I've noticed that after a few hours spent sitting at my work area while wrapping guides and other tasks involved in rod building, that my body can get tired and sore. Neck and back get strained from leaning over the work area, legs cramp from sitting in one position to long. I'm going to redo the rod room sometime this summer. I've read where standing is easier on the body and actually can be a little healthier. I may build my work area so that all my desk area is at a standing level and I would get a bar height stool for when I needed a break from standing.

What pros and cons do the rest of you see with sitting vs. standing? How many of us sit, how many stand?

Thanks,
Chad Huderle

Huderle Custom Rods
Prior Lake, MN

I can't sit, I hate it. My problem is I set my bench up for sitting, so I have all sorts of neck issues when I wrap a lot. I am going to be raising my bunch when I redo my shop sometime in the next few months.

Chad - Standing is much, much easier on your back!

_________________________________________
"Angling is extremely time consuming.
That's sort of the whole point." - Thomas McGuane

If your neck is hurting, then the rod is too low relative to your head. Standing up and working a higher bench won't change this if the rod is still too far below your head.

............

Tom is right about height. A foot surgery prevents my standing for long periods, so I solved the issue by lowering my chair. No more sore neck.

I play around with some woodworking and have a couple of benches at different heights depending on the task I am doing. The key is to not hunch over. Bench height should be customized for the individual.

If you are going to stand for long periods give some thought to what you are standing on. You may want to try some mats such as thoase sold at woodworking suplliers. They can make a difference, especially if you are on concrete.

When standing, what is suggested as the optimum height in relation to your body?

I sit down most of the time, and my rod wheels are high, and i don't get any neck or sholuder aches and pains. occasionally i'll stand if i'm wrapping a tiger or doing a guide right at the end of my bench where i tend to stretch more if i'm sitting down.

I would suggest

Keep it and instead of sitting - stand do not sit and see if that helps
If you fell better Then maybe you just need a higher chair
Your body will tell you if it is too low or too high If your feet hurt then mats like said will help

That is why I have a Chiropractor on hand

Bill - willierods.com

standing ,and i have the bar stool to sit back and look at the work and rest the eyes,the one thing i have bad habit of doing is using the stool as a table,sitting in a dish of epoxy is NOT good for shorts and the wife cannot get it out!

As long as you don't stay seated for a couple of hours and get up with the stool stuck to you Doooo

Bill - willierods.com

If you subscribe to Rodmaker Mag. check out the photo for the Renzetti add. Shows a veteran setup. Personally I can't stand that long, but eye level and arm angle shown here might help.

TJB

I stand when wrapping - but I set up the shop specifically for this purpose. I built the bench top at 44" (added 6" deep drawers on top of standard kitchen base cabinets). For me this puts the work at a comfortable level (no neck craning). I decided I needed more organized storage space than I needed a chair. Also, again because of the way the shop and work flow are organized, I can take a break from wrapping to glue up another rod; taper guide feet; trim blanks; work on handle assemblies or whatever. Basically I put in 4-8 hours / day 5 days a week in the shop working and I'm hardly ever "motionless". To make it easier I put sponge / cushion floor tiles in - because standing on hard concrete floors is hard on the feet / legs

Ditto what Chris Stevenson said about having the barstool and using it for a table. I also have ruined some pants with epoxy left on the stool. I've got a screwed up back and can't stand or sit very long, The ICRBE always has me stiff and hurting for several days after two days of standing, sitting and walking. I have my wrapper on a bench I built so that the blank is at about breast hight on me. That way I can stand up straight for a while then sit on my barstool w/ backrest and armrest for a while then go back to standing or even into the house to the recliner for a while. I also have a bad disk in my neck so I have to have whatever I'm working on high enough so I'm not looking down for very long. Its @#$%& getting old!

I've had 5 open shoulder blade surgeries in the past 2 years (2 on left and 3 on right -- I've re-tore them twice and just recently re-tore them, so it's looking like surgery 6 and 7) from where I tore some muscles off my shoulder blade from an old football injury, this caused a lot of neck pain on its own. But in having these, I learned a lot of exercised to help. (You'll also get neck pain, etc, if you're in front of a computer a lot). If you're wrapping a lot, get a big exercises ball. Every hour or less, take a 5 min. break, lay on your back on the ball and stretch out your pec muscles...DO NOT do flyes on the exercise ball, just stretch out your chest, flyes tighten the chest. When wrapping and sitting in front of a computer, your pec muscles want to roll/pull forward, causing pulling on back/neck muscles and causing pain. Also, go get some exercise bands for under $10. Use these to do some exercise rows. This will help strengthen your rhomboids and trapezius (one of the attachments is the to bottom of skull, this causes neck pain) and keep them in the proper position. You'll be amazed at how much 5 minutes of stretching will help relieve neck pain.

