Our three sons are starting to get interested in fly fishing, and tying their own flies, so we set out to make our own tying vices. These are shop made using an exacto knife attached to a section of threaded rod with a coupling nut. They cut threads into the handle of the knife using a die, allowing it to be threaded onto the coupling nut. The base is drilled all the way through, with a hole countersunk to accept the nut on the bottom without interfering with the way it sits level on the table. The jaws will hold the hook securely, and the hook can be rotated to gain access from another angle or side. The bases are made from wood, turned on the lathe by each of the boys. The finish is Danish oil, and bee's wax.

 

Like the fish sticks, the boys make these themselves, and use the money to buy materials to make more, and of course more fishing stuff. : )

 

The bases are each different from the other as each is made "free hand". The boys turn them using the shape they see in their mind's eye, no patterns used.