Hair Stacker Pad

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I tie flies for fun. I rarely fish flies that I haven’t tied, but that is not an obsession or rigid tenet of my fly fishing creed. It just works out that way. If I find a fly in a tree or if a friend shares his latest and greatest pattern, I am happy to use it. If the fly is a winner I’ll tie up a batch of them.
Because of my approach to tying, I want the time at the bench to be enjoyable. So if my bobbin snags the thread, I’ll try to fix it, but if it doesn’t work out, I’ll toss it. Life is too short…. Likewise if I see a need for a new tool, I am not above tinkering around to make it myself. If so, great. If not, I’ll buy one. But given a choice, I prefer pleasing looks.

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That’s how my bobbin holder came to be. And that is how this stacker pad appeared. I found that when I was stacking hair, the tapping bugged me. So I put an old mouse pad on the tying table. That worked but took up too much of a foot print. So I looked in the scrap wood bin. This piece of cherry was the trim end on a board from some long forgotten project. The width seemed just right, so I did a quick sanding job, drilled a couple of holes at an angle toward the end. I finished it with some Watco Danish oil. When dry, I cut a square out of that old mouse pad, and glued it on with contact cement. Four small felt circles on the bottom and it’s been working great for years. A big plus is that I can always find my bodkin now!