Tying Vice Advice

[Hookem Hank]

I am wanting to get into making my own feathered trebles and possibly jigs. Can anyone direct me into a good economical direction. I don't want to spend allot of money and am highly aware that you get what you pay for but I am not willing to invest a whole lot of money on something when first beginning. Any advice is welcomed and appreciated! 

[buzzed bait]

i got the $15 or $16 economy unit from amazon and it's worked well thus far for tying some jigs

[CJ]

I wore a $40 vice out in about 75 jigs when I first started. Now I have a Griffin Mongoose and I love it. It's in the $180 price range. The Griffin Spider, I think it's called, is cheaper and I've heard great reviews on it but still around $120 I think. I just love a vise that has a cam lock. The ones that have a screw locking system, just won't hold up to tying bigger jigs. The screws strip out. There's probably some cheaper ones out there and if you are tying smaller jigs or just not many, you can get away with the cheaper ones. I would recommend getting a rotary vise though.

[Scott F]

The Regal Inex vise has a spring loaded head that grabs any size hook and holds on strong. I used to fly fish and tied my own flies but only use this vise for feathered trebles and jigs. Runs $150 and will last forever.

[kickerfish1]

I bought the travel vice from Cabelas. It costs about $70 but perhaps you could catch it on sale or find some kind of coupon to use. Most vices require you to use a clamp to set them up on the ledge of a table. With the Cabelas travel vice it comes with a stand on it so you can set it anywhere on a flat surface and you are all set to tie. I have probably done about 300 jigs with mine maybe more and it is still working just fine. If you prefer the clamp style it has the assembly pieces to be able to put it on the edge and clamp it down like a traditional vise.

Here is a link to the vice. May be worth a look. I haven't used a more expensive vice so if you want something above $100 I would take a look at some of the options others have suggested.

http://www.cabelas.com/product/fishing/fly-fishing/fly-tying/tools-vises%7C/pc/104793480/c/104721480/sc/104340780/i/103884480/ez-travel-vise/1514840.uts?destination=%2Fcategory%2FTools-Vises%2F103884480.uts

[CJ]

Another thing to take into consideration is what size hooks a vise will hold.

[Hookem Hank]

10 hours ago, CJ said:

Another thing to take into consideration is what size hooks a vise will hold.

CJ- Thanks buddy, this is something I was not aware of and I appreciate you bringing it to my attention.

Guys this is why I joined Bass Resource! I appreciate the shared knowledge and advice. You all have given me things to consider and variables I had not even thought about. Thanks again!

[buzzed bait]

good point on hook size, the cheap one i bought was rated for hooks up to 5/0 or 6/0 so big enough for the hooks on my jigs.

[smalljaw67]

4 hours ago, buzzed bait said:

good point on hook size, the cheap one i bought was rated for hooks up to 5/0 or 6/0 so big enough for the hooks on my jigs.

Where did you find a $16 dollar vise that is rated for 5/0 and 6/0 hooks? I'd love to get one!!! I have a Griffin Odyssey spider vise, I have a tumb screw jaw set and it will not wear out with oversize hooks, it isn't designed that way. The Spider is rated up to 4/0 hooks but I've done 5/0 and 6/0 but not a lot nor do I do them all the time. If you don't want to invest a lot of money you can try to find the cheap vise rated for large hooks, I tried for years and could never find a 2A vise rated more than a 4/0 and most under $50 are rated for a 2/0 hook. The Odyssey Spider can now be purchased with cam lock jaws for a few dollars more, it comes with a C-Clamp but you can buy a pedestal if you'd like since they are all on a standard 3/8" diameter rod. The Anvil Apex is like $100 and will hold 7/0 hooks down to a 32 and is of good quality, but here is the deal, rotary vises are nice to work with and make learning easy but you don't have to have one, I've been tying jigs for more than 20 years, the last 12 years I've been tying steady and for a long time I used a cheap 2A vise, this was mainly for feathered trebles and small hair jigs for smallmouths. When I was doing large bass jigs I'd wire tie, and my system doesn't require a vise for that but when I would thread tie a large bass jig on the 2A vise, it would slip and I finally broke it. I tied approximately 30 jigs with a 5/0 hook for me $22 vise rated for a 4/0 hook to break, my current Odyssey Spider, with thumb screw jaws I got for $85 has had more than a thousand jigs with 5/0 and some 6/0 hooks and it still does a great job but I do mostly jigs with a size 2 hook up to a 3/0 75% of the time so my vise works for me. So, decide how much you want to invest but if Buzzed Bait shows us that vise, I'd say get that one, because I too want one so I don't have to use my good vise for large jigs.

