Has anyone made a cabinet to hold fly tying supplies?

[Bill Bukovec]

I'm thinking of making a small cabinet (as a gift) to store supplies for tying flies.

I imagine a cabinet about 24" wide x 12" deep x 16" tall.

Mainly I'd like to know what features the cabinet should have. I know nothing about tying flies, so any hints, photos or dimensions are welcome.

Good luck,

Bill

[Keith Pitman]

I'm not sure about cabinets, but you can find some ideas by Googling "fly tying desk.". Here's an example from Orvis:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/webkit-fake-url://17ACF6C3-DFBB-4497-8F9E-9FDAE1D8088D/imagejpeg

Usually, a desk/cabinet would need some shelf space, lots of drawers, and lots of spindles to hold spools of thread and other materials.

Good luck.

[Chris Barnett]

No photo or whatever was attempted to be shown...only a red x.

[Larry Whitlow]

I think that Shop Notes or WoodSmith may have once had something like a portable fly tying desk. I'll see if I can find the issue.

[Keith Pitman]

No photo or whatever was attempted to be shown...only a red x.

Couldn't load the picture from the Ipad, but you can find it with little effort with Google.

[Kieran Kammerer]

More of a desk but looks like it has some nice features. Found it with a google image search.

[Joe Kieve]

Unless he's just starting out and hasn't acquired very materials yet, that's not big enough. Mine is 24wX24DX36H and it's full.
Just my 2 cents.

Meant to say very many materials, not very materials.

[Howard Welch]

Bill,

I suggest that you look at the tying materials at a local fly fishing shop. The feathers and many other materials are longer than the 12" depth that you are planning for. Look particularly at the necks and saddles for size. Many tiers store stuff in the original plastic zip bags, and the bag usually are laid flat in a drawer (sometimes they are hung vertically, but that is if a lot of materials are stored). If the drawers are too tall, stuff can get buried, and threads should be in a single layer so that the ends of spools can be read from the top. Again, a visit to a fly shop would be informative.

Regards,
H Welch

[Larry Whitlow]

249291249292

This is the one I recalled seeing in ShopNotes (Vol 15, Issue 87). It is actually more of an all purpose portable hobby chest. One of the photos shows it being used as a fly tying station. The top and first drawer slide out as a unit which seems like a neat feature. This is about 18"W x 12"D x 12"H. That is a lot smaller than you indicated but dimensions can always be changed.

[Ed Weiser]

In general fly tying is done sitting at a vise so a desk or table would have a place for a vise to clamp and a flat surface for staging the tying of the fly (multiple kinds of items in any individual fly). Storage, on the other hand, is usually separate or below in a desk (not what you're building) or above in an "over desk." If separate, a floor standing cabinet of drawers with multiple compartments in some and large areas in others is appropriate. After nearly 50 years of fly tying I have accumulated large amounts of "stuff" and use a tower of drawers accessible from either side originally intended as a pantry item. It measures 18" wide with 24" deep drawers and is 54 inches high. Some fly tyers I know have "shoe boxes" of stuff often poorly organized and would greatly appreciate such a gift! Terrific idea.

[John Piwaron]

what's wanted looks a lot like a Shaker sewing desk. Perhaps this could be built with some modification.

FWIW, the image is from Christian Becksvoort's website. I'm sure he'll be happy to build one for you for around $14,000. No, I'm not kidding, that's the price for it on his website.

249381

[Joe Kieve]

[QUOTE=John Piwaron;2027837]what's wanted looks a lot like a Shaker sewing desk. Perhaps this could be built with some modification.

FWIW, the image is from Christian Becksvoort's website. I'm sure he'll be happy to build one for you for around $14,000. No, I'm not kidding, that's the price for it on his website.

249381
I'll save you a little cash and build it for $13,000, LOL!

[John Piwaron]

[QUOTE=John Piwaron;2027837]what's wanted looks a lot like a Shaker sewing desk. Perhaps this could be built with some modification.

FWIW, the image is from Christian Becksvoort's website. I'm sure he'll be happy to build one for you for around $14,000. No, I'm not kidding, that's the price for it on his website.

249381
I'll save you a little cash and build it for $13,000, LOL!

I'll save myself a lot of cash and build it myself.

OTOH, I've done that before. See a picture of something that I like, look at the "crazy" price, then build it. It doesn't take too long to figure out why the builder had a high price on it. A good piece really does take a while to make. Easily justifying at least a good part of the cost. Sometimes I think the cost is what it is because of A) famous name maker or B) currently popular fashion.