Cleaning Bobbins-Older Equipment Maintenance and Mystery Tools

[ledhead1944]

Recently, I purchased some fly-tying lots to get me started fly-tying.

I have a very nice, rather large SMH, collection of fly-tying tools, vises, materials, thread, hackle, hair, hooks, etc.

I have a few bobbins that are sticky when I cleaned them. The stickiness is obviously from waxed thread that built up over time. Is there anything else to use besides the bobbin cleaner and to keep the thread running smoothly?

The bobbin cleaner will go through the bobbins. The bobbin threader will go through, but I do have to be careful on a few of the bobbins so to not bend the wire of the threader.

I have a few mystery tools that I can't figure out what they do/what they are for.

The brass tool with the tiny notch in it looks like it would be used for tiny dry flies perhaps holding a tiny feather?? This tool came from a lot in which the old timer was a big dry fly guy. (You should see some of the flies I have from him. Such attention to detail on tiny flies. WOW!).

As for the red, white, and blue hard plastic handles/tools, I think these held dubbing needles, brushes, etc. when they came loose from their original holders. I have some Renzetti and Sunrise brass holders and 3 black Sunrise holders. All of the holes in the holders are different diameters. I suspect that when the actual tool got bent, worn, etc., some fly-tyers just pulled out the needle, brush, etc and repurposed it. I have a needle that is glued into an old spent brass shell casing.

Or are the red, white, and blue tools/holders used for something to make tying much more effiecient?

 

[RLeep2]

The brass tool with the notch is a hair packer used to make compact deer hair heads on bass bugs, etc.

Brassie Hair Packer

Brassie Hair Packer

www.flyfishfood.com

Gunked up bobbin tubes can be cleaned with a little isopropyl on a piece of paper towel wrapped around your bobbin threader and ran up and down the interior of the tube. That's just one of several ways to do it..

The three colored tubes are possibly also hair packers or compactors. Possibly. it's hard to say from the pictures. Or they could also be musical instruments, color coded by musical key, although that is less likely..🙂
Actually, I don't know what they are...

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear ledhead 1944,

If the bobbins have metal tubes, you can try submerging them in boiling water from a tea kettle to soften the gunked up wax. It's worked for me in the past.

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂

 

[shakey]

For those who don’t know that a bobbin is a spool

 

[nfrechet]

red white and blue are hair packers

 

[poopdeck]

I think the brass Renzetti and three black sunrise “holders” are half hitch tools and are missing nothing.

 

[ledhead1944]

I think the brass Renzetti and three black sunrise “holders” are half hitch tools and are missing nothing.

Based on the replies I got, my guess is they are all hair packers.

I'm not following you saying they are half hitch tools. I probably should have mentioned that I'm a beginner fly-tyer so my knowledge base is very basic.

 

[poopdeck]

Based on the replies I got, my guess is they are all hair packers.

I'm not following you saying they are half hitch tools. I probably should have mentioned that I'm a beginner fly-tyer so my knowledge base is very basic.

The brass squeeze thing with a notch and the red, white, and blue things are hair packers. The brass Renzetti and three black sunrise “holders” as you call them are half hitch tools but you’re free to use them as packers if you like.

 

[nfrechet]

the 3 with a needle are bodkins/half hitch tool

the other 3 are half hitch tools. each tool has a different hole on each end to fit over different diameyer hook eyes

 

[ledhead1944]

View attachment 1641252276

the 3 with a needle are bodkins/half hitch tool

the other 3 are half hitch tools. each tool has a different hole on each end to fit over different diameyer hook eyes

Well heck, why didn't I think of that? I knew a half hitch was a knot but it just didn't connect using the tool to do so.

So many tools to use on tiny hooks.

