After reading posts from many people here, on the subject of vise in various threads, I’m certain there are opinions on nearly every brand of vise on the market.
How about sharing the pro’s and con’s from the tyers point of view on what you have tied on and why, or why not, you like or dislike any particular vise. Features that you like or prefer etc. or if you just like the looks of it.
I started on the vise from a Cabelas Standard kit and after a year or so, upgraded to a “$25 Deluxe Master Vise” from Jann’s. It worked fine for several years until I had time to see what was out there. Then I got a chance to get a new Griffen Montana Mongoose for $110. (retailed at $175 at the time, now $199). The Mongoose is true rotational, fully adjustable, came with pedestal & c-clamp bases, adjustable material spring, bobbin hanger and post extender (for c-clamp), and even came with a hackle gauge and ceramic bobbin. I’m not saying it’s the best, but after three years, I’ve tied #18 to 3/0 flies with no problems. The range is #28 to 4/0. For the now $200 range I’m sure there are others on the market that rival this.
The Blackfoot Mongoose is the same vise with only the c-clamp base and current retail in the $145 range.
The Nor Vise is cool in the way it spins on bearings, and the demo I saw, you could bend the hook in half and it didn’t slip. This trick is irrelevant, in the fact that even Kevlar thread will break before it bends the hook down that far, or it will slice your finger open after shearing off any material with that much pressure. That’s IF your bobbin is till in one piece. As long as the vise holds the hook past the breaking point of 3/0 thread (the heaviest thread 99% will ever tie with) is all the pressure you need anything else is good for what? To show your vise can hold a hook while you bend it in half?
I’ve got a no-name vise from Hook & Hackle that I use for almost all my saltwater work in Louisiana. Big jaws and you can crank it down really tight. For that work it’s a great vise and was about $30.
I have a pair of Travelers. The one in Louisiana is rarely used because of the pair of Crown vises there. The Traveler in Florida is used all the time because it is the only one there. I have no complaints about Traveler vises whatsoever, I just find the Crown to be faster.
The Crown comes from flyfishtools.com and is a Regal knock-off. The problem with these vises are that some can be VERY hard to open. The spring closure can be so tight it’s a fight to squeeze it. The other downside is that you can’t use a hook larger than about a 1/0… if that. So it’s not a saltwater vise at all. That being said, I’ve probably tied thousands of flies on my oldest Crown and use it daily. The Louisiana Traveler sits in the corner of my desk like a bad child, not because it did anything wrong, but because I never have to adjust the Crown. Squeeze and go.
Of course the Traveler is a true rotational vise and rotates much better – as in easier – if you want that sort of action.
i started out with a no name stationary vise the instructor had us buy for the class he was teaching
i then graduated to a regal vise, which was OK.
then when renzetti came on the market, i bought their traveler (less than $100) cuz i thought that the true rotary function was really cool. having tied on that original traveler for almost 20 years, i find that i use the rotary function less and less (i know what the other side of the fly looks like) and tie with it in the stationary mode. i did change out the original tying head from the tightening screws to the cam lever. i also have 2 different length stems. 1 for a c-clamp anf the other for a pedestal.
Like many others, I started on a no-name $15 dollar vise because I wasn’t sure I’d really want to get too deep into tying. After about a year, I upgraded to a Regal which I really liked but I wanted a rotary vise. I bought a Dynaking Baracuda and it was a very nice vise. Then someone wanted to swap a NorVise for my Regal and some cash. I took the plunge because the NorVise looked interesting. That was all she wrote. Once I tried the NorVise, the Baracuda started gathering dust. It sat in the corner of my bench for about 8 months when someone posted that they were looking for a good used DynaKing Baracuda and I sold it. I find the NorVise to be the best vise I’ve ever used (I’ve tried others with friends etc.) and I don’t believe I’d swap it for any other vise on the market, including a LAW vise:)
Well, first off, I’ve got a Barracuda and like it just fine. If I tied in a rotary manner I might find a lot to love about the NorVise, but I have no interest at all in doing so, ever. It always seemed more like a sewing machine or lathe and less like a vise to me, but then again, I have no real experience with it so I’m not being fair.
