Byron You need to correct yourself The Darbee’s used Thomas Visies not Thompson vises as you have stated. The book are you referring to about the Dette’s is not the same book that I am referring to, Mine came from one of the horses mouths, Harry Darbee who with Walt started tying flies together in the late 20’s not from someone who met the Dette’s at a much later date like like 30 years later. A lot can change over time. As I recall Harry said that Thomas went out of business and they finally got a beer bottler opener manufacture ( aka a church key ) to make vises for them. I am sure that when there was a vise shortage that they figured out a way or found some sort of vise that would work at that time. I also know that Walt and Harry made there own wax.Now that must have been 40 years before WONDER WAX. I think the Church Key Company must have made the vise I got in the late 70’s from the Darbee’s. By the way where did you get your vises from? That ought to be a real hoot watching you tye flies with them three vises! How do you do it? A rite bobbin in each hand and that fancy J vise bobbin between your toes on foot. By the way what foot do you use? I knew that J vise bobbin looked all twisted up and bent at strange angles, know I know why; so you can hold it with your toes, isn’t that progress now?
Fishin
Here is a photo of my collection of flies tied by Mary Dette. In the shadow box are photos of her tying a fly. You can get help if you want, but I think most people will identify the vise as a jeweler’s vise. The photos are from a really nice book written about them and other Catskill tiers by Eric Leiser (heard of him?).
The only thing I have said that was wrong is that I typed “Thompson” when I meant “Thomas” - referring to the vise that Mary’s mother used.
And, as I said, Mary Dette, who used to tie on a jeweler’s vise, now uses a Dyna King vise. That was the original point - that even the great old tiers adapt to new equipment! Check out the second photo and you will see Mary with her Dyna King vise…
As for your other silly comments about my vises: How many rods do you own? I have a bunch of fine rods (four Winstons, for example) and I use each of them when it suits me. I like them all. Same with vises, I own about 15 or so quality vises and I use them when I feel like it.
Enjoy the photos below:
PS Many grammatical errors in your posting above - not spelling errors - not typos - grammatical.
Byron - I need to put a line and fly into the water so I can have a chance of catching fish. To clear thing up we were talking about Two different Books. Mine by Harry Darbee and your by Eric Liser. Naturally they talked about different time periods, I talked about Harry Darbee and you about Walt Dette. Than you started talking about Walt’s daughter Mary and the vises she used. I think we have got off of track of the issue of Rite Bobbin VS Bobbins and the problem that we have with different designs. I have not heard you say much about the rite bobbins in your posts. I said I use a cermag to spin hair with and have problems at times
with thread getting tangled in the tension devise when I am winding thread back on the spool. Other stated they had problem with spinning the Rite Bobbin when using split thread dubbing method. Anymore problems with the Rite Bobbins??
The Post started out by the complaint of cheep bobbins not working. I think they were knock offs of Matarelli"s?? I have yet to here a complaint about a real Matarelli.
In the future I think both you Bryon and I should stay on track. Going Fishing Fishin’ Jimmy
i have several ceramic Griffins in the pee -wee size and the Rite(not the newest one however) they are all great . However i like the way the Griffins fit in my hand, therefore get used the most. i use the Rite for the 12-17/0 stuff. your milage will vary.
I use tools that work for me and they are just that ,tools.
Hi Byron, as that was obviously directed at me I will respond. I have tied with a Rite bobbin, and found nothing which would justify it for me. Yes, it’s “only” $30 or so. I tie a lot of flies, of all types, and have not found a need to use anything but but various “wishbone” style bobbins. I have a few standard bobbins with ceramic tubes which I’ve had for a long time, I don’t know how long, over 20 years. The adjustable tension just isn’t a factor to me- as explained in my previous post I have infinitely adjustable tension already. I tied with a Norlander bobbin too. Just didn’t like it. The auto-rewind didn’t solve anything for me, in fact I didn’t even know there was a “problem” for that feature to solve. I don’t have any desire to spend money just to try the JVise bobbin. Just from the pictures I can tell I don’t like it. I just don’t like it.
It’s also quite obvious from your posts that your financial wherewithal is on a totally different level than mine, so congratulations on that. The point you seem to miss is: I work very hard for every dollar I spend, so cost versus function is ALWAYS a matter of concern. I’m not alone in that regard. A good ceramic standard bobbin costs $15 and lasts forever. Most people do in fact pay attention to how expensive things are…
Yes the expensive bobbins are all very nice. Great. So are $800 rods, $700 reels, $400 waders, $5000 rifles, $10000 shotguns, and $100000 cars. None of those things will be part of my life… even if I win the lottery. I won’t catch any more fish, kill any more game, or drive any better with those than with the tools I use now. I don’t buy junk, but I don’t waste money on options which do nothing for me.
Jsx,
Not meant for you, in particular. I just never understood how folks can judge the effectiveness, or efficiency, or appreciation of use for a certain tool without having used one. Particularly if the tool is praised by those who use it and gave up a commonly accepted tool in favor of the new one. It would be one thing to decide not to get one for oneself, but to bother to express negative thoughts about it without even trying it is what I was getting at.
I hope I didn’t upset you. Did not mean to upset anyone.
