Containers

The bench and the river

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The bench is a sorting problem The river is a survival problem Floatant is the river container It has to float, or at least be findable Which is not something this shelf offers Pressure and temperature in a pocket The bench containers never leave the room And they can be many Buy for both separately And accept that we serve one of them References

Nothing that works at a vice works in a wader pocket.

The bench is a sorting problem

Dozens of containers, opened and closed constantly, under a lamp, with dry hands and tweezers. Clear, small, labelled, lidded, in a tray.

The river is a survival problem

Two or three containers, in a pocket, opened with cold wet hands, dropped in moving water, sat on. Different objects entirely.

Floatant is the river container

Small, wide, with a lid that opens one-handed and latches. 20 dome lids here are the relevant set and a threaded cap is the wrong answer at a waterline.

It has to float, or at least be findable

A dropped container in a river is gone. Bright colour, a lanyard hole or a tether is worth more than anything about the material.

Which is not something this shelf offers

No tethered caps, no lanyard features, nothing designed to be retrieved. A fly shop sells those and we do not.

Pressure and temperature in a pocket

Warm from a body, cold from the water, squeezed under a wading belt. A closure that seals at a bench may not under that cycle, which is the same test the camping property applies.

The bench containers never leave the room

Which means they can be glass, they can be fragile, and they can prioritise visibility over toughness. 84 glass containers here.

And they can be many

A dubbing collection is dozens of identical small jars in a tray. That is a system decision and it is the same one the model parts property reaches.

Buy for both separately

The commonest mistake is buying one container type and expecting it to do both jobs. They have almost nothing in common except being small.

And accept that we serve one of them

The bench, well: small, clear, cheap, in quantity. The river needs purpose-made gear and this catalog does not make it.

References

The Davis Pack Supply catalog, measured 19 October 2026. The fly tying shelf is 716 rows: 335 containers and 381 closures. 5 mL to 250 mL with a median of 59; 30 containers at 15 mL or under, 100 at 30 or under, 204 at 60 or under, and nothing above 250 mL. 165 PET, 84 glass, 62 HDPE, 24 PP. 275 bottles, 59 jars, 1 tube. 79 white, 71 clear, 61 amber, 42 blue, 24 natural, 19 black. Closures: 260 continuous thread, 43 dropper assemblies, 20 dome lids, 16 flip top, 14 phenolic, 9 liners and sealing discs, 6 specialty, 6 dropper tips and caps, 3 euro droppers.

The archetype behind this shelf is store-small-dry: 15 to 500 mL, wide mouth, PP and PET and glass, cold, solid, chunky, scooped, with "small dry parts, wide mouth to get fingers in, clear so you can see what is inside" as its stated reason. Four of the six leaves are dry sorting crafts it describes well, and the shelf does not follow it: 275 of 335 containers are bottles.

Written from 16 U.S.C. 703(a) and 50 CFR 10.13, and from the catalog as it stood on 19 October 2026. This property does not say which species are on the protected list, because that is a lookup against 50 CFR 10.13 rather than something to assert from memory. CITES, the Endangered Species Act and the Lacey Act can each reach exotic tying materials independently and none of them is read here.