magnification

[newriverspey]

i had a question regarding the use of magnification when tying soft hackle flies and small flymphs. how many use magnification when tying small flies and if you do what type of magnification do you prefer? thanks in advance for your replies and comments. otto

[Hans Weilenmann]

Otto,

No magnification. I am near sighted, so doing the small stuff is no problem. I do have to take my glasses off these days

Cheers,
Hans W

[Jerry G]

Otto as Hans mentioned I also started taking off my glasses so as to focus better on the small flies. Eventually the need for bifocal's brought about the need for magnification not allowed for in the bifocal. A trip to the local Shop Ko discount store optical department had several choices of magnification in reading glasses. The lens' in these are soft though and one needs to be careful when cleaning them. Take a small fly along when shopping and get the pair that gives the clearest view at you normal tying distance.

Regards, Jerry

[Eric Peper]

No magnifying glass; just a pair of 3.00 diopter cheap reading glasses. By comparison, my actual "reading" glasses are 2.25 diopter.

EP

[chase creek]

Like the others, I prefer reading glasses (+3.75).
I've tried the circular lamp with the lens in the middle, and just a goose neck mounted magnifier,
but I seem to loose my depth perception using those. I don't have that problem with the reading glasses.

[newriverspey]

thanks all for the response. i wear bifocal nows and will try to buy some reading glasses. guess i need to get use to the fact that i am getting old. i recently went to a fly tying show and observed someone with a magnifying lens and thought it would be hard to work around such a lens. i know this picture does not belong here but here is a picture of a brown i caught on a flymph in a near by stream. enjoy. otto

[Soft-hackle]

Hi,
I wear tri-focals. I do a lot of close-up art work as well as tying, and the tri focals help immensely. Those that need to take off their glasses when tying need at least bi-focals. Reading glasses are essentially magnifiers. Convex lens for near-sightedness; Concave for far sightedness. Concave lenses magnify.

Mark

[Hans Weilenmann]

Mark,

Those that need to take off their glasses when tying need at least bi-focals.

Hmmm.... been there, done that, did not like 'm. When I tie flies, I like to look straight at the hook in the vise. I do not want to tilt my head backwards and look down to stare through the lower edge of my glasses.

Your mileage may, or clearly does, vary

Cheers,
Hans W

[newriverspey]

does everyone position their vise to the immediate left or right depending on their dominate hand? just curious is all. i have seen some tyers position the vise directly infront of them, so they can turn the vice and view the fly head on.

[skunkaroo]

Vise Left, dominant right hand.

I was concerned towards the end of last year when I noticed that my flies weren't turning out quite perfectly. I'd tye a fly, photograph it, view it on the computer, and see the missed wraps, trapped fibres and badly glued heads. It was getting to the point that I was starting to not enjoy tying.

Of course it was just my failing eyesight coming into play. My parents made it to 40 without glasses, I'm lucky to have held out to 46 before needing them. Now I use these gawd awful $3 dollar reading specks (+1.75 I think) and they help immensely. I still tye without them when I'm in a hurry, but they sure help when it comes time to make a quality fly.

Aaron