Letting Go of Vices and Vises: Part 2

John Geer tying a fly sans vise - photo from John Geer taken by Daniel Galhardo
John Geer tying a fly sans vise - photo from John Geer taken by Daniel Galhardo
John Geer tying a fly sans vise – photo from John Geer taken by Daniel Galhardo

In Letting Go of Vices and Vises: Part 1 I introduced the topic of “no-vise” fly tying for tenkara flies and presented Matthew Shipp’s (www.tenkarawi.blogspot.com ) ideas on the technique. Now in Part 2, I’m presenting John Geer’s thoughts. Read them carefully – as with Matthew’s comments, there are some crucial and handy ideas in there:

John Geer:

As far as thoughts on tying in hand, I just really love it. It seems to go with tenkara for me. I think the simple pleasure of working with your hands that all fly tiers get is magnified. I recommend tiers prep as many of the materials as they can before taking hook in hand. Also, learn not to constantly put a death pinch on the hook; rest your hands when you’re not actually making wraps. It’s also easier for me to move my hand up and down the hook as needed, not just stay clamped in one place like you would with a vice. The further your grip is from the thread you’re wrapping the more leverage you’ve lost. Use heavy thread like sewing thread and your life will be much easier, plus I just like the ropey rustic look it gives the flies. I use some sort of superglue to hold the course thread together, and usually glue several flies at once, sticking them in a paper or foam coffee cup. I guess that’s sort of cheating and using a vice. :)

 

John's no-vise set up
John’s no-vise set up

3 Comments

    • That’s Mr. John Geer – and yes that’s seeing thread. Like John says and like I found out by trial and error, using sewing thread can make the hand-tying much easier – especially if you’re doing thread body flies. Because the sewing thread is larger diameter than typical tying thread, it creates the body with many fewer wraps than tying thread. And that counts when you’re doing it by hand.

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