Everybody knew it had to happen, everybody.  Even the mostly benign world of fly fishing would at some point bow before the invader, the dreaded, the spiteful Corona Virus.  Well you know what we do when life gives us lemons right?  We counterattack with lemonade.  So, what do we do with those spiny little spherical MF’s that are interfering with the honorable pursuit of tying bugs to catch fish with?  We hang our thread spools on them of course.  “Damn the torpedo’s”.  

Having said that, I will wildly speculate that the Covid-19 Spool Rack that Bench Buddys is now offering is the first retaliation launched by the fly fishing nation against the pandemic.  Go ahead, prove me wrong, my feelings won’t be hurt (insert lying-through-your-teeth emoji).  I’m just letting you know that I am doing my part, making my humble contribution, getting my dog in the fight, OK, shut up…

I’m not sure exactly when it struck me, probably as I was browsing through images of Covid-19.  They have an eerie sort of allure that many artists are exploring and exploiting.  Can those things be modeled?  Sure.  Can they be adapted to something useful?  Probably.  Why not attempt to do it in wood?  OK.  Recognizing my own limitations I turned to a colleague from the Guild of Oregon Woodworkers, Roger Crooks.  Roger is a gifted wood turner and he agreed to spin these hemispherical pieces out of a mid-western hardwood, Honey Locust.  For a look at Roger’s artistry dial up  https://www.rogercrooks.com   

My task was to implant a small swivel in the base, find a suitable piece of wood for a baseplate and add a dozen or so pegs to hold the spools.  After a number of contortions I came up with a rough template that would get the longitudinal lines where they needed to be and then it was off to the drill press.  By design, drill presses were made for drilling holes in something with a flat surface.  Curse you corona virus, why did you have to be round?