Hi Mike,
I use an inexpensive, yet very tough and long lasting, plastic tool box from Walmart. You can get a fairly good sized one for $20 or less. (My kind of money…cheap.)
You don’t need to carry your total supply of everything in the box, just the amount you can expect to use on a trip. For example, my wife and I were out of town last weekend, and I took tying stuff with me. (Too much as usual…sigh) I took small amounts of craft foam, not the entire sheets.
One way to cut down on the needed size, for example, is to buy cheap small zip lock plastic bags at the crafts section at Walmart (less than $2 for maybe 100), and just keep a small piece of foam of each color in one of the Zip Locks. The size pieces I take with me are each perhaps 1.5"x2.5", and each piece will tie a bunch of foam spiders. I used these small zip loks for lots of stuff, lead wire, beads, rubber legs, lead dumbell eyes, home made eyes from heavy monofillament line, etc.
Spools of thread, floss, tinsel, etc., as well as misc. odds and ends, go in small flat plastic “Plano” tool boxes that run very roughly $2 (it has been long enough since I bought one that I can’t remember the exact cost.)
I carried sizzors, bodkin, bobbin, etc., in a plastic soap travel container, also from Walmart (a buck or so?). My tool box has a top that has two compartments in the lid that can be used for various small stuff and tools.
The base to the vise goes in the bottom of the box, and the rest of the vise gets packed in between materials, which function as padding for the vise parts.
Hooks go in a “craft organizer” (craft section from Walmart…24 flip-top-tubes, about $4.50, I have two of these), for 24 types of hooks each. These boxes won’t handle large hooks, and #8s or so and larger go in the 7 compartment pill boxes (larger size) (from you guessed it for about $1.50. I carry 3 of these.)
What I am saying here is that I have a very useful container for LOTS of stuff, mine is about 10"x10"x20", and have containers for about 60 types of hooks, tools, beads, lead wire, thread, etc., and have probably about $50 in the whole thing. That doesn’t sound cheap, but it also includes individual containers for about 70 types of hooks, thread, beads, lead wire, tools, small odds and ends, etc., etc., etc.
By comparison the fancy set ups from Fly Fishing supply outfits sell for maybe $80 for just the basic box (not including individual boxes for hooks, material, thread, beads, etc. etc., and the ones I have seen have quite a bit less storage than I have.
If you have the storage stuff for hooks and all already, the tool box will set you back less than $20. It is also ridgid so it will protect the stuff. The base is also waterproof and extremely crush resistant. (but don’t run over it with a truck)
This may not be what you are looking for, but it works well for me.
Other storage includes hackle in Sportsmans dry boxes (or army surplus ammo boxes) for hackle (around $8 for the dry boxes or $2 for the ammo boxes), with bulk deer hair (from hunting friends) etc. in metal 5 gallon popcorn cans (popcorn and box for about $5.)
At any rate, I think that my storage stuff works well, and the basic container is less than $20 instead of $80.
Regards,
Gandolf
—sagefisher—