WTB this book on tying techniques

[Allison]

The Fly Tyer's Benchside Reference to Techniques and Dressing Styles

Best price I can find for this book is $75 used. Anyone got a copy they want to sell for a price a girl can afford?

Thanks!

[Cliff]

Allison,

Overstock.com has it for $59.85, with $2.95 for shipping. Brings it up to $62.80, a bit less that your $75 used.

Cliff

http://www.overstock.com/Books-Movies-Music-Games/The-Fly-Tiers-Benchside-Reference-to-Techniques-and-Dressing-Styles/149666/product.html?AK=1


Subtotal:
$59.85
Standard Shipping:
$2.95
Total:
$62.80

[Kent Lufkin]

Alison, I've got a copy and in all honesty, I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I've had to look something up in it. That's not to say that I'm ready to sell it or give it away. But find a copy in a store and spend a half an hour looking at it carefully. I think you'll agree that if money's tight, you can put $60 or so to better use. Then, if you get stumped on a technique, just post a query here.

K

[Allison]

If Overstock regularly carries it then I can get it when they sell it for less than that. Kent, I know the forum and the Net in general has all the information I need, but one of the guys in the Trail Blazers tells me it's a must-have. I'm going to need to look at a copy before I buy at this point.

[Davy]

\, but one of the guys in the Trail Blazers tells me it's a must-have. I'm going to need to look at a copy before I buy at this point.

Hmmmm, I have a cpl copies like Kent , I agree . I have never even cracked my copies. I have and did peruse a few elsewhere but have never felt needed to crack mine. I think that any info you are going to need at this point can be found for a lot aless $$$$ or even free at this point. I am not saying don't buy it if you wish to own it. It is a fairly well collection of literature but not a "must have." IMO. I am curious as to what you think is in it that you need help with? Just ask here. There are hundreds of tyers on here that I am sure will share their collective wisdom in a microrise.

happy tyin

[Allison]

There's so much I don't know how to do yet. My soft hackles are marginal, my rubber legs are a mess, and don't even ask me about anything to do with dry flies, I'm just trying to get the wets going on first.

I have the disadvantage of being a very visual learner. I am pretty good with my hands in general, but some (many) of my flies are just a disaster at this point. I figure if I'm going to have all this tying stuff, I want to be able to tie pretty much anything I might need. Classes tend to be pretty 'spensive, and the videos I've seen aren't great.

I also have a fair amount of stuff in my tying box that I don't even know what it is, or what the appropriate substitutions are......

[Davy]

post deleted, just buy the book

[mozart]

I think others in different threads have mentioned this but go to this site, download the player, and download the videos. These videos are not totally step by step and detailed but have been very helpful for me in tying.

http://www.omn.org/whats_playing/collections.php?cname=KWSU+Fly+Tying%3A+The+Angler %26apos%3Bs+Art

[flybill]

Allison, I got my copy for free (except for $10 shipping and handling) when I subscribed for 5 years of Flyfishing and Tying magazine. I had wanted it for a while, but didn't know if it was worth the price or not.

It is good, however I don't use it very often, since I find the best way for me to learn new tying techniques is to see it in person. Recently I tied my first tube flies and that's a fun way to tie!

Anyway, the Overstock deal is good, or maybe check some place like Half Price Books, depending if theres one in the area you live.

If you don't have it, a good beginning tying book is "Fly Tying Made Clear and Simple by Skip Morris, Rick Hafele, and Richard Bunse". It goes step by step through flies and teachs you new techniques with each fly you tie. I know you were asking some questions about Wooley Buggers, and thats the second or third fly in the book. It starts with a simple nymph and works its way up and has great pictures to show you the techniques.

Good luck!
Bill

[Loopy]

The Fly Tyer's Benchside Reference to Techniques and Dressing Styles

Best price I can find for this book is $75 used. Anyone got a copy they want to sell for a price a girl can afford?

Thanks!


Alison

Everytime a question comes up on fly tying books in the UK, this one is in the top three recommended. So recommended it is, that this year it is finally on my Christmas List!

:beer1:

[TheShadKing]

The Fly Tyer's Benchside Reference to Techniques and Dressing Styles
Best price I can find for this book is $75 used. Anyone got a copy they want to sell for a price a girl can afford?

At the risk of pointing out something you may already know, King County Public Library has several copies of it. You can keep it for a fairly long time by renewing it just as it's due back, assuming nobody else has placed a hold on it in the interim.

[Allison]

I don't think I'm eligible to use the county library as I am eligible to use the Seattle library system. The Seattle library system doesn't have the book.

I could be wrong about Seattle residents and the county liberry tho.

[Kent Lufkin]

. . . one of the guys in the Trail Blazers tells me it's a must-have.

I'd want a better reason than that to plunk down $60 to $100 for the book unless I was damned sure it was gonna be worth that much.

From personal experience, I got a LOT more useful information from both Dave Hughes' 'Trout Flies: The tier's reference' (http://www.amazon.com/TROUT-FLIES-Reference-Dave-Hughes/dp/0811716015/ref=pd_sim_b) and his 'Essential trout flies' (http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Trout-Flies-Dave-Hughes/dp/0811727483/ref=pd_sim_b).

