New Shop is Coming Together

[Guest]

I'm with you on the "where to put stuff" dilemma, I'm getting close to have to start on thinking of how am I gonna a fit my stuff in!!

I spent the better part of 2 full days this week reorganizing just the main bench area. 14 feet of bench top and 21 feet of wrap around peg board, all reorganized with an eye towards ease and efficiency.

And yeah, those magnetic tool bars are the bomb.

 

[sweeper]

And yeah, those magnetic tool bars are the bomb.

I added 3 feet of bar this month and still working on the where to put the 4th.

 

[Cruiser]

Mike ...one of the really useful uses for those bars is for smaller, easy to misplace items. I was marking out the decks for my new canoe yesterday using a carpenters pencil, it needed a sharpen, no looking or fuss finding the sharpener, it lives on a small bar with a few other small items, the little cutter is iron and magnetic.

Brian

 

[Guest]

I added 3 feet of bar this month and still working on the where to put the 4th.

I originally ordered a three pack of 12 inch bars and, when I realized how freaking handy they were, bought a 6 pack of 16 inch bars. Just enough, I used every one of them.

 

[sweeper]

WOW! That's a lot of magnets

 

[dougd]

Today was a planning day which means due to the snow, rain, sleet, snow, freezing rain mix I cranked the heat in the Canoe Shed and did a lot of mental planning where stuff is going to go. Of course I had to test the cans of liquid courage in the fridge to help me with this task. Let's see a shelf there to hold this and that and one of those, naw, I want it over there! Another can of liquid courage and decided to wait for another day when the weather isn't fighting me. I did manage to get the Satan Boat into the shed for a custom paint job but soon gave up on that, just one of those days where lazy is the best way to go!

 

[Odyssey]

Aluminum beer cans won't stick to those magnetic bars, which effectively makes those magnetic tool holders nearly useless, except for parking tools.

 

[goonstroke]

Aluminum beer cans won't stick to those magnetic bars, which effectively makes those magnetic tool holders nearly useless, except for parking tools.

Can't you use them for storing El Cheapo stainless steel hardware?

 

[deerfly]

looking good doug, time well spent.

I need to do some face lifting in my garage too after the Northwind is done and before the next project. One can waste a lot of time shuffling and scrounging around for stuff that should be readily available.

 

[Odyssey]

I was in Lee Valley just the other day looking at magnet bars, clasps, hasps, hinges...axes?? They had GBs and Hulti's in a glass display on the wall. I stood in front of the featherboards pretending to be deep in thought considering my table saw options, but actually admiring that glass case out of the corner of my eye, (this is how I fight the pangs of guilt longing for something I have no real need for, who "needs" a third axe? But I do actually need a featherboard.) A young man breezed up "Ah! I can tell you're interested in the featherboards! Can I help you?" Continuing to fake my disinterest I answered "Um. Do you have more of these curious looking axes?" He ushered me over to the customer computer stations to scroll through their inventory, and then left me alone to explore virtually, virtually undisturbed. I spent the next half hour assuring a sales person every 5 minutes that everything was fine, I didn't need any help, I can find my way around unaided thanks very much. Had my wife tipped them off that I had a 100 dollar bill burning a hole in my pocket, and it was meant for cabinet hardware and a featherboard, NOT for axes? I didn't test that theory. I left two minutes later with the clasps I'd gone in for. Those axes were safe. For the moment. And I forgot my featherboard. I feel another shop shopping trip coming up.
Good luck with yours Doug. Sometimes planning and pondering is the best non-action to take.

 

[Guest]

WOW! That's a lot of magnets

Just enough. I had planned to send one to DougD to try in his new shop, but he is SOL now.

I did not even know those magnetic tool bars existed until a couple weeks ago. They made it organizationally easy and saved a lot of space. I am not sure how I could have reorganized the hand tools without them.

One bar of chisels
One bar of metric box wrenches, still need to arrange them by size.
One bar of imperil box wrenches, ditto, and I am sure I will find metric and imperial mixed together.
One bar of files and rasps
One bar of flat head screwdrivers
One bar of Phillips head screwdrivers, still need to clean, grind and file them. And toss some out.
One bar at easy seated bench reach reserved for the stuff I use almost every day, 2 Phillips, 4 flat head, small adjustable wrench, three eights and seven sixteenths ratchet wrench, calipers, putty knife, driver bits, burr bits, center punch, etc.

One can waste a lot of time shuffling and scrounging around for stuff that should be readily available.

One can spend a lot of time thinking about where the stuff most often used should be located most easily accessible. Not a waste of time, more an investment in future time savings.

And one empty magnetic bar. I am hoping to retrain myself to put the screwdrivers, wrenches, bits and etc that I am using on a benchtop project on that empty bar, rather than leaving them loose, displaced and disappearing on the bench. Having them all at hand and visible on the bar should make it easier to put things back where they belong when I am done.