I’ve used a LAW, and if I just had more money…yeah, I really loved it. It to me is ergonomically perfect. It rotates in ways others don’t. It’s comfortable. It has great clearance. Love at first site really.
I’ve used the Dynaking Kingfisher and have been threatening to buy one for a couple of years now. A great simple vise.
I’ve used Regals. Great. Renzettis, terrific.
I’ve used the Thompson A. There were things I didn’t love about the Thompson A, but it will hold a hook.
I don’t think you can go too far wrong with any of the “name brand” vises, NOR, Dynaking, HMH, LAW, Regal, Renzetti, etc. Yes, they can get expensive but you get an awful lot for your money. My Baracudda is a tank. My first vise when I got back into tying was a Griffin something or other, kind of fiddly but again, a real tank. I still use it for a second vise at times.
I’m not wild about knock-offs, I’d rather spend a little more on something substantial. But each to his own. We could talk about vises for hours, and generally do.
Eric
I’ve reentered fly tying after most of my life away from it (since I was a kid).
I’m a fairly quick study in that when I see something that agrees with my sense for how a machine should work, I’ll invest in it.
First, I had to see if the urge to tye was worth the pursuit. It was.
I bought Cabelas starter set with the “Pro” vise. It works fine, after I ran it through my shop and slicked it up on one of my lathes. But still, it was made in Pakistan, or India, or some such crap hole of the world.
It served the purpose to find out if I would once again enjoy fly tying.
In a couple of weeks of tying, I knew I wanted to go rotary, it just made sense to have the option of rotary with stationary. In that sense, I do enjoy progression in machines to help accomplish things. After all, we are on the Internet.
I read of some skirmishes with Nor-vise users elsewhere and wondered enough to do the research into the Nor-vise, as well as many other rotary vises.
Nor-vise was the only one that appealed to my mechanical thinking. If one is going to do rotary tying, that vise has to be able to spin if need be, not just turn around. And the vise has to handle the range the owner of it wants to tye. That was a small quandry for me, would the standard jaws do what I wanted to do?
Well, you ever seen a #28 hook? I tye them on the standard jaws. Mosquitoes. As well as my desired range down to a number 10, which is as large a hook as I use.
Oh, I’ve tyed some really big ocean sized hooks for hat pin gifts, with a safety pin on them. But I don’t count those as fly tying.
I’ve bent several hooks while tying them in my vise. Then fixed them and tyed on to finish the fly.
But when building a body shape with 14/0 thread, that rotary spin comes in right handy as a pocket on a shirt.
I don’t need to try a bunch of vise’s, just like I don’t need a room full of fly rods. (I have 3 boo fly rods, 2 reels, and 2 tying vises, one a beginners vise, and the Nor-vise.)
I just have to be happy and able to do what I want to with what I choose to use. :mrgreen:
BTW, about any vise around can be adjusted to bend hooks, or not. It depends on what the user does adjusting it.
So it boils down to equipment that does what YOU want it to do. How much YOU have to bang your head on the wall, buy and sell, or cuss and snort, kinda is your plot to get where you want to be.
I started on a god knows who vise and tied on it for about 1 year when it finally gave out. I was happy with it cause my son gve it to me in a tyeing kit for x-mas. That year (2003) my buddy gave me a nor-vise. I have been tying on it for 6 years. I have tied from size 20 upto size 1/0. I think that a little more room behind the jaws would be nice but that is about it. I use the rotery technic a lot when tying. For the money this is the vise I will use till I quit tying.