As I see it, the Benchside Reference, while thorough, contains quite literally hundreds of techniques described in excrutiating detail, the vast majority of which you'll never use or need. The other two books focus only on the techniques needed to tie flies that most of us will actually use. Plus, they're both a LOT cheaper than the Benchside Reference.

K

[Davy]

seems like a lot of tying practice time has been wasted on this thread. As a beginning tyer, stick to that. Get a simple tying book until one can wrap a variety of techniques correctly. Then that book may be for you. Unless your plan is to just master this stuff in 3 and half months. You can do that too, the rest of us did, right?

[TheShadKing]

I don't think I'm eligible to use the county library as I am eligible to use the Seattle library system. The Seattle library system doesn't have the book.

You do get full access to the KCLS system as a Seattle resident, with the sole exception that you cannot place a hold on KCLS items.

http://www.kcls.org/usingthelibrary/policies/spl.cfm

[Allison]

seems like a lot of tying practice time has been wasted on this thread. As a beginning tyer, stick to that. Get a simple tying book until one can wrap a variety of techniques correctly. Then that book may be for you. Unless your plan is to just master this stuff in 3 and half months. You can do that too, the rest of us did, right?

If you have something productive to add, I'm all for that. If you're just going to browbeat me and be an attention whore, well find someone else. This forum is generally kick-ass, but I guess there has to be one in every bunch, eh?:hmmm:

[Daryle Holmstrom]

I have the book and love it, so many techniques, and it also works great for a weight for the steamed spey feathers. Got mine through Amazon for the $75. just fine a rental dvd of said then make a backup.

;)

Daryle

[Davy]

not crowbeating you just telling yuh there are no shortcuts ,just assistance. That said, it just seems you are spending a awful lot of time trying to save a few pennies on a book you don't really need, but if you want thats fine, at the same time your headed straight into a hobby that is not conducive to saving a "few pennies" to say the least. Some very qualified individuals on here gave you sound advice and you poo-pooed it claiming some "other" expert had other idea's. Then you want more. Seems very trollish to me is all, maybe not, but , still. There's many people on this board that would " give, lend , offer " materials, literature, help, whatever,, if they are asked and think the assistance is warranted and worth giving, myself included. That just doesn't seem the case anymore when it comes to the originator of this thread. Given that line of reasoning, your request, at least of me, is granted

[FishMonkey]

I got it used off amazon for $50.00, and I find it one of the most useful books I own on techniques. The best thing about the book, in my opinion, is that it gives you 4-5 different ways or acheiveing a result. I am a big fan, and would highly reccomend owning it.

[synister370]

alot can be learned from your friend google

and swing into your local fly shop when i get stumped on some flies swing and then she are more then willing to show me step by step
i found my best ties has been from at the shop or even a customer saying ha i know that,,,,,here is what you do

[nb_ken]

There's so much I don't know how to do yet. My soft hackles are marginal, my rubber legs are a mess, and don't even ask me about anything to do with dry flies, I'm just trying to get the wets going on first.

I have the disadvantage of being a very visual learner. I am pretty good with my hands in general, but some (many) of my flies are just a disaster at this point. I figure if I'm going to have all this tying stuff, I want to be able to tie pretty much anything I might need. Classes tend to be pretty 'spensive, and the videos I've seen aren't great.

I also have a fair amount of stuff in my tying box that I don't even know what it is, or what the appropriate substitutions are......

I think Davy's point was that buying an expensive reference book isn't really going to address any of the problems you mentioned here.

You need to go slow. Find one simple fly and master it. Say a soft hackle. That fly is fairly easy to tie and the materials are cheap. You won't feel bad about throwing away the disasters.

Over the course of a few days, tie up a dozen soft hackles on a relatively large hook. If you're not happy with the results, tie up another dozen. When you get comfortable with the pattern, tie up a dozen more on a smaller hook.

Pretty soon you'll be able to tie up 2 or 3 in a row that look ... well ... damned good. Your thread control will get better. You'll get comfortable working with dubbing. You'll understand proportion and what happens if it goes bad. You'll learn how to tie in hackle, make a thread head and learn to use a whip finisher. None of this will happen after the first fly and you still won't be a master tier after 30 or 40 flies. But you will have an incredibly better understanding of the craft.

Once you get comfortable with one pattern, pick another. Say a hare's ear nymph or woolly bugger. You'll find that 75% of the skills you picked up with the first pattern will carry over directly to the next pattern. Tie up a dozen. Tie up 2 dozen.

Keep going. Every pattern has its own little idiosyncrasies, but once you learn some basic techniques, dealing with the details becomes a lot easier. Owning the Benchside Reference won't give you those basic skills.

Someone mentioned Morris, et al's 'Fly Tying Made Clear and Simple.' That book gives an excellent progression of patterns that let you build up that basic set of skills. Get comfortable with each pattern before moving on to the next. If you do that, when you get to the end, you'll be a competent fly tier. Might take all winter, but if you really want to learn to tie, that's not too much time.

