I took an Adult Ed class on fly tying 40 odd years ago. The gentleman leading the class told us to buy thread in the sewing dept so we wouldn’t pay the excise tax. Even then, I thought the tax sounded like a good thing, and still do.
I started tying around 1970 on a Herter’s vice. I quit a few years later. A couple of years ago I started back. Decided I needed something newer and so did my wife!! Bought a Dyna-King Barracuda. I had some reservations about the weighted base but it works for me. It will be a while before I get use to the stuff it can do. Really like it.