As for my bench, I bought some folding tables from sam's, I have an adjustable seat that I use, and I built my hand wrapper so I can more or less sit up straight. The supports are close to a foot tall, this way I can put my elbows on the table and the rod will hit me in my hands. There is no leaning over.

Hi Chad,
Some excellent ideas posted. Personally I'm a sitter, so also try getting a good chair that is height and tilt adjustable which will get you at the right height if your bench is a bit off. Mine is a high back that I can just lean back in and have a bit of relaxation when required. If you can find the right chair you maybe able to work both standing and sitting.Take regular breaks, get a cup of coffee or glass of wine or beer ( not too much). My chair has also got wheels so I can easily move around if needed. Everyones different so you need to find what works for you.

A good post as people will have problems if they don't get themselves setup correctly.

ESFNEM Col
Port Kembla, NSW
Australia

Well yesterday I measured the room and laid out everything using Google Sketchup(great tool by the way!). I'm 6'1" so I think if I set my bench around 42" that should be a comfortable height. Doing that also creates a ton of storage space below the bench.

Thanks for everyone's input.

Thanks,
Chad Huderle

Huderle Custom Rods
Prior Lake, MN

Chad,
Before you make any thing permanent, do a test.

If you have a table all ready and want to change the height to a different level, take boxes, blocks or whatever, and adjust the height of your wrapping to the height that you are thinking about using.

Then, use the setup for a few days to see if you really like it. You can use combinations of blocks and lumber to adjust the height of the table top to your liking before making anything permanent.

--
Another thing that is really really important.
If you wear glasses, especially if your glasses are bifocals, trifocals or variable vision - figure out the distance of your eye ball from your rod that is being wrapped. Then, go to your eye doctor and pick up a pair of SINGLE VISION glasses that match that distance.
Then, when you are wrapping, you can look from any corner of your eye, with any tilt of your head at your work and be in perfect focus.

Nothing worse than wrapping with a variable vision pair of glasses or bi or trifocal glasses and have to have your head tilted exactly in one direction to have good focus on your work.

Also, if you currently don't use vision magnification, get some. Either use a head mounted magnifier, a pair of telescopic glasses, or a bench mounted magnifier. The amount of eye strain is reduced immensely if you have good magnification on your wraps when wrapping.

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Whether sitting or standing, use a high quality adjustable height chair or adjustable height stool for the times that your standing bench requires that you sit down.

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Of course, also have very very bright task lighting in your guide wrapping area for the particular guide that you are wrapping. Fatigue increases big time if you are working in the dark - so to speak.
Industry studies have indicated that high level detail work requires lighting levels that are about 10X the amount of lighting required for general room lighting.

--
If room length permits it; install a very long rod building bench that allows you to remain standing or sitting at one location, and then move your rod past your work station. By moving your rod past you, rather than you moving up and down the rod, you don't have to continually move tools etc. I have rollers on the bottom of my power wrapper to allow the rod to roll past me from the tip to the butt of the rod without myself or my tools moving at all.

--
The key thing when wrapping is to be able to wrap with your body in a comfortable - ergonomically correct position and with no hunching over to see and work on your rod under construction.

So, this means that
a. Bench at correct height.
b. Rod at correct height
c. Chair or stool if needed at correct height.
If sitting your body should be making 90 degree angles.
1. Feet flat on the floor.
2. Knees making a 90 degree bend.
3. Shoulders square to the body.
4. Elbows making a 90 degree bend.
5. Very little head bending or shoulder stooping when wrapping.

p.s.
With respect to magnification and vision aids:
If you do use head magnification and or vision aids as well as glasses, you may find it to your advantage to take your magnification aids with you when you go to the eye doctor to pick up your single vision glasses. i.e. If you use glasses and additional vision magnification, you may find that a different focal length of your single vision glasses is required to work properly with your magnification and still be in focus at the distance where you have your rod for perfect wrapping.
i.e. if you find that you have the most comfortable wrapping with your hands at 14 inches away from your eye balls and using a X2 magnifier, then take the X2 magnifier with you to the eye doctor and ask them to give you a pair of single vision glasses that will have perfect focus with the X2 magnifier in place and with the eye target set at 14 inches.

Good luck
REW

Chad,
Before you make any thing permanent, do a test.

gee Roger when I grow up can I be just like you
Only kidding
I was thinking the same thing Just too lazy to put it into print

Bill - willierods.com

Bill,
Amazing, great minds think alike.

Or is it the fact that I have been burned before because I did not test before making a change and then having to change it again?

Roger