DIY Fly Tying Vise

DIY Fly Tying Vise

14 Feb, 2019

We, as fly tyers, obsess over many things, from our favorite hooks to whether wax is worth it. But the one thing that gets us drooling - or cursing - is our main tool, the tying vise. 

There are many different vise choices, from the sublime to the ridiculous..., and just as many users ready to extol the virtues of their pet design. 

One can spend as much money as he or she wants to purchase one, too, but we seem to gravitate towards those vises in the $100-$500 range.

- For those who buy at the top end, there is a boisterous testimony to the joys of owning a high quality tool that may last a lifetime.

- For those at the lower end, there is the pedestrian joy found in utility, and fulfilling a need without excess.... using a tool that may last a lifetime.

But what if you spent nearly nothing and, in fact, made your own fly tying vise?

Well, people used to do just that. 

We think nothing of dropping the equivalent of a car payment on a vise, but we live in affluent times.
In years past, your grand-dad or his fishing buddies, well, they may not have had money for such luxury items as tying vises. 

But they still wanted, and perhaps, needed one.
So they learned to make their own.

Here, from 1946, are instructions to make your own functional vise, from common materials. It requires only basic shop skills and simple metal working tools.

Will it impress the folks on the Facebook fly tying pages?

Sure, a few. 

Probably not the ones with $500 vises.... or those who think they need one to tie flies.

But when you think about the function of a vise - to hold a hook - you might find it is just what you need.

1. OBTAIN a 14-inch length of brake-rod from a Model A Ford.

Square the ends with a file and with a hack-saw cut a 1 3/4” slot exactly in the center of rod on one end. This is the hardest to do, and most important part of the job, so take your time and be careful to get the slot straight.

* If you're thinking its gonna be mighty hard to find a Model A brake rods laying around these days, you're right.

But a 5/16" mild alloy rod should do the trick.

2. After slot is sawed, use an ignition point file, to file the outer half inch of slot smooth. This, too, is important as this is the part that holds the shank of the hook firmly.

3. Now, put a thin metal shim in the slot to hold the slotted parts in the original position, measure back from slotted end 3/4” of an inch and center punch.

4. Using a No. 21 drill, drill a hole all the way through the rod.

Now be careful again and using a No. 13 drill, drill through just one part of your slotted end. Using the thin metal strip as a check, you won't have any trouble.

5. Now, use a 10/32 tap and thread the small hole for your vise handle.

6. Get a 10/32 machine screw, 2 3/4” long (iron) from any hardware store. The type of head means nothing as it will be cut off; also get a couple of extra 10/32 nuts.

7. Take the screw and make a right angle bend 3/4” inch from the threaded end, taking care not to damage threads. Now cut off head of bolt and round cut end with file; run the two nuts on bolt about 1/2 inch and jam tightly. 

Screw this in the threaded hole and you have your vise handle.

8. Measure four inches from the slotted end of rod, mark, and place in vise. Bend to a right angle, making sure that the slot will be in perfect line with the rest of the rod and that the vise handle will be on side facing you.

9. Cut a 5/16 inch thread, 1 3/4” inches long, on solid end of rod and get two 5/16 in. nuts and washers.

10. Obtain a hard wood block 1 3/4” wide, 4 3/4 in. long and ¾ - 1” in. thick.

11. One inch from end of block, on center line, drill a 3/4” hole 1/2” deep.

12. Drill the rest of the way through the block with a 5/16 in. drill. Using washers and nuts mount vise on block and with the addition of a small C-clamp, your vise is ready for table edge mounting.

While this is not a high grade manufactured vise, it does a good job for the average fly-tyer or beginner. It also makes a good back up tool, and is especially good for tying the simple rubber spiders, crickets, nymphs and other flies so popular now.

— Courtesy of Ohio Conservationist.