New Tying Bench
I've been using an old workbench in the basement to tie flies. The previous owners of the house left it when they moved out in 1986, so you know it was particularly valuable and well made.<g> For the past year I've been thinking about getting organized and building myself a real bench with storage to fit my needs. The ideas really started flowing when Wife and I remodeled the kitchen. I thought I'd share my basic ideas and see what other folks here think - and before someone mentions it, I've searched the forum for ideas and I've found quite a few. It is always interesting to see how neat or messy your work areas are! Mine tends toward the messy end of the spectrum but some of ya'll have me beat (thank you very much!).
Lighting. If you can't see you can't tie. I've got one four foot florescent (2 tube) fixture and an Otto light for spot lighting. The walls are cinder block and I plan to paint them to brighten the area up. I think my lighting is more than adequate for the roughly 8'x10' area that I have.
The Bench. My current plan is to build a basic desk starting with two 18" wide base cabinets with doors and shelves (not drawers) separated by 24" for my knees. The top will probably be granite and nominally 60" wide by 26" deep. I could certainly use something cheaper but I've got a source for relatively inexpensive stone if I can live with the remnants of someone else's project.
If I can find suitable cabinet bases at Lowes or Home Depot I'll do that. My plan is to remove the shelving and put in shallow pull out drawers. There are some interesting retrofit products available if you're willing to pay 40-75 bucks per drawer. I'm not willing to pay that. I plan build my own and use commercial drawer guides. My thought is to imitate a set of linen drawers like you see in a kitchen. Most materials are pretty flat - hooks, necks, saddles, fur, thread, tinsel, tools etc and storing them in flat pull out drawers seems efficient in both storage and access.
Miscellaneous thoughts. I plan to run two extra electrical outlets in the vicinity of the desk so I can plug in the laptop or listen to music, etc. I've got a fair assortment of plastic bins and a wooden machinists chest for extra material than will probably stay on the bench (like they are now). For storage of bulk materials I've got a wall of shelving (about 8' wide by 8' high) which I expect I'll upgrade a bit. I may add a small book case so I can keep my reference material close at hand, too.
All of this is being encouraged by Wife, who thinks the area will be neater. None of it's needed but in my semi-retirement I find more time for fly-tying and fishing (the lake is about 200' away in the backyard <g>). With ice on the water the time seems right.
Any thoughts on what I might be missing or could do better? One recurring thought I have is to get a deeper slab of granite - say 36" deep and put a hutch of some sort for more storage area. This is tempting on multiple accounts - I don't believe you can have too much storage (only too few tools and materials), it seems convenient, and it would be an project for me in the wood shop.
Greybeard
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There are also 4-plex outlets every 4 feet all the way around the garage, except for the front where the door is. I don't hunt for an outlet anymore and it didn't take that much more time to do.