[buzzed bait]

12 minutes ago, smalljaw67 said:

Where did you find a $16 dollar vise that is rated for 5/0 and 6/0 hooks? I'd love to get one!!! I have a Griffin Odyssey spider vise, I have a tumb screw jaw set and it will not wear out with oversize hooks, it isn't designed that way. The Spider is rated up to 4/0 hooks but I've done 5/0 and 6/0 but not a lot nor do I do them all the time. If you don't want to invest a lot of money you can try to find the cheap vise rated for large hooks, I tried for years and could never find a 2A vise rated more than a 4/0 and most under $50 are rated for a 2/0 hook. The Odyssey Spider can now be purchased with cam lock jaws for a few dollars more, it comes with a C-Clamp but you can buy a pedestal if you'd like since they are all on a standard 3/8" diameter rod. The Anvil Apex is like $100 and will hold 7/0 hooks down to a 32 and is of good quality, but here is the deal, rotary vises are nice to work with and make learning easy but you don't have to have one, I've been tying jigs for more than 20 years, the last 12 years I've been tying steady and for a long time I used a cheap 2A vise, this was mainly for feathered trebles and small hair jigs for smallmouths. When I was doing large bass jigs I'd wire tie, and my system doesn't require a vise for that but when I would thread tie a large bass jig on the 2A vise, it would slip and I finally broke it. I tied approximately 30 jigs with a 5/0 hook for me $22 vise rated for a 4/0 hook to break, my current Odyssey Spider, with thumb screw jaws I got for $85 has had more than a thousand jigs with 5/0 and some 6/0 hooks and it still does a great job but I do mostly jigs with a size 2 hook up to a 3/0 75% of the time so my vise works for me. So, decide how much you want to invest but if Buzzed Bait shows us that vise, I'd say get that one, because I too want one so I don't have to use my good vise for large jigs.

 

this is the one i'm talking about and it's actually $20 with shipping included:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009SANF50?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00

i honestly can't say what size hooks i'm using on these jig heads though, perhaps Ted @cadman can answer that part since he was the source.  it actually doesn't provide any hook rating on those specs there, but i'm thinking somewhere on it i saw it rated up to 5 or 6/0, but don't take my word for it!

i've only used it to tie about 30 or so jigs thus far though.  but i've moved it around 3 or 4 times now and it's continued to work fine.  for the "entry level" request you were after i would think this would do you just fine.  if you decide you really want to get into it, then you could definitely upgrade to a much nicer unit.

and dan, watching your videos makes me a little jealous of the rotary just because of how easy you make it look!

 

[smalljaw67]

16 hours ago, buzzed bait said:

 

this is the one i'm talking about and it's actually $20 with shipping included:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009SANF50?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00

i honestly can't say what size hooks i'm using on these jig heads though, perhaps Ted @cadman can answer that part since he was the source.  it actually doesn't provide any hook rating on those specs there, but i'm thinking somewhere on it i saw it rated up to 5 or 6/0, but don't take my word for it!

i've only used it to tie about 30 or so jigs thus far though.  but i've moved it around 3 or 4 times now and it's continued to work fine.  for the "entry level" request you were after i would think this would do you just fine.  if you decide you really want to get into it, then you could definitely upgrade to a much nicer unit.

and dan, watching your videos makes me a little jealous of the rotary just because of how easy you make it look!

 

If you read the reviews of that vise, it barely holds a 3/0 hook. This is typical of most 2A vises and while you probably tied 5/0 or 6/0 hooks in your vise, it doesn't mean it is rated for it and there is a difference. I'm sure that if I tied nothing but 6/0 hooks in my vise that I'd wear the jaws out in no time flat and my vise is a lifetime warranty, so how many 5/0 hooks can you get from a standard $20 2A vise rated for size 28 up to 2/0? I don't know but I bet it is on the south side of 100, what happens with those vises is the pressure eventually weakens the threads that lock the jaws and before you know it the threads fail and the vise goes in the garbage. I mean no offense but there is a big difference between tying jigs with 6/0 hooks in your vise, and what your vise is actually rated for and the reason I asked you about it is because I've searched for years for an inexpensive 2A vise that holds heavy hooks and I never found one under $80 and that is why I was so intrigued by your $16 dollar vise that was rated for 6/0 hooks. There may be one other there, I'm not sure but I never was able to find it so if it was me, I'd say to the OP, you can use one of these vises and it will probably hold heavy hooks for a few jigs but it is hard to say how well it will hold them and for how long it will work. When recommend something the someone is going to spend hard earned money on, I try to have all the facts to allow the person to make an informed decision, I understand what you were doing and I commend you for being helpful but that vise isn't rated for large hooks and that statement was very confident, confident to the point of me getting out my credit card to buy one and instead it was the same thing I've come across. BTW, Cadman is a good friend of mine, I know him longer than 10 or 12 years and just spoke with him on the phone just a day ago, if he tells you your jigs are made with a 5/0 hook, you can take it to the bank so you are correct that you tied 5/0 hooks in your vise.