I am new to the tying fraternity, tying my first fly just eight months ago. Like others mentioned I started with a kit from Cabellas that included a Master Vise which I really like. After reading about rotary vises, I was visiting a Cabellas store in my area of PA and saw a DanVise that is rotary and sold for 80.00. In a moment of weakness, I bought it and I must say I truly enjoy it; it works well. I suscribed to an online source “Mike Holt’s Maine Rotary Tying Techniques” which I have found very helpful. So, I must admit that the rotary tying techniques have been challenging and compelling for me. I understand and appreciate the fact that each fly fisher will have their own preferences for the vise they choose, but I am glad I made the move at this stage of my tying life. I want to hone my tying skills, but above all I want to catch fish and enjoy being out on the water.
in my experience with different vices each of them has disadvantages as well as advantages over another… all a vise is supposed to do is hold a hook and do it well without letting the hook slip up or down or even worse, let the hook pop out when your just about to finish a fly… ive had several vices as i went along, some worse or better than others… i like the danvise myself but it could use a little more room behind the jaws for tying large flies… i made a slight modification to the cam arm which used to hang down under the jaws so that it is on top the jaws and folds up beside them to lock the hook in… that added better ballance to the rotary function also… i can tie flies ranging from 2/0 on down to 30 with it…
I started tying several months ago on a $12.99 Cabela’s vise. It held a hook most of the time…that’s my only praise for it. I’ve recently been reading the Beginning Fly Tying section here at FAOL, and based on that I bought a Griffin 2A just a week ago, along with the Griffin pedestal base. It’s a fantastic vise…holds a hook very well and is easy to use/adjust. Knowing me, I’ll probably upgrade someday, but for now I’m very happy.
Danvise. It does what I need it to do. Bought it from Al and Gretchen. Also bought the book about how to tye with a rotary vise. I read it. I practiced the steps and I’m happy with it. Jim
I started tying on a Thompaon A and continued to use it until it quit working (it lasted a long, long time). I’ve been through several other vises sincee then, Regal, Renzetti and a couple I don’t remember. I finally got a vise I truely enjoy using. It’s a Snowbee-Waldron Vise. It’s a solid, precision tool designed by Lawrence Waldron, designer of the LAW Bench Vise. It is the last vise I’ll ever need.
Vickie has tied on a number of vises in her 10 years or so of tying. She, at present has a Renzetti Traveller, Nor-Vise with most of the different jaws, and her newest, a J-Vise from Wasatch Fly Tying Tools. The Renzetti gathers dust, the Nor-Vise gets used for tying spun deer hair and Atlantic Salmon flies, and the J-Vise is used for everything else.
I will continue to praise the Thompson vise I own. It does what I ask it to do, which is hold the hook while I tie the fly. So far, it has held every hook I have put in it. The jaws have never failed (I have three extra sets here just in case, picked up from a bargain bin somewhere), but the cam finally wore out on the first one after, oh, prolly twenty or thirty thousand flies all told. Not bad for whatever I paid for it back then (the new one ran me $29 plus tax). On a per-fly basis, less than one percent of what a hook runs me.
Face it, holding a hook steady is all you really NEED a vise to do. The rotation, the adjustable jaws, the bells and whistles might make things a bit easier for you, and give you something to feel proud of, but in the end, you need something to hold a hook.
As for the base, I carry around a plastic cutting board when I travel, and clamp the vise to that. Not a perfect solution, but I have yet to find a commercial base that is large enough and steady enough for my taste, and if I made one on my own, it would end up weighing forty pounds S.
And all that money I saved on fancy vises over the years? Who knows. Probably spent it on a waitress or three.
I have used an griffin oddessy spider rotational vice for years now. Have tyed flies from size 30 to 6 with no problems. Has worked great for me. Got if for $75. Find something that fits your style/$/comfort and you’ll be set.
There’s the really old Thompson with the big red knob, a few Thompson A’s including a Hank Roberts still in the plastic wrap & a Griffin thumbscrew model in the desk drawers. Have been tying on a Regal for about 20 years, but finally chipped the big hook groove on a bendback #2/0 hook & had chipped the tip of the jaws on some trout sized midges years ago. The first time I tried the Regal with the lever arm, wondered why I had fooled around spending so much time adjusting other vises just to hold a hook? The Nor-Vise was a possibilty years ago, but didn’t tie commercially & the spinning rotary feature just made less physical wraps on the hook by hand. Still tying on the Regal, but looking for another vise. The Mongoose looks interesting, but don’t know how it’s jaws clamp down. If it’s as easy & as good as the Regals mechanics, would make a great improvment; but haven’t seen one operate & as the fly tying habits go tend to tie maybe 4 # 3/0 tarpon size flys & then 4 # 12 cricket patterns & need jaws that don’t need constant attention. Some of the newer Renzetti’s look like they have this feature, the old ones don’t. Probably should have just purchased an Abel when they first came out to replace the others forever.
