ON THE VICE AND TOOLS. 61 



obvious to those of a mechanical turn of mind, 

 that the jaws will not be able to close up suffi- 

 ciently, or make a sufficiently small angle with 

 each other to obtain a good hold. When it is 

 desired to release the hook, the pliers should once 

 more be tightly grasped in the four fingers of 

 the left hand, and the collar pushed upwards 

 with the thumb ; the hook, or completed fly, is 

 then removed with the right hand, the grip of the 

 left hand on the pliers being simultaneously 

 slackened. The spring (B) will now keep the 

 jaws of the pliers open and ready to receive 

 another hook. Altogether it is scarcely conceiv- 

 able that any arrangement for holding a hook 

 firmly and in a convenient position could be 

 quicker and simpler in its action than Mr. 

 Hawksley's. Of course, there would be no diffi- 

 culty in making a vice of this kind for use in 

 salmon fly dressing, but I have thought it right 

 to explain that one suited for trout fly work 

 might not be well adapted for this and other uses 

 to which the purchaser might wish to apply it. 



It is now more than two years since I advocated, 

 in the Fishing Gazette, the use of rubber clips to 

 keep the tying silk taut and out of the way at such 

 stages in the dressing of a fly where it is convenient 

 to do so, and my experience of them since then 

 has tended only to strengthen my conviction that 

 they are exceedingly useful. The form of fitting, 

 however, which I originally recommended, though 

 serviceable enough as a home-made article, is now 

 superseded in my estimation by the stronger and 

 more compact form illustrated below, and which 

 Messrs. Holtzappfel, of 64, Charing-cross, the 

 makers of both Mr. Half ord's and Mr. Hawksley's 

 fly dressing vices, are prepared to fit at a small 

 cost to any pattern of vice, old or new. (Fig. 21). 



As will be seen, the fitting is adjustable, and 

 occupies such a position as never to be in the 



