Loon Outdoors D-Loop Tweezer
Got a new piece of fly tying gear – a D-Loop Tweezer. As the name implies this item is primarily intended to be a dubbing loop twister. My main use is different, however. I needed to pick up small hooks and tungsten beads. And then assist me in joining them together. It is not always an easy deal to accomplish. But this tweezer is proving a real help, especially with hooks smaller than size 14#. It was even able to pick a size 24! Wow.
To place a bead on, I first secure the hook upside down in the vise. Next I use the tweezer to pick up a bead and bring it to the hook point. If all goes well – and it doesn’t always- it is a fairly simple task to get the bead on the hook bend. Once the bead is on, I put the tweezer down. Now carefully reverse the hook into its proper position to tie the fly. Go slowly. Be sure to hold the hook by the bend. This will prevent the bead from escaping. You’ll get the idea pretty quickly.
Yes, slotted tungsten beads make this whole process simpler. But I have a load of non-slotted beads on hand. And besides I bet slotted beads weigh less, and that is obviously counterproductive. You want the weight, right? Isn’t that the whole business of buying tungsten beads in the first place? Getting down.
In the photos, I’m using a Tiemco 2487 in size 12. My bead is a red 3.25mm (1/8″) tungsten. Hooks in size 10,12, and 14 went smoothly. And I got down to a size 16 hook and a 2mm bead, without a ton of trouble.
I also tried starting with the hook tipped farther back so the hook point is more straight up. That worked well too. And may be the right way to go with small gap hooks such as size 16. See if it works for you.
Tip of the hat to Loon Outdoors. I’ve purchased a number of their products in recent year and they have all been of good quality. By the way, this tweezer has a overall length of 7.5″, making it easy to handle. Final Thought: Loon supplies a small plastic tip guard for the tweezer. Unfortunately the guard is transparent and very easy to misplace. So I colored it with a red magic maker. See it in the package picture up top.