Any brand stand out as the best? Thanks for any recommendations. Best regards.
corcut,
You’ll find that your fingers make the best hackle pliers, but there are times when they are just to big for the job. Almost any hackle plier you find will do the job nicely as long as the hold does not slip… I look for hackle pliers that have tips that line up to one another.
Thanks, T-fly.
I generally prefer the English style hackle pliers–the ones made out of heavy gauge spring wire–but I ‘Americanize’ them before I use them. The problem is that the part you squeeze to open them is kind of unstable because the diameter is so small. So what I do is open them up and shrink on several layers of heat shrink tubing to increase the diameter of the gripped area and make them more stable. I also put one layer of heat shrink on one of the jaws to improve the grip
Mike
For tying everything with the exception of Parachutes, I have a strong preference for the Danville English-style hackle pliers. The only thing I do to mine is round off the edges with a diamond hook hone and put a bit of heat shrink tubing over just one of the jaws.
For parachutes my preference is the Wasatch rotating hackle pliers. You just can not beat rotating pliers for parachutes. It makes it so much easier.
-Darryl
“If we carry purism to it’s logical conclusion, to do it right you’d have to live naked in a cave, hit your trout on the head with rocks, and eat them raw. But, so as not to violate another essential element of the fly-fishing tradition, the rocks would have to be quarried in England and cost $300 each.”
~John Gierach
What Mike said…except you can get those with a “plate” of metal soldered at the gripping point…makes a big difference.
I use rotating hackle pliers for 95% of my needs. I have a pair made by Marterelli.
I found that for me what works the best is a spring clip. Bought at Home Depot for $.49 or $.59. It has yellow pads on the clip ends. Works for most of the time using hackle. I keep at least 6 of these clips on my tying desk. They come in handy for many things.
Jade River Hackle Nabbers
Swing hard, in case they throw the ball where you’re swinging. Duke Snider
Tiemco’s the best I’ve found for holding and not slipping off.
electrical clips from Radio Shack–they come two or three in a package for a little bit of nothing monetarily