Herters Tool for Fly Tying - What is This Thing?

[Luke]

I inherited some fly tying stuff and this tool was amongst the items. I am guessing that it is used for shaving dubbing material or something, but I have no real idea.

Does anyone know what it is or how to use it?

 

[govtmule]

Clicked and saw the pic then some kind of VIRUS stuff happened. DONT CLICK LINK

 

[afishinado]

govtmule wrote:
Clicked and saw the pic then some kind of VIRUS stuff happened. DONT CLICK LINK

Links and Images deleted in OP.

 

[RLeep2]

The thing in the OP pics appears to be a Herter's wing maker.

This link should be OK..

https://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/topic/443080-herter-wing-maker/


George had some odd ideas and now that they are over 60 years old, a lot of them seem even stranger..

 

[Bamboozle]

A "quill" wing maker makes sense.

The various "toothed" parts determine the width of the wing slips.

And to think I always used divider points to accomplish the same thing, one slip at a time...

 

[Luke]

Thanks RLeep2 !

I am struggling to post photos. My first problem was trying to use Photobucket which seems to have changed a lot from when I last used it several years ago. My second problem, I think is not resizing them first. So, I am trying again for practice.

 

[RLeep2]

You're welcome, Luke.

I only know about five or six things and you just happened to stumble across one of them...

I'm pretty sure I've posted this before, but what the heck. George was the Original American Doozie.

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/07/books/review/Collins-t.html

 

[rrt]

1. I had no idea what the Herter's tool was. Glad rleep2 did.

2. I wish I had saved one of my thick Herter's catalogues; but, alas, I did not. I have only a thin sales catalogue, I guess, left.

3. Herter's had some good stuff. After 50 years of tying, I still use Herter's whip finishers (the "trout size," a small one is a tool that I could not be without -- I have no idea how to use a modern whip finisher and never learned to tie a whip finish knot by hand). I also still use the Herter's bodkin I got when I was starting to tie, and I still use my original pair of Herter's fly-tying scissors. My original bobbin, however, did not survive the test of time, and I don't know where it is. Whenever I have to go to the shore in the summer with my wife and granddaughter, I take along some fly-tying stuff, including a pedestal style vise that works perfectly well, though is a little wobbly.

4. Rleep2's calling Herter the Original American Doozie is about right, but I miss him and his stuff anyhow.

 

[Luke]

Trying different approach. This should not be so difficult.

 

[Luke]

I am fairly sure that the gentlemen who owned this before me never used it, because the combs were to tight to slide properly at the guides. I used a file to rid it of the flash from the aluminum casting process and now it fits perfectly.

Here is a youtube video where someone uses it effectively. Actually, it is a neat little tool.

YouTube Quill Wings w/ Herter's Tool

 

[shakey]

i have one. it's fun!!

 

[tctrout]

Thanks for referencing my video, and the wing maker is really cool! Like many of those Herter's tools, they are very functional and were made with quality materials. I wish I could say that I use the wing former a lot, but it's really turning into a neat conversation piece that I occasionally bring with me to tying demos.

Tim

Luke wrote:
I am fairly sure that the gentlemen who owned this before me never used it, because the combs were to tight to slide properly at the guides. I used a file to rid it of the flash from the aluminum casting process and now it fits perfectly.

Here is a youtube video where someone uses it effectively. Actually, it is a neat little tool.

YouTube Quill Wings w/ Herter's Tool