There is an upcoming auction for Gordon’s vise. You can see a few photos of it at the link below.
Now, here is my question: I think Mary Dette used a vise like this. It was my belief that these vises were “jewerlers’ vises”.
Anyone have good info on the origin of the vises?
Based on photos in Eric Leiser’s book: THE DETTES; she did indeed tie on a modified version of this vise. Just below the top of the vise and on the front side, at least, it had a large area filed out to provide a nice long and deep ‘presumed’ thumb rest for her left hand, and providing a nice small tip to the vise. There are no photos in the book of the backside of the jaws. To quote from page 152: “Winnie’s[vise] is a Tisssot, a watchmaker’s vise…”. It goes on to say that “Walt’s is even an earlier model…”. Mary uses a conventional vise.
aged
That is what I was relying upon - the photos in Eric’s book. Mary now uses a Dyna King as I have seen photos of her tying on one.
One would think that there would be lots of those old vises stuck away in some store somewhere. Would be an interesting thing to have. Again, not sure, but I believe they were jewelers’ vises.
Would like to find a stash of them. Would make a nice traveling vise, I think.
Here’s an interesting assortment of vises:
http://www.tackletreasures.com/fly-tying-vises
You could perhaps email that website owner for more information (email is shown on bottom of page).
John
Byron…
Did you miss my direct quote in my post? If so, let me repeat: "To quote from page 152: ‘“Winnie’s [vise] is a Tissot, a watchmaker’s vise…”’. The book goes o to say that Mary does currently (at the time of publication) use a Dyna King.
Cheers!
Frank
Hi Frank,
Thanks for the clarification. I’ve been searching for the type of vise Winnie used for quite some time now. In my searches, when I do such a search, the results often come back using “watchmaker” and “jeweler” vises interchangeably. Will be more careful going forward. Thanks again.
I have a couple of the sliding ring hand vises used by jewelers and watchmakers. They do not hold the hook very well. The other popular jewelers or watchmakers vise had a thumbscrew or a wing nut. These work much better. I am especially fond of the Eclipse vise made in Shefield England. A few early fly vise makers incorporated Eclipse vises in their fly vises. I plan to publish a book within the next six months on vises. If interested PM me and I will send you a note when the book is available.
Ed
I think this is a case for DNA