 

[nfrechet]

 

[nymphingmaniac]

boiling trick should work. There are some solvents that would work (like lighter fluid or gas), but I don't recommend. I am surprised isopropyl would work but worth a try. Even after boiling you'll have to clear out the wax. I would try passing cotton cord through it. Get a multi-ply cotton cord and peel off a few strands of the right thickness and use it like dental floss

 

[JG63]

As an aside - those Dorin (?) black teardrop hackle pliers will earn a “top drawer” position in your tying kit - I won’t even put a hook in the vise unless a couple of these are within reach

 

[ledhead1944]

As an aside - those Dorin (?) black teardrop hackle pliers will earn a “top drawer” position in your tying kit - I won’t even put a hook in the vise unless a couple of these are within reach

I've learned through som research online, etc that those are for super tiny flies. Am I correct?

 

[JG63]

I've learned through som research online, etc that those are for super tiny flies. Am I correct?

Yes, and a host of other uses - they hold much better than traditional hackle pliers - I really like them for holding loose odds and ends while fly tying - better than a material clip at times 😎

 

[nfrechet]

I've learned through som research online, etc that those are for super tiny flies. Am I correct?

while the dorin (or griffin) hackle plier may be use for tiny flies? they are also used for whatever size dry flies youre tying. not sure if hackle pliers are size specific

 

[Bamboozle]

Other than "midge" sized hackle pliers like the 3rd pair to the right in the above photo, they all work or suck on any size fly you choose.

The midge size pliers are less bulky when tying REALLY small stuff and not as heavy which came more into play in the days of lousy Indian or Chinese necks with really short feathers and weak stems than it does today with genetic necks and saddle hackle.

The Sunrise India tools help to date this lot as 70's/80's vintage although I can't imagine needing that many different sizes of half hitch tools.

The tool from that era that seems to be conspicuously absent is the Renzetti bobbin cleaner/threader tool with a metal cleaning rod on one end of the brass handle and a metal bobbin threading wire on the other.

Although that's all I ever used to clean wax build-up from my bobbins, because I almost exclusively use Matarelli plain metal tube bobbins that have NEVER cut my thread, I now just use a piece of heavy mono to clean them and floss threaders to thread them when sucking the thread through doesn't work.

In my experience, trying to remove all of the wax from a plain metal bobbin tube is unnecessary and I'm not even sure even a little build-up is a problem because the only time I clean my bobbins is when I have trouble sucking the thread through the tube; not because it isn't smooth.

That is usually related to a problem with the tension or the little buttons that hold the spool of thread.

 

[ledhead1944]

Other than "midge" sized hackle pliers like the 3rd pair to the right in the above photo, they all work or suck on any size fly you choose.

The midge size pliers are less bulky when tying REALLY small stuff and not as heavy which came more into play in the days of lousy Indian or Chinese necks with really short feathers and weak stems than it does today with genetic necks and saddle hackle.

The Sunrise India tools help to date this lot as 70's/80's vintage although I can't imagine needing that many different sizes of half hitch tools.

The tool from that era that seems to be conspicuously absent is the Renzetti bobbin cleaner/threader tool with a metal cleaning rod on one end of the brass handle and a metal bobbin threading wire on the other.

Although that's all I ever used to clean wax build-up from my bobbins, because I almost exclusively use Matarelli plain metal tube bobbins that have NEVER cut my thread, I now just use a piece of heavy mono to clean them and floss threaders to thread them when sucking the thread through doesn't work.

In my experience, trying to remove all of the wax from a plain metal bobbin tube is unnecessary and I'm not even sure even a little build-up is a problem because the only time I clean my bobbins is when I have trouble sucking the thread through the tube; not because it isn't smooth.

That is usually related to a problem with the tension or the little buttons that hold the spool of thread.

I think I do that the bobbin cleaner/threader tool. There were a few tools that were in the bottom of the toolbox that I forgot to look at.

 

[Bamboozle]

I THINK the wire threader part of mine may have broken off a few years back, but since I haven't used that tool in a a long time, I'm not sure...

One neat tool I have in my collection is a Materelli Bodkin/Dubbing Hook that is a long straight bodkin with a dubbing loop hook on the other end.

I'm not saying it's the best ever dubbing loop twister I ever used (IMHO that honor goes to an old Renzetti tool I have), but I never saw one before and this one belonged to Ed Shenk which makes it extra cool.