A Smaller Point Hudson Phid???

[jeffbonny]

Those Point Hudsons are without question my favorite fids but for smaller stuff I end up going to the two smaller Selmas. Being made of thinner stock both of them are bent at the tip and kinda irritating to use. How 'bout a Point Hudson for 1/8"-1/4" line? I know the Point Hudsons aren't cheap to make and that the two existing ones prob'ly cover most people's needs........but I'd think that a lot of folks who recognize the superior quality of these tools would want a complete set to cover all sizes of line. Whadda ya say?

jeff bonny
vancouver, bc

[Brion Toss]

Hello,
No smaller Phids available, but please visit my old friends at http://www.fid-o.com/. They have some "Awls" that are probably just what you need. It's a two-part tool, and I got tired of dropping and picking up the pieces, so came up with the Phid, but I still have a set for smaller stuff.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss

[jeffbonny]

Thanks for the reply. Got a Fid-O in a bag somewhere.....I just like the way yers feel in the hand. I bitch about the Selmas but they're a good "does-all" compromise for me and what I mostly use at work for double and hollow braid. I'll prob'ly stick with them 'till you come to yer senses and realize that you could be livin' large on the revenue a smaller Point Hudson Phid would surely generate.....or 'till I get off my lazy butt and make myself one.
What stock do you mill them out of?

jeffbonny
vancouver, bc

[Ian McColgin]

As an aside, when I worked tugs we'd make a fid that worked like the Fid-o but for much larger rope. It was just a regular wooden fid turned down at the end to accept a bit of pipe. I'd push the fid in to it's max diameter, slip the pipe on and then slide the whole unit till the pipe was in the lay and the fid could be extracted.

I thought it was a traditional tool as I'd seen them around from when I was a kid as part of the cool stuff the Chief on a tug kept in his lockers. That's well before Fid-o's patent but maybe (I've not looked it up) the patent focused on the plastic, the shovel point, or the notch fit of the needle part to the hollow part.

Anyway, a great tool for it's purpose, as is the fid Brion so rightly and proudly sells. Just, if you've not the right size handy, be not bashful about making one. Boat people traditionally make things to fit their own hand to the job.

G'luck

[jeffbonny]

Stainless tubing ground, filed and capped with a turk's head.
Now I'm embarrassed. Time was I wouldn't have thought twice about making something this simple. Then I got "serious" about my "career". Now I work 60+ hours a week (90 this last) and it's easier to buy things than to create them. That's just so wrong. Making and using a good tool is infinitely more satisfying than having an expensive wristwatch.

Making more things to fit my own hand to the job. Yes.

jeffbonny
vancouver.bc