There are any number of fly tying bobbins available today. All have something to offer to the tyer, and so this is the first in a series of posts on bobbin designs and their characteristics.

The first one that I want to look at is the standard wire leg model. There are any number of variations from a variety of manufacturers. Some have ceramic tips, some sport the usual stainless tube only. Either way, the defining characteristic of these bobbins is the springy wire legs terminating in metal or plastic feet that are rounded and tapered to fit into the holes at either end of a spool of thread. The tension on the thread is adjusted by bending the legs inward or outward, putting more or less pressure on the ends of the thread spool. The tube is variable in length, depending upon manufacturer. There are a variety of other additions to the standard wire leg bobbins to make them easier to hold, nicer to look at, etc., but they do not change the basic wire leg, tube configuration.

This bobbin style is relatively inexpensive and works just fine. Those with a ceramic insert in the tube are more expensive and perhaps give better wear than those with a plain stainless tube. But, those with a ceramic insert have a smaller internal diameter than the standard stainless tubes. This can make bobbin threading just a bit more difficult because the smaller diameter tends to gather wax from the thread and get plugged easier. However, a bobbin threader can punch the wax out and allow the thread to be readily pulled back up the tube.

All wire leg bobbins come in the “flat” form. That is the legs are in the same plane as the tube. I bend the legs against the post of my fly tying vise (both at the same time) so that they tip away from the plane of the tube about the same distance as the radius of the thread spool (see figure 1 below). This does two things. (1) The thread comes straight off the top of the spool and up through the tube, helping to minimize wax buildup on the base of the tube. (2) Bending the legs out of plane suddenly gives the bobbin a distinct top and bottom, left and right. Now, regardless of the way you lay the bobbin on the tying bench, when you pick it up, you always get in right in your hand. (3) The bent leg shape is easier to hold in your hand (see Figure 2 below), and one can extend thread by thumbing the spool counterclockwise (away from your hand) and retrieve thread by thumbing the spool clockwise (toward your hand). The bent leg, wire frame bobbin is fast and efficient to tie with, and changing threads is an easy task.

Griffin Enterprises has a good selection of wire frame bobbins and other tying tools and accessories. www.griffinenterprisesinc.com/vises.html

Because of advances in bobbins in the last 15 years or so, there are others that I also use, and we’ll be examining them in the next several blog postings

Figure 1. A wire frame bobbin with bent legs. Note the thread coming off the top of the spool and running straight up the tube.

Figure 2. The bent legs give the bobbin top and bottom, left and right, and make it easy to hold in the hand.