Doug Stout

Doug Stout is not only a fly tyer, but one heck of a tool and vise smith. He makes his tools, vises, fly rotators, bases, and fly boxes. You can see for yourself in the pictures below of some of Doug’s handy work. I fell in love with some of the stuff he has created and you just might too!

First up, is Doug’s main fly tying vise. Doug explains, “Body like an Abel, jaws like a Mongoose. All 6061 Aluminum, and stainless steel. The jaws are D-2 tool steel hardened to 56-58 Rockwell, then peen blasted, hard chromed, peen blasted again, and chromed again. Industrial chrome not bumper chrome. Hard as hell. Never rust.
The halogen light, magnifier, are made by me ,as is all parts you see.
All made on a hand controlled mill, not cnc. All engravings are done on mill and filled with black enamel.”

In this pic notice the jaws are in the “Clouser position”. Notice the counterbalance weight. Buy the way it is equipped with stainless steel high speed ball bearings. With the counterbalance weight it will spin.
Note: Design credits need to go to Abel and Griffin. I just put them together. All parts I drew in AUTO Cad. and made my self. None of the parts are from manufacturer vises.

 

 

This is a 3/4 scale LAW copy I made. Main design credits go to Lawence A. Waldren creator of the LAW vise. Modifications I made are, The bearings are high speed stainless steel ball bearings in a brass housing, not delrin. The jaws are 440C stainless hardened to 56-58 Rockwell, not A-7 or D-2 like on a LAW. Mine will never rust. Vise is made of stainless steel and brass. Delrin used for the drag washers and bobbin rest. Base is solid walnut. So is the handle on the vise and the shroud over the brass bearing housing. Hope you like it. Again this is 3/4 scale. Nice for small flies.

 

 

This is the full scale Law vise I made. Main design credits go to Lawerance A Waldren creator of the LAW vise. Modifications I made, stainless steel ball bearings in brass housing, not delrin. The jaws are 44oc stainless hardened to 56-58 Rockwell not toll steel. Also note the jaws are cam not screw tightening. Cool HUH!! Counterbalance weight, and granite base. Vise is all stainless and brass. Never rust. Once again all parts made by me on hand controlled mill. Not CNC.
Walnut on the bearing housing and handle on vise.

 

This is The Nor-vise I made. Main design credits go to Norm Norland creator of the Nor-Vise. Vise is shown with trash catcher, back drop, dubbing brush attachment, and in front are large jaw option. The base is black granite. All parts are stainless steel or brass. Jaws are 440c stainless hardened to 56-58 Rockwell. All parts made by me on hand control mill. Not CNC. Not in the picture are the C-clamps option. I forgot them. All engravings are filled with black enamel.

 

 

 

This is the portable travel kit vise I made. Main design credits go to Lawerance A Waldren creator of this vise. Modification I made are the box has a complete set of tools all made of brass, stainless and some copper in the lid. Brass hair stacker with copper lid. All tools except the bobbin and scissors I hand made. The clips on the rotary hackle pliers are from another tool. This vise has a bobbin rest unlike the original and the jaws are stainless steel not D-2 or S-7. mine never rust. And believe me they are hard. All parts are made of stainless, brass and copper. This took a long time to do. The box is made from a solid piece of walnut that was split to create the bottom and the lid. So when closed the grain lines up. The box was I think the hardest thing I have ever made. All on a hand controlled mill. Not CNC. Box is 7 1/2″ wide x 4″ deep x 1 1/2″ tall when closed. There is a stainless steel plate on the bottom to give the base weight for stability built into the walnut.

 

 

 

 

This is the portable fly tying station I made. It comes with head cement compartment, Tool holders, fly dryer stations, etc. Made of oak and brass. The lid has a wood burned trout spying a nymph fly hitting the water. I did it myself. I got the picture of the internet. I would give props to the photographer but I don’t know the name. Sorry. The handle on the lid is deer antler with an Adams fly engraved in it. The vise clamp knob is the fork of a deer antler with a elk hair caddis engraved in it. The tools are all made of deer antler. Most have a half-hitch tool on the ends. The bobbin is a griffin. I only added the deer antler. All tools have a different fly engraved into the handle. Did it with a metal scribe and a magnifying glass. I went a little overboard on this one. What the heck. The vise in the pic I made my self. See my post “Vises I Made” for details.

 

 

These are some other things I made. Design credits go to, Vossler for the Vossler tool, Oasis for some the wood stuff, and Pat Cohen for the fugley hair packer. I made my packer out of stainless not mild steel. Note: That is a rite bobbin by the fugly packer. I did not make it. I only put it in the picture for scale. I only made the packer.

 

Doug’s other stuff will be posted in another post. The items in the next post are items he normally sells, so stay tuned for that.