The first thing you notice when you pick up one of these bobbins is how substantial it feels. The vast majority of other bobbins on the market are pretty anemic feeling compared to a SMHAEN Bobbin. However, it's not just heavy - it balances perfectly in your hand, giving you the ultimate in thread control. I've yet to tie on a bobbin that feels as good in the hand as these do. The thread tension mechanism is one of the features that sets these above and beyond the rest as well. The red or blue bar that sits parallel to the spool is the spool tension adjuster, on the standard and midge sizes respectively. The amount of adjustment you can get out of these is incredible, as well as the minute adjustments you can make to your thread tension. That same bar is how you change the spools as well. You simply back off the tension adjuster until you can slide the spool off, and insert your new spool. Other adjustable tension bobbins generally require you to take off a threaded adjuster and a retaining piece that rides on the spool, which is more of a pain and also gives you more of an opportunity to lose them somewhere in the abyss of your tying space. The ceramic tube, while not a new invention by any means, lets your thread slide in and out without any resistance and without cutting it. One feature that I've found to be quite nice is the small diameter of the ceramic tube, which allows you to get in close and do the fine work when you need to. Here's the links to them on our webstore!
SMHAEN Standard Bobbin Red SMHAEN Midge Bobbin Blue While these aren't inexpensive bobbins by any means, they are high quality fly tying tools that are very enjoyable to tie with. These make a fantastic gift for the fly tier in your life as well. If you're looking for the best in fly tying bobbins, look no further than the SMHAEN Bobbins! Ryan