What to do with those pesky styrofoam blocks from Christmas

[Finger-Lakes Flyguy 0]

I wondering if anybody had any ideas for those foam blocks that come in toy and television boxes.  I was thinking about a fly tying organizer or even use them for tying.  Any input is very much appreciated.  I really don't want to send them to the landfill if I can repurpose them for fly tying.  By the way I'm new to the forum and have been tying on and off for years but, just recently got real serious about etymology and studying other's tying techniques.  I prefer tying the tried and true classics from yester year.  Just never found the new "swimmer" style of flies appealing.

[utyer 0]

When I worked in IT, I had an endless supply of those foam blocks.  I put them into various configurations as tool holders, and fly dryers Right now my desk is in flux, as soon as I am finished re-organizing and cleaning up, I will post a few pictures.  I also use the thinner sheets and make liners for fly boxes.   

[Guest]

I use it up and get another...

[Philly 0]

I've never had much luck with that type of Styrofoam.  It always seems to disintegrate on me.  Every so often I get something that's package in a closed cell foam.  I've been able to cut them into usable pieces(squares).  In this picture of my tying desk you can see two blue pieces behind my vise. One is a solid piece, the one in back of it has a hole cut in the center that I can use to hold various things.   On the left, just behind the blue UV flashlight is a large white piece.  Hole in the center to store/hold whatever.  

  

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

Like most I’m inundated with various foams that come in packaging.  I’ve managed to use a bit of it off and on (particularly the foam trays that fresh veggies come in from the grocery store).  They make convenient drying trays for flies and bucktail jigs when you’re doing production work.  Here's a pic of one of the many trays and and foam containers ready to serve as drying racks for orders I''m working on... 

If memory serves this was a tray that mushrooms came in... I have them in all different shapes and sizes (larger ones very handy for larger or long flies...).  Since they stack together nicely they don't take up much space either... 

I also have a single hard foam cube on my tying bench that serves as a pincushion for various needles, dressmaker’s pins and assorted bits of trolling wire and other sharp items.  It does take a year or two to wear it out then it’s tossed and replaced with a new cube...

[Finger-Lakes Flyguy 0]

I like all the ideas so far.  I do vaguely remember as a kid my dad tying buck tail jigs for winter small mouth bass fishing and using foam blocks for drying the nail polish he used to paint the naked lead heads. Boy was my mom mad when he used her nail polish. Lol

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

Forgot to mention one other very good use for the odd foam block or foam sheet.  For many years I worked boat and fishing shows (even a few fly only shows...) as a tyer - usually sharing space with whichever fly shop I was filling orders for.  In recent years I've been busy enough guiding that I've backed off a bit (and I'm no longer filling orders for shops...).

Every show I worked from out of state back to Florida was a different proposition - some were a treat to work - others not so much... In windy conditions outdoors or places where your booth was set near outside doors it was always a challenge to not only set up your table and get all of your necessaries sorted out - but also to be able to set up a display so folks attending the show could see what you were doing - and be able to get a good look at the flies and/or lures you'd displayed....  That's where odd pieces of hard and occasionally soft foam were very handy.  The only thing extra I needed was a roll of double sided tape and a box of toothpicks... 

With the double-sided tape I could anchor the foam pieces wherever needed and the toothpicks not only allowed me to join various blocks together - but had other more important uses.. 

Toothpicks are invaluable in securing flies for display on foam blocks (when you weren't just sticking the fly hook to the foam..). With a big fly it was simple to lay it on top of the foam then use a toothpick through the eye of the hook to hold it in place at the exact angle you wanted to display it.  With flies that were reverse tied (hook point up instead of down - like bonefish bugs, Bendback patterns, and others) you first stuck the toothpick (or just half a toothpick) down into the foam -then set the eye of the hook onto the "spike" you'd created to show it to best advantage... Here's one or two patterns that always benefited from being displayed in that manner... 

Big Eye Bendback, 1/0 Mustad 34007, bent

Bonefish bugs in size #4 Mustad 34007,  the top two are my version of the Mitch Howell pattern, the bottom a Clear Charlie in pink pearl and tan

the Natural Slinky, 1/0 Mustad 34007, bent

Thread: flat waxed nylon, Danville's, red (#056)

Body:     gold Diamond braid, doubled then wound from the hook bend back to within a bit less than 1/4" of the hook eye

Underwing: sparse amount of dyed brown bucktail, 

Flash:  gold Flashabou, doubled and re-doubled with staggered ends - 10 to as much as 20 strands on top of underwing

Wing (and tail):  Two dyed brown maribou blood quill, mated with curve inwards and tied in on top of the flash

Collar:  One wide webby saddle hackle (natural variant or furnace or badger..)  with as much of the fluff left in place as possible, tied in by the butt then palmered densely forward to the hook eye and snapped free - not cut to end... 

Head:  built up with tying thread back over some of the collar and whip finished to end.

Finish:  Thread super-glued then allowed to dry then eyes painted on top of the finished head - when dry final finish is FlexCoat a rodbuilder's epoxy... 

 

When I started tying for shops, more than  40 years ago now... I was told that first I had to hook the angler... At the end of each show all the foam display items were broken down - and only the flies came home with me (always had much more foam around than I ever wanted to deal with... ).

 

"Fly anglers wanted"

[utyer 0]

Here are a few more of the places I have put foam to work for me.  I have about 25 fly boxes that use recycled foam.   All the canisters are recycled plastic containers.  The two foam cup cozies, were found in a yard sale for 25 cents.