The vise is the one of the key components of fly tying. You need a solid, reliable, and tough vise so you can turn out equal quality flies. Every person you talk to who ties has their own preferences and loyal to their vise brand. But as someone who has had the privilege to tie on multiple different types and brand from working in a fly shop, I know a thing or two about different vises. There are some features and some points to look for when choosing a vise.

The Money

Vises range from thirty bucks all the way up to over a thousand That breaks the consumer into two camps. the first camp doesn’t understand why or how someone could pay for a vise for that price. The other group of people don’t get why you would skimp on a vise and buy one for under a hundred dollars. There are pros and cons to all of them. From viewing and tying on a few of different vises I can tell you price does matter. The saying “You get what you pay for” has never been a truer statement. This doesn’t mean you need to pay $500+ for your first vise but I taught a beginners fly tying class earlier this year and everyone in the class, by the end, had bout a $250-300 vise as their first vise.

Rotary, Does it Matter?

There are two different vises out there; rotary and non-rotary. A rotary vise rotates the the hook shank on its axis. This allows you to flip the hook over perfectly and work underneath. Non-rotary are usually cheaper and you have to remove the hook if you want to flip it and all your materials have to be wrapped by hand and not just rotating the fly in the vise. I have tied on both kinds over my tying career and currently I tie on a non-rotary vise. I do this because it is a faster vise. That being said if you don’t plan to tie 300+ dozen flies per year that’s not a factor to consider. Rotary is great for a beginner and my second and third vise I tied on were both rotary.

C-clamp or Pedestal

I’m going to come out and start this off by saying that pedestal is the only way to go. It is by far the easiest one to travel with and store. It has the most convenience when it comes to what desk you are tying on. A c-clamp is much more solid, but you need a desk that is thin enough to clamp it to. Personally I have never had a problem with my pedestal “slipping” or wobbling and I crank down hard (from midges to deer hair bass bugs). Another point thought a c-clamp will be cheaper.

Final Thoughts

Ok to end the post I will go into what vise I’ve actually tyed on and what I liked and didn’t like. My first vise was a Thompson c-clamp. It worked and I tyed my first flies on it. I ended up breaking the rivet of the clamp for the jaws (a common problem) and had to find a new vise. The next vise I tyed on was a Danvise. I choose a C-clamp because my Thompson was a C-clamp before. The Danvise always slipped off my desk and never held it as well as I wanted (it could’ve been because it was a sloped edge desk and I was a kid with little experience). I also didn’t like the frame because it was all plastic. I say that, but the post and the jaws were aluminum and steel. It worked fine just a little annoying. The vise was $80 and for that price it’s an awesome vise to start off with, I’d just suggest a pedestal version. My next vise I bought Dyna-King Trekker. It is a beast and a workhorse that works for what I want it to do. It is all of that and a bag of chips if I’m being honest. I bought a pedestal one and was shocked how heavy it was, I totally dig that. The jaws are prefect and bomb proof and they can hold my bass bug hooks and my midge hooks with no problem. The rotary is as smooth as butter. Now I currently tie on a Regal Revolution with stainless steel jaws and a CE Tech base. It’s a premium vise with upgraded features. This is not a starter vise but it can crank flies at an industrial level. The other vises I have used have been Peak, Norvise, and Stonfo. My biggest blind spot is Renzetti. Eventfully I’ll get a Renzetti and tie on it just to see what all the hype is about. I love my Peak vises for big flies. I have a deer hair dedicated vise that rips (their LIRS vise), and I have their classic vise as well and its great for streamers. The Norvise just isn’t my bag baby. I get why people like it but between the bobbins, tables, and other accessories it’s just too rich for my blood. The Stonfo vises are great I like them but the Renzetti does rotary better and Regal does single action better. 

There is no wrong vise out there is what I’m trying to get at. There are guys at the fly ting shows that tie “in-hand” not using a vise at all. So anything is good. You just want a vise that holds flies tightly. Once it can do that everything else is gingerbread. If you have any questions reach out below, through our contact page, or on social media we are happy to answer any questions you might have about vises or anything else.