I know there has recently been some posts on using budget rods and reels. I thought I would add this article I found regarding building a budget fly tying station.
The article was originally done in 2008, so I was worried the cutting board set would not be at Walmart anymore, but it was!
I was able to purchase all the Dowels, Wood Glue, and Cutting Boards for around 25$!
This is how mine came out:
It really kept me a lot more organized and able to tie a good bit more efficiently. I’m not having to dig through a pile of fur and feathers for my scissors every 2 minutes. Anyways thought I would pass this on.
To be honest it was surprisingly easy… Cut the Two small cutting boards in half and drill the holes and fit it together. I only used the wood glue when I messed something up.
I notice that you dont mount much to the 2 wings on either side of the main board. they do not look too stable to me. can you mount your vise to them? i think that area needs strenghtening.
the wing on the right merely holds a magnetic strip to hold flies? what else does it do?
I used 1/2" Dowels. I have clamped my vise down on the side platforms and set my 18v Cordless Drill on them as well (Pretty heavy). I just got into Fly Tying last fall and haven’t accumulated a whole lot of tools and stuff to add to it yet but both platforms on the side can hold plenty of weight and are very sturdy.
I always wonder why someone would confine themselves like that.
That raised portion on the left of the vise would be in my way every time I tied…the rail on the right I’d have to work around to get some things done…
A couple of free moving pieces of two by four with some holes drilled in them would do the same job, cost less, and you could move them where you wanted them. You have all that table space that that is ‘wasted’ since you’d have to reach over stuff to get to it.
My ‘tying bendch’ is an old surplus industrial workbench that a friend gave me…it’s 30 inches deep and 96 inches long…free.
I bought an 18" X “24 piece of 3/16 aluminum plate at a scrap yard, cost me five bucks…makes an excellent tying surface…nice gray background with no glare, easy to clean, you can use markers on it to size materials. I use one 48” long piece of 2 X 4 across the back of the bench with holes drilled every couple of inches to hold those things that I want close but don’t use every day. A cheap foam block from the big box store was less than a dollar, I stick a lot of my tools into that, and the scrap 2 X 4s I had laying around…costs less than $10 and I can spread out if I need to.
I get the cute little tying station idea if you are only tying small trout flies or such, but I like to lay out materials for streamers on the bench, precut stuff so it’s more efficient, some of my deer hair pieces are twelve inches long and six inches wide…and you seldom spin a deer hair bug with only one color…where do you lay these out so you can get to them without fumbling? I like ‘space’.
I know they look neat and very ‘organized’, but all you really ‘need’ is a table to clamp the vise to.
My ‘tying bendch’ is an old surplus industrial workbench that a friend gave me…it’s 30 inches deep and 96 inches long…free.
Heh, a few months ago I commandeered an old vanity (as used by women when putting on makeup & jewelry) that had somehow taken up residence near my room. I think we put it there to make room elsewhere and just kind of forgot about it.
Its got 2 ‘wings’ on either side of a recessed area where you sit, each with 3 small wooden drawers. Also, as dictated by its original purpose, there’s a large mirror on the back with a hinged “wing” mirror on either side of that. Since my vise isnt rotary, this gives me an instantaneous way to look at the other side of my flies. Since the table is an antique, I put an 18" x 48" piece of tabletop (1 1/2" thick “fake wood” made of compacted wood fiber…Ikea board) to protect the dark stained wood. Still working on tool racks, magnet strips, etc., but this setup gives me plenty of usable surface for vise, tools, materials, a small set of drawers for beads and stuff, and room to spare while the drawers are organized into groups like, furs, hackle, body material, egg materials, etc.
Plus, I think an antique fly tying bench looks pretty classy…
There was a thread on another ff site where tyers posted pics of their tying areas. Some were very elaborate, even entire rooms dedicated to ff, and some very modest. Allowed others to get ideas and the posters an opportunity to share their lives a little.
