking the tab below…
[url=http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/tyingtips/part185.html:d922b]CLICK HERE![/url:d922b]
You can buy these with replaceable tips and batteries from [url=http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.TextId?hvarTextId=2379&hvarTarget=search&cmCat=SearchResults:39c0f]bass pro.[/url:39c0f] I think Cortland is also making them again, so you may be able to order them from your local fly shop. Also, if you have a Sportsmans Warehouse near you they stock them (at least they do here).
JeremyH
I was given a couple of those some years back by a doctor and I never did use them. I found them after the flood and the batters were dead so out they went. LOL Ron
I recently got the DVD entitled Tying Wet Flies in the Catskill Tradition with Ralph Graves. He used a cauterizer a lot in the DVD and it seemed to work really well. It was the first time I’d ever seen one or even heard of it.
If you wish to cut your thread real close and not leave a tag end do not use your scissors as normal. Just use one blade and cut the thread with it. Do not closes the scissor blades as noraml. You will get a clean cut. 
Ron
gadabout,
It was that very same DVD I was watching last weekend that got me to thinking about the use of a cauterizer. By the way, the other 3 DVDs in the series are excellent. My sister gave me the 4 DVD series for Christmas.
Hi Gadabout, I suspect a relaionship here. At the January fly tying show in Danbury CT there was a booth with little to display/sell beyond that DVD and cauterizers. Could the DVD be an “infomercial”? (It was Ralph Graves booth and I bought the DVD.)
[This message has been edited by Ray Kunz (edited 27 January 2006).]
I bought full set of DVDs also. I’ve only watched two of them so far but they are very good and I’ve learned a few neat tricks. On the negative side, I think they should have indexed them so you could go right to the fly you’re interested in. It seems silly that they did’nt do that.
Gadabout,
I agree with you on the indexing of the DVD. I find that sometimes searching through a disc can be annoying at times.
FYI, the DVD on Tying Nymphs is missing its label for a reason. They burned both sides of the disk to cover the 8 patterns. Unless I missed the instructions somewhere on the disk, no where does it tell you to turn it over to continue. At first I thought I had a pirated copy.