I started on a Herter’s many moons ago and ‘up graded’ to a Thompson A sometime in the mid '80s which I’ve used ever since.
The Thompson suits my needs just fine and I have no desire to change
My first vice was a peak and I liked it fine, although the jaws were difficult to open. I got a good price on a Swiss master vice and really like it. It is quick to adjust for different hooks, hold well and is easy to open. The vise is very well designed and has excellent quality in construction. In fact I like it a lot. freddyg
This thread brought back some great memories. Tying fliies in my buddy’s basement on eagle claw hooks held in his dad’s bench vise using pipe cleaners and mom sewing thread for materials. I guess you have to start somewhere.
My folks bought me a Universal ?rotary?vise somewhere back in the early 70’s
We lived in the next town over from the Universal factory. I still have it and it served me well from my teen years through to my 40’s.
But after 30 or so years it had served it’s owner well and was retired in favor of a Renzetti Traveler. A well built serviciable vice that meets all my needs. Perhaps a little small and a bit light-weight but it is a ?traveler?after all.
I have my eye on the Renzetti 2000 perhaps the one in the black finish. That falls into the want more than need category.
I’ve only been tying for about a year, so I’m sure that affects my perspective.
I started off in tying when, after showing some interest, a mentor of mine gave me a Sunrise vise. It served its purpose of being a good, inexpensive introduction to the art of tying, and I’d estimate that hundreds of flies were tied in the jaws of that vise, but it needed tweaking to adjust to different hook sizes and when I sterted tying dries on 2X fine wire hooks, it didnt seem to like holding them. After one too many near-completed flies slipped from the jaws, I started looking for a replacement. I settled on a Regal after noting that the guy that taught me uses one, and the guy that owns the local fly shop I frequent most often also uses one.
Got it set up and haven’t looked back. For the sizes I tie and the range of sizes I like to bounce between when I tie, I dont think it can be beat. Since making the switch, I’ve already put several hundred flies through the jaws, and not once have I had anything to complain about. It’s not a “true” rotary, but in all honesty, I’ve never encountered a situation where I wished I’d have had that feature. Usually, the only thing I need to rotate for is to check out the other side of a fly or to apply some Sally Hansen’s at the head. In both cases, the Regal’s rotation is all I need, possibly even better than the true rotary for applying the SH, as it flips the head up into a more accessible position.
Just my 2 cents…of course, with inflation, you all now owe me a nickel.
My first vice, um, I mean vise, was one that my father made for me that I used for a lot of years (I still have it and get it out when I need perspective on things). I then bought a real cheap vise that turned out to not be any better than the one dad made. When I got older and had a little disposable income I bought an HMH Spartan which I’ve used ever since and absolutely love. It’s well built, it’s not true rotary, but it turns enough that I can easily tie clousers and see what the back of the fly is looking like. That’s about all I need it to do. I bought the extra magnum jaw (which is super easy to change in and out) and between it and the standard jaw that came with the vise I’m good for anything from 22 (the smallest I tie) to 2/0 (the biggest I tie). It also travels really well which is important since I do a lot of classes, demos, etc.
Since making the switch, I’ve already put several hundred flies through the jaws, and not once have I had anything to complain about. It’s not a “true” rotary, but in all honesty, I’ve never encountered a situation where I wished I’d have had that feature. Usually, the only thing I need to rotate for is to check out the other side of a fly or to apply some Sally Hansen’s at the head. In both cases, the Regal’s rotation is all I need, possibly even better than the true rotary for applying the SH, as it flips the head up into a more accessible position.