OK, first off check these things out. They are really cool and a neat alternative to the ordinary plastic containers.
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.asp?page=44948&category=1,43326&ccurrency=2&SID= Almost everything I have is mobile except the two desks I work at. As a result, I end up using ziplock bags and Whatman 8x10" filter boxes that are recycled from work. The boxes are very durable and stack nicely. The ziplocks, well we all know about those. I organize things a little differently than I used to. When I first started, everything was sorted by material, now most things are sorted by the fly. By this I mean rather than having all my hackle in one spot, hooks in another, etc., I have boxes marked "Steelhead Leeches", "Soft Hackles", ITR Shrimp/Searun Fusion". That way, when an order comes in or I am doing a demo all I need to do is grab the appropriate box or bag rather than fumble through everything and then hope I haven't forgotten something crucial, like the hooks. For winter tying, I am relegated to this stupid little secratary desk-thing my wife got me. It closes up nicely and keeps all the mess hidden but it has 2 major flaws: 1) the surface area isn't large enough and 2) I have to sit when tying, which I absolutely hate. During the spring, summer and fall I tie in our garage at a bench made from my grandfather's old, glass-fronted tool cabinet left over from his drapery business. This holds all the boxes and bags I mentioned earlier. I can stand at this thing for 8 or 10 hours with no back pain whatsoever and because I am almost outside, it's no big deal taking a break, moving the water, checking on the kids in the sandbox, mowing the grass, etc., and then back to tying. Pretty cool. ...and sort of an ecclectic secret to combat fatigue from standing: a couple Rubbermaid dishpans filled with about 3 inches of pea gravel. One pan per foot. Goofy? Yep, but it sure feels good. How many others stand rather than sit while tying? Don Johnson --- "Chapman, Chris" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > ORGANIZE MATERIALS > > I just recently bought the 8 drawer organizer at > Sam's Club for $20. It > stand about 5 ft tall. The top shelf I have my top > shelf materials - the > one's that are expensive. The short drawers are > body material (dubbing), > long feathers (ostrich, turkey, pheasant, peacock), > synthetics (awesome > hair, crystal flash, mylar piping). Then there are > three deep drawers which > I have Lure material (marabou, saddle hackles, > rabbit strips), short > feathers (mallard all colors, partridge, etc.), and > the bottom is the > UNGULATE drawer (deer, elk, moose, carabou, etc...) > > ORGANIZE SPOOLS > > I took two 2x6 pieces of scrap wood. I then started > hammering nails equally > spaced and at a depth the spools would rest flush. > One piece of wood has > enough room for 30 spools of thread. The other one > has 30 spoole of wire, > tinsel, etc. > > ORGANIZE TYING AREA > > I took two pieces of colored sheet foam - I used > yellow directly under my > vice and green to the right of the yellow. This > helps my identify all loose > pieces depending on the hue - I put it either on the > yellow or green. To > the right, I have a stand alone tray which I keep my > one-off's of material > in...such as a stray saddle hackle which I use the > barbules for..or a piece > of green wire I will use when I tie more Copper > John's... > > ORGANIZE HACKLE > > My saddles are on a ceramic FISH shaped candy tray > (quite large) in back of > the yellow foam. These are handy. > > ORGANIZE TOOLS > > I used a foam block and covered each side with foam > with sticky back. The > nice thing is that you can customize the tops with > an exacto knife and push > in many different shape. For example the same hole > I have for Loon Hard > Head, I can also push in Sally's hard head which is > not a cylindrical shape. > It is a lot cheaper than the Renzetti tool caddy and > fully > customizable...Try putting needly nose pliers in the > RTC. I don't have one > so maybe you can... The other thing is you can use > whatever color you want. > Mine is blue... > > ORGANIZE HOOKS AND BEADS > > I use 1 Flambeau box which is 6 x 4 - 24 squares. > I typically have 2 > sizes per category per box. This work quite well > - the categories I have > are: > dry 18/20+; dry 16/14; dry 12/10; dry 8 and less; > wet (1X) 18/16; 14/12;10/8 > nymph (2-3X) 16/14; 12/10; 8/6 > streamer (4X-6X) 14/12; 10/8; 6/4 > Then I have one square for the following: salmon, > bass, scud/egg, keel, sm > bead, med bead, lg bead,tung bead, lead eyes, etc. > > OF course a Clip Board on the wall facing me. This > is where i have hook > charts, hatch charts, new patterns I get of the > list, addresses for pending > swaps, etc. > > I thought I would share this with anyone interested. > I guess I might need > to take pictures... > > What do others do? > ===== http://www.geocities.com/salmn8r/caddisforkids.html http://www.geocities.com/salmn8r/furledstinger.html Please e-mail direct for scheduling and pricing information of fly tying presentations and seminars for your club or group. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com
