-
Thanks for all of the good advice.
I'm going to try out flattening with the vise .
I will also try Mr T's suggestion of flattening from the point. I have always come in from the side. Changing the orientation of the clamping may just be the ticket no matter which tool is used.
-
This is something that I've been wondering about for awhile as well.
In my experience the barb breaking off instead of "rolling over" seems to happen with certain hooks - Alec Jackson steelhead irons or TMC 7999 salmon hooks for example. With most "trout hooks" (tiemco 2487 etc.) this rarely happens.
I'm guessing it's something to do with the steel used. The steel used for most steelhead/salmon hooks seems more brittle - it doesn't bend as much, it breaks.
I've found that when pinching the barb on these hooks that with using as little pressure as possible you can get the barb to roll and not break.
-
Some years ago (~40?) when folks started pinching the barbs down on factory flies, then tied mostly on Mustad hooks, the entire point of the hook might brake off and the people were not happy. This was due to the size of the barbs and the temper of the Mustad hooks.
Along came Tiemco hooks from Japan that were much sharper and had smaller barbs.......
Japanese hooks took over the market rapidly.
Randall Kaufmann wrote 2 books on fly tying and used Tiemco hooks which put them on the map instantly.
I lived through all the changes in fly fishing over the past 50+ years.....
.