Did not want to “hijack” someone else’s “thread” (pun intended).
Anyway, this is my “no problem” bobbin holder. I believe it is a J Dorian. Hard to recall as I have used it for over 35 years.
I did post a picture of this before and someone immediately said “that looks like an immediate thread cutter”. He had never used one.
I have used it over 35 years and never had a problem, and I almost exclusively use 8/0 thread. Someone recently suggested they are being made again. I’m not sure. It is the best bobbin holder I’ve ever owned.
Interesting! Never saw one like that before and the thread-cutting thing hit me too but obviously I would’ve been wrong.
Surprising it doesn’t have a hard “bead” at the tip for wear with the tube not being ceramic but being that old and that used I can see where it’s a favorite. What a treat to re-thread!!
Jeremy,
As I indicated, I’ve been using this bobbin for at least 35 years. It was long before ceramic tips on bobbin holders. If you look at the Marc Petijean bobbin holders, they are similar, with the exception that Petijean’s holder has an additional thread guide lower near the bobbin itself to align the thread for the top short tube. Of course, it also has a slit in the top tube so that you needn’t “thread” the thread through…
Gotta love the guys who design and build these tools.
I have 5 of these bobbins (I didn’t think I had that many until I just counted them). I’m not sure mine are as old as yours, Byron, but mine are all probably over 25 years old.
None of mine have the pretty green clamp that yours has, but are much the same otherwise, although mine each have a nice “J” and a “D” stamped on opposite sides of the bobbin where the thread is held. (I really like the green on your Bobbin!)
I can’t say mine are my favorite bobbins, although they are certainly easy to thread, and while I have used mine continuously to tie with for all these past years (along with a smattering of other bobbin brands) I can never recall cutting a thread with any of them that is a fault of the bobbin - which is amazing considering the many flies I’ve tied with them.
John
P. S. It would be interesting to know whether ceramic bobbin tubes could be made like these bobbins.
John,
Mine also have the JD on the sides of the bobbin holder which clamps the bobbin. Just hard to read after all these years. I think the material there may be brass? As there is some patina on that area…
I’ll buy a couple from you if you’re interested in selling…
Thanks for the offer. I think I’ll hold onto mine for now though…I tend to be on the lazy side sometimes, and I’d hate to think of how much more time I’d have to spend rethreading those other “normal” bobbins.
While I only use the Nor-Vise self-retracting bobbins that accompany my Nor-vise, from the looks of the bobbin in the photograph, they look like you could modify a regular steel-tube bobbin fairly easily to work much the same way. All you’d have to do is grind the opening near the tip of the bobbin and buff it out so that it was nice and smooth. Has anyone tried this before?
Here goes, the JD Bobben was originally designed by the guy that invented the bick lighter. I really like the design and the style of these Bobins never had one cut the thread. They went out of production. A few years ago they were reintroduced to the market under their name wishbone Bobbin, they were distributed by Hairline. They came into styles long and a short tip. A search of the hairline consumer catalog did not list this product as being distributed by them at this time. I googled them and a few places still list them. Fishin’ Jimmy
Are you familiar with the bobbin holder, which I believe, was called the “Spring Bob”? I have one somewhere. It is similar to the J Dorian, but much larger. Per the name, the long “nose” is “springy” (bends with little pressure). I like it for larger thread-like materials such as the uni-stretch threads…
My J Dorin bobbin is my “go to” bobbin. I’ve had it well over 30 years but mine doesn’t have the green cushion. The ease of threading is what makes the Dorin bobbin a gem. My second favorite bobbin is the Rite bobbin.
Here is my J Doran bobbin. It is also about 35 years old. Mine used to have a smaller tube that slipped inside the larger fixed tube. The larger tube was really best suited for floss or other large materials and the smaller one for thread. I used to use the smaller removable tube to tie nail knots and lost it at some point.
I don’t want to offend any of our sponsors. All I did was Google Wishbone fly tying BobbIns.
There was a nice picture of one and it said that Jim’s in West Yellowstone had some. I got mine from Badger Creek.
Fishin’ Jimmy
