Dr. SlickKnot Tying-Nippers

Nippers are very sharp. Cuts 0.020” maxima ultragreen easily. I’ve never tied a nail knot before and easily tied my first one with this tool using the same 0.020” line. I can’t imagine it being any easier (though I don’t have sausage fingers). The hook sharpener isn’t great. The “grit” isn’t quite right and the placement makes it hard to sharpen smaller hooks. I’ll just use my pen-style sharpener, but will work in a pinch, if needed, for larger hooks.Knocking off a star because the hook eye cleaning pin is cock-eyed. I attached a pic. Don’t think it will cause trouble. Tested on a size 18 and a size 6 hook and it worked fine with plenty of room to handle much larger hooks without foreseen issues.We’ll see how it works out over time.

I'm not sure who Dr. Slick is, but my worries about the fancy-pants name (who calls themselves Dr Slick, sheesh!) proved unneeded. This is quality stuff. It appears full on dentist-gone-wild-with-surgical-quality-steel-to-make-fly-fishing-kit. I've got loads of it. Years ago it was a luxury brand vs the 5.00 stuff. Today it's the value brand as the ultra-high-end $100 nippers. Now, it does not appear worthy of inclusion in the Birth of Venus fresco you might hang in your truck. But it snugs up nicely with my Simms waders and clips my Maxima like a sumb*&^&%. Dollar for dollar I'll argue it's one of the best purchases a fly fisher can make. But a couple of pro-tips: cut off the yellow leach immediately--replace it with a proper leash, or not. While I admit the first few tries with the nail knot tool were awkward, after watching a few youtubes on it it's become my preferred tool for nail knots. Not only can it help you do fly-line-to-backing, but its very handy for creating loops in fly line and nail knotting them in place. The hook file is not the be-all-end-all of files, and won't fix the worst stuff. But for a quick pass or two after pulling free from a snag it works just fine. The glue-in-hook-eye tool works quite well.

I bought this item because it has “stainless steel” embossed right on it. To me, that means nonferrous and therefore not attracted to magnets. These nippers love magnets. I use magnet type retainers on my fly vest. Annoying.

I was really expecting more. The first thing that stands out is instructions of the nail knot tool are completely worthless. It's like they are too busy to take a few pictures and provide a short description of how to use it. There are many other knot tools that are much simpler and better documented. Then there is the fact that to try to squeeze the clipper, the knot tube thing is right in the way. trying to squeeze the snipper without any leverage like normal snippers have takes a lot of pressure and trying to squeeze with your finger on the sharp tube is painful. All in all a tool with many uses that does nothing well. Save your money and buy a good nail knot tool and a good snipper, you will be better off.

Decent quality, small and compact

Compact and sharp cutting edge. Favorite part is the unique nail knot slider tool! Best affordable nippers and tying tool you can buy. Note, nail knots take practice!

The tie knot is to small too do anything. Clipper is ok.

I got mine, and the first thing I did was test the nail knot tool. Didn't care for it at all because it is too small for my taste. I did like the idea of the shaft pushing the coils off the tool, which was what pushed me towards this tool. However, after just a few minutes of wrestling and poking I simply broke it clean off the nippers.The nippers themselves seem fine. Not bad. I can clamp down on braid and with a sharp jerk make a fairly clean cut. Much better than those joke Boomerang nipper thingies they sell. The steel was shiny and clean, but after all they are just nippers and the price was a little too high, hence the 3 stars.I think when presented with having to replace these, I will choose other thans, and go cheap.