[buzzed bait]

1 hour ago, smalljaw67 said:

If you read the reviews of that vise, it barely holds a 3/0 hook. This is typical of most 2A vises and while you probably tied 5/0 or 6/0 hooks in your vise, it doesn't mean it is rated for it and there is a difference. I'm sure that if I tied nothing but 6/0 hooks in my vise that I'd wear the jaws out in no time flat and my vise is a lifetime warranty, so how many 5/0 hooks can you get from a standard $20 2A vise rated for size 28 up to 2/0? I don't know but I bet it is on the south side of 100, what happens with those vises is the pressure eventually weakens the threads that lock the jaws and before you know it the threads fail and the vise goes in the garbage. I mean no offense but there is a big difference between tying jigs with 6/0 hooks in your vise, and what your vise is actually rated for and the reason I asked you about it is because I've searched for years for an inexpensive 2A vise that holds heavy hooks and I never found one under $80 and that is why I was so intrigued by your $16 dollar vise that was rated for 6/0 hooks. There may be one other there, I'm not sure but I never was able to find it so if it was me, I'd say to the OP, you can use one of these vises and it will probably hold heavy hooks for a few jigs but it is hard to say how well it will hold them and for how long it will work. When recommend something the someone is going to spend hard earned money on, I try to have all the facts to allow the person to make an informed decision, I understand what you were doing and I commend you for being helpful but that vise isn't rated for large hooks and that statement was very confident, confident to the point of me getting out my credit card to buy one and instead it was the same thing I've come across. BTW, Cadman is a good friend of mine, I know him longer than 10 or 12 years and just spoke with him on the phone just a day ago, if he tells you your jigs are made with a 5/0 hook, you can take it to the bank so you are correct that you tied 5/0 hooks in your vise.

i take zero offense and wouldn't want to mislead anyone.  but i still think what i pointed out is more or less exactly what he asked for especially given that he noted "you get what you pay for" in the OP.  

i have no doubt in my mind that your experience will likely prove true and i will at some point probably break the vise.  good part there is that i already feel the vise helped me get over that learning curve and could easily wire tie my silicone jigs without a vise for the rest of my time.

again, wouldn't want to mislead the guy either, but $20 to see if you like it vs $85 minimum on a good vise, to still see if you like it.

[Jaw1]

I use a dynaking for most of my tying and it's great but not cheap. That being said if you buy quality up front you will save money in the long run and if you decide it's not for you then it's easier to sell and recoupe some of your money

[Darkman]

I use an Anvil that cost me about $100 at BPS, it is a rotary and holds up to 5/0 (probably one or two sizes bigger)

I love this vice to no end, there is not a better vice on the market in the $100 range, I am in no way an expert

and use it sole to tie jigs and feather trebles I use it for sizes #4- 5/0 hooks, save up and get a rotary it is worth the extra

cash, I own a few cheap AA vices and they work great but having one that spins makes things 100% easier

[FluffChucker]

I may be joining this party late, but thought I'd throw out one more option for you to consider. The Peak Rotary. The only reason I throw that one out for your consideration (and I have absolutely no affiliation with them, just FYI) is that they have pretty economical replacement jaws. You can swap out the standard jaws for a saltwater or big game jaw that will hold even larger hooks (up to 10/0 if I am remembering correctly).

I know a few guys that have been tying on them for years, and absolutely love them. I tied flies commercially for a few years and have always been a Renzetti guy. But they're generally a bit more money, and not quite as flexible as I think that the Peak is. If you see yourself tying on larger hooks, then I'd do a bit of research on the Peak just to make sure you've covered your bases.