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Reviews

The Cautery

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Burn, cut, burn, cut!

By Martin Joergensen

I always wanted one of these tools. I have seen them used at fly tying shows and by a few tyers elsewhere, and found the tool to be an excellent companion for the lazy and sloppy fly tyer. Just my kind of tool!

But this is a tool from the medical business, and the ones I have seen have not been cheap. I would actually call them extremely expensive. By searching the web right now, I just found one, which costs 415 US$! Whoa! That's some fly tying too, allright... I'd rather spend that money on a new rod or a new pair of waders.

But along comes Fly Tying Chronicles - a US online shop, which deals in fly tying stuff. Lo and behold, if they don't have a cauterizer listed at 17 dollars!

	+ Puff! Martin Joergensen

Now, that's more like it. At 17 US$ this is a tool for me, because not only am I lazy and sloppy - I'm also a miser.

The tool is a fantastic little piece of simple engineering. It's basically a battery mounted with a small metal wire, which gets short-circuited when you press a button. The construction is made so that the wire glows and emits a rather intense, but very well controlled heat.

Doctors and dentists use the tool for closing small blood vessels, which will immediately stop bleeding when the heat is applied. We fly tiers can use it for cutting and trimming, and the cauterizer is particularly handy for evaporating stray hairs and feather barbs in a quick and clean manner.

+ The tip Martin Joergensen

The Cautery as Fly Tying Chronicles call their tool, is quick and efficient. Once the lid is removed, the small pocket clip acts as a contact. Press that for a second and you get a white glowing spot, which you can pinpoint to materials out of their way. Most natural materials simply burn and disappear, while some synthetics just curl up. In both cases a quick rub with your fingers will remove the remaining butts.
Another popular usage of this type of tool is for carving holes for doll's eyes in spun deer hair heads on large poppers. The tool simply burns the hole, and the density of the spun hair keeps it from burning too deep.

The tool should only be used for a second at a time. Not because it can't run for more, but because the heat gets too intense. I managed to vaporize the complete heads of a couple of flies before I learned to control The Cautery.
Using it for short intervals will also spare the battery, which cannot be exchanged. This should not be a problem, since the small bursts of power usage will only drain the battery very slowly, and at a price of 17 dollars, a new tool will be within reach if the batteries in the old one runs dry.



In conclusion this is exactly what I envisioned: a very handy tool at a very fair price. If you have had you eyes on something like this, I can only recommend this particular model. Price and quality is perfect for us sloppy and lazy fly tiers, who find it hard to part with too much money.