I’ve been finding a lot of time on my hands to do things other than fish and tie here lately, and the thought occurred to me that I could really use a tying desk. Since I can’t afford to buy one and I have a truckload of lumber at my disposal, I figured, “Why not?” The bad part is, I’m really indecisive and don’t know where I want to start.
I’ve looked at desks on the internet and magazines and am fairly unimpressed by them. Too little storage, not big enough, or something like that. I’m curious if anyone has built their own desks. It doesn’t have to be real pretty or anything, but as long as it doesn’t look like it was thrown together by a 3 year old trying to get it finished before bedtime, it’ll be fine.
BTW-I’ve pretty much become a “do-it-yourselfer” and buying one is not so much an option, especially since I can’t afford it.
I don’t know what your setup and floor plan looks like but here is an idea that is working well for me. We moved a few years ago into a smaller house and I lost my large fishing/ tying room and had to relocate it into a smaller den/bedroom type room. There was a closet area with no doors on it. It was very easy to customize this area into a tying station because it already had three walls to frame against. If you can find a couple of narrow matching dressers that fit into each end of the closet then you can put a top across them to form your table top and have room between the dressers for your legs. Customize the top part with shelves and lights to suit your needs.
If your closet has doors you might be able to use them to enclose everything when you are not using it. Just an idea for consideration.
I my case I found an inexpensive upper cabinet at Staples that fit perfectly into the upper section of the closet.
As an empty nester, I am fortunate enough to have my very own “Man Cave”. Last winter I upgraded my tying desk with the top from an old rolltop I picked up at the local Goodwill for $80 and the bottom (desk part) from Craig’s list for around $40 for a total cost of under $150 with additional materials, stain finish etc. The desk is 5 feet long, made out of solid oak and weighs a ton. I customized it with a sliding out working platform which I use for rod building etc. You can see the pull out work surface in the second photo. This desk has been one of the best investments I’ve made for my fly tying activities. Plenty of room, set up at the height I like and I can close the rolltop when not is use which makes my wife happy.
Here are a couple of photos including one of the motorized dubbing brush twister that I designed; just to give you some ideas as you start you search.
I have the same kind of desk without the pullout section. That would be great for rod building. I seem stuck on a old fold away table when working with rod stuff. Wife got it for me when I got diagnosed with cancer. It has really made me feel good to tie flies on it.
I love your desk. I have wooden tv try for my tying table. I got in on clearance for six bucks. I have a clamp vise on it, and it is loaded down with fly junk. It isn’t the most comfortable, but it has worked for almost a year of tying.
I was looking at a “Kitchen Island” at Walmart that has a fold out top to clamp a vise to. It has a draw and plenty of storage space inside the cabinet for those plastic storage bins which the cabinet doors close. The price for this unit is $99. Havn’t pulled the trigger yet, wondering if anyone has given this any thought.
That’s brilliant Donat…I think you’ve found the answer for what I’m looking for. I couldn’t find it online though. Do you know if it’s discontinued item or if it’s in store only?
The knob on the front of the dubbing twister raises and lowers the material platform. Once I have the material “captured” between the wires, I rotate the knob 1/2 turn and the platform drops out of the way. It allows me to get nice full 360 degree brushes. The materials platform is simply a 1" wide piece of schedule 40 PVC pipe cut from a piece of 4 inch PVC.
You can see the remainder of the PVC pipe in the photos of the desk in the form a trash collection system that I made. It’s by far the best trash collection system I’ve ever used as it stays out of the way and I simply drop the cut offs, tags, etc in the trough.
I LMAO…We HAVE exactly that piece IN our kitchen. Got it at Walmart last year. You are right…it would make a real nice fly tying & storage station.
Moose…I haven’t checked lately, but they always HAVE had it in our local Walmarts. I just checked & it is NOT on their website. Hopefully you can find one in the store.
BTW…assembly is very easy.
Mike
Moose,
I got to thinking, so I just went to the kitchen & measured the height, thinking it may be a mite high for use with a standard desk chair, but it’s ok. It measures 35 1/2" high, & 32" high if you left the casters off. Just thought this information might help.
Mike
I got a desk that was made to fit into a corner at Office Max. I use it in the middle of the room and it works great. Not much “storage room” but I keep all my tying material in clear plastic divided cases so I can take them with me on a fishing trip anyway.
Thanks for pointing that out tuber, I’ll saddle up after a bit and go check it out. Where I’m typing this is 29.5" high so 32" without the casters would be doable I’d think. I’ll check back !
Here is my, just slightly less elegant, version of a dubbing twister that I just put together from some foam board. Total investment of $2.79 and I have all that board in the background as extra.
If on the other hand you’ve been an extra good boy or girl this year, and you want to have a"well organized, self-contained" tying area that you can hide in plain sight you can consider this.
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