Cbmoffett on Oct 25, 2015October 25th, 2015, 6:47 am EDT
I am new to the forum and was hoping someone may know the brand of this fly tying vise. It was my fathers and is probably 40 plus years old. The stamped crown is the only identifying mark on the vise.
Wbranch on Oct 25, 2015October 25th, 2015, 8:38 am EDT
It looks as if it is quite new but then again not much happens to a vise to make them look aged other than sometimes wear on the jaws. I've never seen a modern vise where part of the head is wood. I've been fly tying for over fifty years and have been looking at fly tying tools and catalogs for that long too and have never seen a vise that looks like this.
Did you father have a machinist friend who may have made this vise for him as a gift? The style of jaw clamping is very much like that on the Regal vise where there is a handle on the back side of the vise that you pull forward which facilitates the opening of the jaws and when you release the tension on the handle the hook is squeezed tightly into the jaws. Regal calls this style "Medallion". I Googled "Crown fly tying vises" and came up with many hits. There is some similarity with the words "Crown" and "Medallion". The Crown brand is a low priced knock-off of the original Regal cam vise. Here is one;
The workmanship on the jaws looks to be very well machined and there are no sharp corners or edges. There are quite a few forums and pages on Facebook that deal exclusively with fly tying. I bet if you posted the picture and an inquiry there you might get an answer. Another picture or two might help identification.
Cbmoffett on Oct 25, 2015October 25th, 2015, 9:00 am EDT
Thank you so much for your reply. Yes the vise appears to be made very well. I also saw that crown vise but was not sure if that was the same company that made this one. My father was an avid fly fisherman and owned a small fly fishing store back in the early 70's. He passed away earlier this year and I have come across a number of older fly tying vises he kept in storage that were left over from his store along with numerous fly reels, rods, and assorted fly tying tools. Thanks so much for your post!!