Tying in hand

[DarrellP]

I recently was traveling and forgot my vise base. I needed to tie some jigs for my brother in law. I tied them in hand and kind of liked it. However, I could not tie a size 12 wet fly very well because of my big thumb.
I have found that Salmon flies were tied in hand by professional tyers at House of Hardy.
Do any of you know how the old guys tied before vises became common?
Do any of you tie in hand?

[Roadkill]

Here is my only FF example...
https://www.flymphforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1416

I was lucky enough to learn a little from a fantastic tyer Harry Lemire in the Northwest Atlantic Salmon Fly Guild.

There are several techniques in thread management and material preparation that assist in tying in hand.
I also have several tools that I copied from Harry Lemire at the NW Expos before he passed away.
I worked at 2 Atlantic Salmon Fly International Expos held in Washington in 2014 & 2016 and met some others who tied in hand.

Hit the web and I am sure you can see Harry in action at the vise an in hand.
Look for a Salmon Fly Event and you may be lucky to find a few people tying in hand.

Dabbling in Atlantics and tying in hand makes tying soft hackles and Flymphs for fishing a breeze.

[Ron Eagle Elk]

It's funny how many west coasties immediately think of Harry Lemire when talking about tying in hand. He was a master at it. My late wife, Vickie, used to sit and chat with him at the expos in Ellensburg and the Albany shows. She learned a lot of him and the late Ronn Lucas Sr.

[wsbailey]

Practical Fly Tying by T R Henn was published in 1950. It’s all about tying by hand. John Betts wrote an article about tying by hand for the Summer 1999 issue of Fly Tyer magazine.

[flyfud2]

"Tied in the Hand" by Sven-Olov Haard, Coch-y-Bonduu books, 2012.

Charlie