Show us Your Bench #8 – Paul Dieter

Fly Tying Desks & Tying Areas — By HatchesMagazine on August 4, 2011 9:35 am

My tying desk needed to share space with my office desk on an 8′ countertop allowing the computer to face both seating areas depending on need. The space is divided by a bank of drawers of salvaged pieces from the shop. I thought the top drawer would be for the office station but of course the whole thing was tasked to tying supplies.

Certainly the most unique aspect of the desk is the built in vacuum under the vise base. I thought about this for a couple years while I was remodeling my house, dreaming up how I wanted my tying space. I was fairly sure it was a good idea but I’ve also had enough great ideas turn out to be busts in my time; this one turns out to be a great one.

It is operated by a floor switch with a mini shop vac in a foam lined box and the duct work is just two long turn electrical conduit elbows with a PVC ‘T’ fitting cut into the desk under the vise base. The vise base (stone scrap) sits on a 3/8″ foam “gasket” with a slot cut for the vacuum port. (I got the idea from a toe-kick port in a whole house vacuum system).

It does quite well in helping keep the space clean but it excels at managing deer hair. The reason for the ‘T’ fitting was originally for just a clean out and to maybe hook a hose to for general area cleaning. That was before I started making my own balsa and cork popper bodies. Turning cork at my desk lead me to construct a dust collection add-on where I can hold my dremel tool and shape poppers while all the dust gets collected.

I thought I was going to have lots of wall space but it didn’t end up that way. I don’t really care for peg or slot-board so I decided I would try glueing sheet metal up and putting peel and stick magnet tape onto items I wanted within easy reach but off the desk, like dubbing, hooks and thread. The wall idea didn’t work but the leg space under the desk was easily wide enough to accommodate some storage so I put the sheet metal there. It’s a good place for the items mentioned. I thought I’d include something I’ve had for years, that I keep just next to the desk. A little rig I call the fly studio that I use to take photos of flies at times.

It’s just an opaque cylinder that has some mirrors attached to it with bonsai wire. A single light source above give general diffused light through the cylinder and the mirrors can “bounce” hard light back into the fly to create spectral highlights and contrast. Just a piece of construction paper propped up for a background.

Rating: +4 (from 4 votes)

8 Comments

Rick Sullivan says:

August 4, 2011 at 3:30 pm

Love the vacuum attachment. I’ll be thinking up something similiar for my bench now.

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Sayfu says:

August 5, 2011 at 3:17 pm

Mine is as big, an entire bedroom just not as organized as this, but the rest of my life isn’t as organized as many others as well. Enjoyable to admire such a well thought out tying area.

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Mark says:

August 5, 2011 at 8:47 pm

You just gave me an idea. I am finishing off my basement and I already have a central vacuum throughout the house. I think I’ll make an extension to where my tying desk will be and use it for cleanup. Thanks!

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Greg says:

August 7, 2011 at 10:55 am

I am in the process of setting up a tying station up in my home office. Great ideas. I would like more detail about the fly studio. It sounds like a terrific innovation.

Thanks for sharing this information with us.

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Dave - South Africa says:

August 8, 2011 at 12:17 am

All the benches to date show an amazing dedication to our sport. The vaccum idea is brilliant, I will be attempting something similar to keep my bench tidy. Very neat Paul. Thanks to Hatches team for excellence all round.

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Alan says:

August 9, 2011 at 5:00 am

i cant seam to keep my bench asclean as those in the pictures

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Paul says:

August 9, 2011 at 7:40 pm

@ Greg
this might explain a bit
http://web.me.com/riverwader/tying/flystudioweb/index.htm

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Irv Lewis says:

January 5, 2012 at 10:15 pm

I have two tying setups. One is a large and elaborate desk in my study and the other is a smaller desk in my TV room. I like to watch movies while I tie. If my desks (both of them) were as neat as Paul’s my wife would have me taken away as an imposter. Around twice a year I spend days cleaning up both rooms and then when I start tying again the stuff accumulates. I would send pictures of my tying areas but I can’t be responsible for the serious effect it could have on the psyches of the well organized and clean cut young tiers out there. I wonder how many tiers really have benches like mine?

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