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View Full Version : Buying a New Vise



Matt Frey
04-25-2006, 10:04 AM
I am in the market for a new vise and I was hoping for a few suggestions. I dont live in Sacramento anymore so I can't just drop into Kiene's and talk to the staff there. So, I figured posting here was the next best thing. I have noticed that there appears to be a few different styles for a vise. Some have "bent" arm connecting the main part of the vise to the jaws. An example of this is the Renzetti Traveler or the Dyna King Barracuda Junior Trekker. Others, such as the Dyna King Prince seem to have a "straight" arm connecting the jaws to the rest of the vise. My question is what is the difference? What are the pro's and con's for each? Any other suggestions on features I should consider or vises I should look at would be greatly appreciated. I am looking at spending about $200 on a vise. Also, I will be using this vise to primarily tie trout flies. I have posted a few pics below to illustrate the differences because I am sure that my terminology is wrong.
Thanks,
Matt

Renzetti Traveler
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i94/mattpfrey/vise010.jpg

Dyna King Barracuda Junior Trekker
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i94/mattpfrey/i317474sq02.jpg

Dyna King Prince
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i94/mattpfrey/dn-prince.jpg

Hairstacker
04-25-2006, 10:35 AM
Matt, let me see if I can help clarify this a little. Some vises hold the hook in a fixed position, not allowing you to rotate the hook to view the under-side or backside of the fly. These are always “straight” arm vises. However, most of your better “straight” arm vises being sold today by the better manufacturers allow you to rotate the hook while it is clamped in the jaws. Having said that, the hook will not maintain a horizontal orientation on such a vise. Mind you, you can still view all the sides of the fly, as well as apply head cement to the underside of the head, if you choose to do so, but the fly shank will definitely not be parallel to the ground once it’s rotated. That is the advantage of the “bent” arm vises – with these, the hook retains it’s horizontal orientation, which is why these are often referred to as “true rotary” style vises. By enabling the hook to retain its horizontal orientation as it’s rotated, it opens up a host of flytying techniques not possible on a “straight” arm vise. For example, you can wrap thread, floss, chenille, or apply dubbing, etc., simply by rotating the vise jaws. Since you’re able to see all sides of the hook as these items are being applied, many feel this greatly aids the accuracy with which these things can be applied around the hook. Many, though, still prefer "straight" arm vises, because this is what they started their fly tying careers with and they’ve grown accustomed to being able to lay their left hand on the top of the vise while holding materials being tied in, which many feel is more comfortable and natural on a “straight” arm vise. Ultimately, it comes down to personal preference, just as some prefer an automatic transmission in a car, while others prefer manual transmissions.

Asides from styles of vise, other things to carefully consider are whether to use a “clamp” style vise or a “pedestal,” degree of access to the rear and underside of the hook while it's clamped in the jaws, ease and speed of adjustment when swapping hooks or changing hook sizes (there are quite a few different mechanisms out there for making adjustments), hook-holding ability (which is the most important in my mind), quality of construction and durability, jaw style (some are smooth, others have grooves, etc.), option to substitute other jaw sets (for much larger or much smaller hooks), tendency of the vise to retain settings you have made, appearance (some just look butt ugly), and warranty.

In your search, I recommend you check out a vise review article on www.flyfisherman.com, where they examined most of the vises on the market in one big shootout, as well as the vise poll on
www.flytyingforum.com, where many, many owners have chimed in about what they use and why they love/hate it. Doesn’t hurt to do a google search on “fly tying vise” to pick up other discussion threads as well, but I caution you that many vise owners tend to promote the vise they are currently using, whether or not it’s best for YOU. Kind of like a discussion of cars or motorcycles, there’s a lot of brand loyalty and prejudices out there, so you need to be mindful of it. Hope this helps. For $200 you have a lot of options, hope you have fun in your search, good luck!

Jay Murakoshi
04-25-2006, 12:52 PM
Hey Matt,

After years of tying commerically, I have gone through and used many different vises. As I speak today, I'm using two different vises for all my commerical tying. The first one is the Renzetti vise. I selected the Renzetti Master Vise and my other vise is the Nor-Vise. The later vise is really not discussed alot because alot of tyers don't use it. I started using the vise 1 1/2 years ago and it helped speed up my tying. This is a full rotating vise with a straight set of jaws. It can hold a size 30 hook all the way up to a 10/0 hook. I like it because of the full rotating jaws. I started tying smaller flies for my carp fishing, blue gill/crappie fishing and can tie a fly in one step. That's adding the dubbing material along with the hackle - spinning it on the thread and then spinning the jaws and wrapping the material onto the hook shank. You have to see it to understand what I just said. My Renzetti Master vise also gets it's fair share of use also. I travel with that vise because of the compactness and carrying bag. Both of my vises have the extension arms so I can tie down low. Now the draw back to most vises on the market..... When you go to wrap material or hackle, you have the thread in the way of the hands but if you have the thread holder you can eliminate that but now you have 8" of thread to rewrap on to the spool. Now this is where the Norbobbin comes in handy. It has a clutch and spring loaded so it rewinds back on to the spool.
This was not an advertisment but just a comment from someone who has used most every vise on the market and have tied commerically for 33 years and does on an average of 1,800 to 2,000 dozen flies a year

Jay

Jay Murakoshi
04-25-2006, 12:55 PM
Renzetti Traveler is a great vise to have on hand.

Jay

Bill Kiene semi-retired
04-25-2006, 08:17 PM
The Barracuda Junior Trekker @ $219 is very popular and is a very good value.

Adam Grace
04-26-2006, 11:12 AM
I love my Dyna-King Baracuda vise! True rotary vises are great, I'll never go back to a traditional fixed vise.

Renzetta vises are nice except for the stupid nuts that control the tension for the shaft that connects to the jaws. The tightening and loosening of those nuts drive me crazy but their jaws are very nice. The Dyna-King is easier IMHO.

I recommend the true rotary Dyna-King 'cuda trekker vise.

PatrickM
04-26-2006, 12:37 PM
Matt,
I got the Renzetti Traveler about six months ago. It works great for the tying that I do, and seems like a good deal at the price they're going for.
I don't know nearly as much about vises as some of the other guys who have posted, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. :D