[Tim Cottage]

My two cents
Buy the book.
It is precisely because of the previously mentioned "hundreds of techniques described in excrutiating detail" that it is such a valuable resource.
You alone will be the filter that determines what to use and what to disregard for another day.

TC

[Allison]

I have an electronic copy now. I also have Skip Morris's book and a Dave Hughes book that Kent suggested.

nb_ken, I probably overstated my incompetence a bit. I'm not that bad, I just don't have all the moves down yet.

[Norseman1]

Hi Allison.

I have been tying since I was 7 yrs old....that was 40 yrs ago now. I have a copy and I still like to thumb through it occasionally. There is a lot there that keeps me thinking outside the box, and that is what I like about the book. It makes me look at a lot of materials, fly tying and fabric store type things in a different way......hmmmm what else can I use that material for. For instance. Organza ribbon. Cut on edge off, pick out the cross weave and you have an incredible material for ribbing a fly and making it look like gills, or even some very cool looking palmering.

At any rate. If you are in the Seattle area and want a bit of a road trip , there will be a very large number of us tying at the Ellensburg FFF on May 3rd this next year. It is a great little show with many very TALENTED tiers. You say you are a visual learner.....me too, show me once and I have it...read it and it takes forever to sink in. So go to the show and bring your camera and camcorder...you will flatten the learning curve considerably.

Paul

[pittendrigh]

I recently paid $200 for a copy of "The Master Fly Weaver"
by George Grant. Is the book worth that much?
No, not even close. But I needed the book and I'm glad to have it.
I'm working on a short history of woven flies in Montana
(Pott, Wombacher, Grant and Tom McIntyre, etc) and I needed this
book. So "is it worth it" is context sensitive....depends not only
on who you are, but when and why.

I don't have the Benchside Reference either. I wish I did.
50-75 bucks doesn't sound like that much for a good thing.

[Mike Etgen]

Allison...


I hadn't opened this thread for a look until this evening, and have no personal knowledge of "The Fly Tyer's Benchside Reference to Techniques and Dressing Styles."

However, the Skip Morris book that is mentioned ("Fly Tying Made Clear and Simple") is one that I have and used a great deal when I was starting out, and one I'd be happy to lend you for a look and test drive until and when you decide what to do about your real question. It would be great to have someone get some use from it for a while.

Let me know if you'd have any interest.

Edit...Oops...didn't see the second page of posts. You've already got it. My bad.

If anyone else out there would like to take me up on the same offer (the Skip Morris book) , I'd be happy to hear from you. This would be a borrow - I do want to hold on to it in the long run.

[FishMonkey]

Buy the book already:) You'll be much happier, and it really does have excellent pictures of different techniques. I saw it used on amazon for 45.00.

Fish On!

[qrider13]

Allison-

I just opened this thread tonight. Most books have bits and pieces that are worthy of reading and following. One of the things that I like much better than books are dvd's. There is a show we get from WSU-tv on fly tying, and the videos are for sale. I really enjoy the format as it has two tyers being critical of one another, and offering hints as one of them is tying. Old show is two guys, one from Lewiston and the other from Pullman. New shows are the Lewiston guy and a lady from Spokane. I personally find this way much more useful than books.

[cabezon]

I love the Benchside Reference. BUT, it is not the place for a relatively new tier to master skills. The Skip Morris books and similar (I love Shane Stalcup's Mayflies "Top to Bottom") and DVDs/Videos are far more focused on showing you the steps necessary to develop fundamental skills. Follow those recipes and you will produce, eventually, very nice functional flies.

I see the Benchside Referece as having two values. First, if you are following a recipe for something outside the norm, say a woven-body fly, it can show you how to tie it, sometimes several ways to tie it. The other use is to browse as a source of inspiration for producing unique flies. It shows dozens of ways of producing bodies, another mountain of strategies for producing wings or trailing shucks or whatever. That is a huge diversity of possible flies. Mix and match to produce that killer fly that the educated trout has never seen before.

Steve

[Buzzby]

Hi Allison,
Your initial thread indicates that you've already made up your mind to purchase the book: good for you. Follow your instincts, locate one you can afford, and buy it. Indulge in your hobby. You shouldn't have to justify to anyone why you need it. Books, no matter how often they're used, are wonderful things.
Perhaps my pro-book comments are influenced by my being over 60, educated in a non-electronic era, and used books as entertainment, education, and mind traveling.
I own a signed first edition copy of that book, the Rare and Unusual books, and many others. Even if you only use it a few times a year, it will always be there, provide answers, and appreciate in value. It is, afterall, the combination of the experience of two fine tyers.
There are too few lady tyers. Keep at it.
Regards

[Les Johnson]

We keep a Benside Reference in our tying room. While we don't crack it all that often, it has proven useful at times. Some folks likely to not feel that it is worth the money. That is a personal opinion and budget issue.
Cheers,
Les Johnson