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Blood Knot tyer instructions wanted

A

Andy

Just finished a River Runs Through it!
Years back there was a Big Flat Brook regular named John Selazie who invented a little tool for tying Blood Knots. John was a machinist by trade and he has been deceased for many years.

John's tool measures 3/4" X 3/4' X 1/4" and has two brass spring-loaded pins with heads on its top 1/4" side. Along each wide side at the top are fastened clips for holding the two strands of monofilament.

I recently obtained one of John's knot tyers and I've been fooling around with it. However, eventhough he used to demonstrate it for us I can't remember how it's done.

My sincere thanks to anyone out there who can post or pm instructions for me.
 
Are you perhaps thinking of the nail knot? I know guys that make their own tools to tie that knot, but blood knots are a cinch. Never heard of a tool for a blood knot. By the time I would find a tool in my vest, I could have tied two blood knots. For the nail knot, I've seen some ingenious tools, but I've always just used a small finishing nail instead.
 
Is this what you're talking about Andy?

DSCF0348.jpg

I got this gizmo with my Frog Hair leader tying kit a few years back. I've got instructions for it.
Honestly, after using it a few times, I just went back to tying the blood knots the usual way.
 
There are a few Blood Knot tying tools out there, one of which is made by Dennison. That looks like the one in the video. The picture Barleywine posted looks like a non-portable jig. John's is much smaller (3/4" X 3/4" X 1/4"), and in fact I think I remember someone trying to market it again in recent years.

I know how to tie the Blood Knot by hand and have more than likely been tying it longer than most of the members of this board have been alive. That statement is a fact. John's Blood Knot tyer has sentimental meaning to me and I'd like to learn how to use it.
 
is the tool you are talking about gold color? it should have an aluminum peg in the middle of it.
 
No, there's no peg in the middle... it's exactly as I described. The one I aquired has a black body with brass plunger-pins but John could have made it in other colors. The one with the pin sounds like it's based on the Dennison U-shaped design and it's much bigger than the measurements I've given.

Yes, I've been tying the Blood Knot since I was 12 or 13 and I'll turn 77 tomorrow. Knotless tapered leaders didn't exist back then and that was the way we made all of our fly fishing leaders in addition to replacing tippet strands. In later years I even went on to make some leaders from silkworn gut. Ernie Ridell, who had a small fly shop near the Gravel Pit Pool on the Big Flat Brook was a big believer and promoter of silkworm gut as leader material. He sold knotted silkworm gut leaders, the material itself, soaking solution and gut leader storage containers with the felt pads. I had everything.
 
Andy,
Could you please post a picture so maybe one of us or someone else might be able to know what the device looks like,and if we have knowledge we might be able to help you?
 
Lonewolf,

Unfortunately, I'm not very techy and don't know how to post pictures on this website. That's why I still don't have a profile picture after all these years. The best I can do is describe it as being a 3/4" X 3/4" X 1/4" piece of metal anodized black. On one of the 1/4" sides, which I'll call the top, are two spring-loaded brass pins with collared heads. Their purpose is to securely hold the strands of mono to the top of the knot tyer in some fashion that I've yet to determine. Along the top of each 3/4" side clips are mounted. The open side of these clips face up and they also hold the mono in some way. Once the mono is put in its proper place, I think John then held it on both sides and twirled the knot tyer five times to make the turns for the knot. Lastly, he tucked-in the tag ends. I'm going by memory and the logical way I see this tool being used.
 
Happy birthday Andy!

I really enjoy hearing first hand stories from the days before we had the modern fly fishing conveniences we have now.
I always assumed that tippet came in spools, but after reading Ray Bergman's book Trout, he mentions that the nylon for leaders comes in 24 inch strands. Was that the case?

There also seems to be a lot of stories about people who fly fished the Catskills, but not many about the people who fished in NJ. It would be interesting to hear more about some of the people who fished in NJ over the years that most of us never met. I'll bet there were some memorable characters that we wouldn't mind finding out about.
 
Andy, I'll ask some of our senior TU members still active in our Fred S Burroughs North Jersey chapter if they can help when I see them at our January mtg. We have several even older than you :) still active that may have one or know about it as the Flat Brook is that chapter's local stream. I didn't know about a fly shop up there and I've been FFing for 40 years myself. Don't sweat the technology and pictures, give us some more nuggets from the past. I always enjoy reading about our local fly fishing history.
 
I use one like this.

th
 
BestBugz: No, that's not it. It's a block-shaped piece of metal with square corners.

Barleywine: Yes, that is true. Reed Tackle which was located in Mountain View, and later on Rt. 46 in Fairfield, was one of the foremost suppliers of tackle-making and fly tying material in New jersey. If my memory serves me right the nylon tippet and other leader-making strands were pre-cut to length and packaged a dozen per cellophane packet. There were two lengths, 24" and 48", both selling for the same price. I used to buy the 24" strands until John Riedmiller the owner woke this stupid kid up to the fact I could get double the number at the same price by purchasing the 48" strands! When John died, and his kids took over, they refused to keep up with changes like genetic necks. They sold the building in Fairfield, moved to Marshalls Creek, PA, and subsequently went out of business. I sold one of their old catalogs on eBay last year.

Needless to say the silkworm gut tippet strands that Ernie Ridell sold were also packaged in cellophane envelopes. They were brown in color but I don't remember how many per package.
 
Let me begin by thanking everyone for their input and efforts to be of assistance. Let me finish by giving everyone the opportunity to see what this knot tyer looks like and see how it works.

I searched through my old e-mails and found two patent numbers my friend Matty sent to me. He said the numbers were extremely small and he had a difficult time reading them. Anyhow, neither of the numbers Matty gave me was correct when I entered them on the US Patent Office website. That's when I noticed that both numbers were identical with the exception of the same two in each set. I swapped numbers between the two and found the correct patent number for this device is US003169787.

If you put that number in their search engine you'll see the knot tyer as well as a diagram showing how the mono looks when the device is being used. There are three pages of written instructions following page one. I tried to print them but wasn't able to do so. For some unknown reason I only got a diagram with measurements the first time I researched this but I'm thinking that might not have been on the government website. To set the record straight the date of the patent is November 8, 1962 and the correct spelling of John's last name is Zolezzi.

The mystery is solved! My thanks again to everyone who tried to help.
 
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