Renzetti Master Vise Review “have you got rocks in your head?” My overall take on this vise

So I have been tying on the Renzetti Master Vise for around five months now. This vise has been on my bucket list front and center for quite a while. The vise is altered very slightly outfitted with a midge jaw as well as a vision plate and a third hand, much like AK Best's vise that I first caught glimpse of in 1994. Using Renzetti cradle collars and tool bar accessories really helps you customize this vise to best suit your specific tying needs. Yesterday I was talking with one of the local fisherman on the Mad River and asked to get a peek in my fly box. He did not tie flies and he asked where he could pick up some emergers that he was looking at in my tiny box. I told him “I tie all my own jewelry” He then asked me about getting started with a vise he could learn on himself and I made a few recommendations and mentioned Renzetti's Traveler Vise. The travelers Vise comes in at under 400.00 and is a wonderful vise. He then asked what I use and I told him the Master Vise. I don't need to tell you what his next question was. Needless to say he told me and I quote “you have rocks in your head!” I replied by telling him I have rocks in my head for many reasons that have nothing to do with fly tying.

So there is a fundamental reason why this vise is so remarkable set aside the fine tooling, the killer craftsmanship, and the reputable name. Its the jaws! The jaws on this vise are what sets it into a category all its own. All the rest of the feature and benefits of this vise are also well thought out to the nines. Now with a product such as this, one also has to take into account all the years, thought, engineering, and design since its inception. Anything that is made by a small group of craftsman that involves intricate tooling, much like a medical device, typically has a high ticket value. I will defend all craftsman and their product prices with extreme conviction since I too am a rod builder. I have to defend my prices every day. People in general are ignorant when it comes to developing, evolving, and producing a well thought out highly refined product. Let's talk about the time it takes to get a product to a level like the Master Vise. It takes years and years of evolution. It also takes a lot of research and development. This is what makes devices such as this so valuable, notice I did not say expensive. 

The Master Vise is pure joy to work on. It took me a while to get use to it because I'm use to doing all of my adjusting in the rear end of a collet using a cam. So for an entire month I kept reaching to the back of this vise to tighten the hook! It was kind of like the change from shifting a car from the steering column to a console shifter. I kept reaching behind the vise. Crazy but I swear I'm still doing it every so often!

Swapping out the defaulted standard jaws with the midge jaws was an easy task. Fitting it with my own creature comforts was easy as well, the third hand, and vision plate that I was use to positioning at all angles for years and years transitioned to this vise without a hitch. I suppose you can look at it like the vise adapted to my own idiosyncrasies. 

The jaws like I stated in the beginning of this entry, are simple to adjust in a split second and hold the hook in a very positive manner. It is quite a marvel when you inspect the contouring of the cam mechanism. I get frustrated all the time with collet adjustments but have put up with their fickle ways for decades. Holding emerger hooks for me was the ultimate test. For some odd reason all of my old vises just did not like emerger hooks. I think it may have been due to the leverage that an emerger hook creates, its kind of unforgiving. I have had no problems holding hooks of any kind with this vise. My fly tying experience is much more focused on what is most important...fly tying.

                                ~Clint Bova               www.cjbovarods.com