Small Hand Tool Shop Storage?

[Guest]

there's always an attendant (garbage guard??) loafing about. Theoretically they're there to give you a hand. That's a theory no-one has actually tested yet. But they're always nice to talk to, particularly the ladies. Or maybe I just have a thing about flirting with ladies at the dump. Gawd no, I hope that's not it. I swear it's not.

Brad, flirting with the old ladies at the dump is one of the highlights of my North Carolina visits.

The single dump attendee there rotates between one of two little old ladies, and occasionally an older Lumbee Indian guy. They sit in a little 6x8 mini trailer all day, not to give anyone a hand, just to answer questions about what goes in which dumpster and make sure no one drops off unwanted puppies. They do a great job of the former, less of the latter, which usually happens after hours in any case.

They quickly came to love me. Even the once grumpy Lumbee fellow.

One of the Tortoise Reserve tasks was hit the grocery in the nearest town once or twice a week for produce that was about to be thrown away. The deal was that produce guys saved it all on a couple giant flatbed carts in the back and I would load up the bed of the full sized pick up with cardboard boxes of expired fruits and vegetables.

The complication with that deal was that they put everything from the produce section on that cart, not just the tortoise suitable fruits, melons and vegetables, but citrus, onions, even salad dressings and bagged croutons that were of no use as turtle food. Including bouquets of cut flowers just past their sell by date.

Flower bouquets which I would plunk in a cup of water overnight and present to the dump attendants the next day. I was guaranteed at least a hug a week from the dump ladies, and even the old Lumbee guy came around when he started taking flowers home to the missus.

There were a lot of odd and rigidly enforced rules at that dump. I had a wink and a nod to do anything.

 

[Odyssey]

Whoa, handing out flower bouquets at the dump. I could either get real lucky, or real unlucky. At my time of life I'm not sure which is worse.

A vintage tool thread +++++
Compliments a vintage gear thread.

My brothers and I took away Dad's tools from his shop in the basement, at our Mom's behest, but it didn't seem right to mess with his orderly bench and array of shop tools, after he left this world. You see, we grew up under orders to use his stuff properly, keep them clean, and always replace them all where they belonged. Funny thing is, I don't ever recall him giving me heck for breaking those rules. I was as scatterbrained then as I am now, so I must've misplaced a file, screwdriver and chisel as often as I scurried past his bench, tho' there was never any repercussions of childhood plans gone awry. It's a shame he left us so soon, as it would've been cool to wander round big box stores to look at all the new tool loot, and round the flea markets to look at all the old world tool loot. He was a machinist by trade, and an all round DIYer by necessity, as are we all are at times. I have just a few chosen workbench treasures, a contractor brother has a good many more of Dad's tools. A younger brother is a collector of sorts, and has quite a few more, including all the machinist stuff, and my son has an old carpenter's box full of cherished tools I passed on from my grandfather. Another brother of mine in the States has one solitary tool; a claw hammer with stacked leather handle. It features in some old home movies of Mom and Dad building the house. Aside for "the teapot", that's the family treasure. Ha. It's funny how we place emotional anchors on selected items from our past, to help keep us moored to memories of lives loved past. I'd trade all my workshop for that hammer, but am sincerely glad my brother has it, he who lives so far from the family homestead. Fields anew, new and distant shores, and all that...and new workshops. On my last visit with him in NC he proudly showed me his boisterous garden... and all the beautiful shelving he'd built in his garage. Ha, the hammer lives on. But it's sad to see old tools, like many useful items from generations past, moldering in dusty heaps of rusty forsaken clutter. I tend to linger in flea markets in front of books and tools, wishing like an errant visitor of the dog pound, hoping wishing praying somebody would adopt one more cast off, rescue it to take it home, and give it a new life...a long happy life well loved with purpose. Silly soppy fool, me.
Too many blobby words to say, nice find Sweeper.


ps . I thought Tortoise Reserve was just a name; never realized it was much more than that. Cool.

 

[Chip]

Are magnetic tool holders a good idea in a metal shop?

I've been working on a kinetic sculpture project. We work in the team leader's shop, which is very well equipped, including a lot of magnetic tool holders and other magnetic accessories. Every time I am in that shop, I am reminded of this thread. First, because nobody on that team puts tools away. Collectively, I think we spend half our time looking for tools and parts that somebody has laid down. Second, because all the tools are slightly magnetic. Metal filings and cuttings stick to every tool, and some of the magnetic holders are thickly covered with metal shavings. Before I can get that 3/32 allen wrench into the set screw, I have to use my fingers to remove as much metal debris as possible, or it won't fit into the screw. Almost every tool in that shop is magnetic.

On the bench around the drill press there are several mag strips holding drill bits, only you can't see the smaller bits because the mag strips attract and hold all the little pig-tail metal shavings from drilling.

Fortunately, working on canoes doesn't generate a lot of metal filings, so magnetic tools aren't much of an issue. If you do a lot of work with metal, be aware that the mag strips will result in metal dust clinging to your tools. It's not a huge issue, but I find it amusing and slightly annoying.

 

[sweeper]

I feel your pain on the looking for the tools that everyone leaves around. I only go to work when I feel like it and most day the thought of going in there and hunt for tools and a space to work isn't worth and the boss is the worst offender

I see you point on magnets and metal shops. The only problem I have with magnetism is my set of Marple Chisels on a bar. Sharping them and getting the filings off.

 

[Odyssey]

... nobody on that team puts tools away.

I'm often working on jobsites and this is my biggest annoyance. Always on the lookout for any of mine to place aside in a neat arrangement where I'll find them mind them and not lose them. On a long project this past year I shared tools with a friend who is terminally tool challenged ie He picks up item/tool , uses item/tool, and immediately misplaces the darned thing. I started bringing a dozen pencils to work every morning and three extra tape measures. "Hey Brad, got a pencil, and did you see what I did with my tape measure?" They would last till lunchtime, when I'd go hunting for them again. The last straw was finding at the end of the day a power tool of mine in a pile of sawdust about to go into the garbage bin. What the... That's when I started hoarding my stuff like a petulant teen, and insisting he find where he last lay his down. Petty. I know. But by the end of the project he'd re-found all his stuff again. Amazing. And we're still friends.

 

[Guest]

I feel your pain on the looking for the tools that everyone leaves around. I only go to work when I feel like it and most day the thought of going in there and hunt for tools and a space to work isn't worth and the boss is the worst offender

The biggest offender in my shop at leaving tools in some obscure place is the boss, and since I usually work alone the boss is me. The most frequent objects de lost are tape measures, rulers and yardsticks. I am the master at carrying those off to measure something and leaving them there. Or, as often, not quite there, but at some random midway point.

Next addition to the near at hand magnetic tool bar will be a metal ruler marked in English and metric.

My usual shop partners are, or would be, even worse culprits. They do not know where everything lives to find it, much less put it back. Working with a shop partner my principal job is to put tools away behind them and lay out what I know they will next need. It keeps them working and keeps the shop organized.

I do not do a lot of metal work, and always shop vac up the filings, shavings and damable curly cue spirals immediately afterwards, lest I slice a finger or track sharp metal bits into the house. Wood dust is one thing, metal shavings are a whole different issue.

Folks who routinely do metal work, how do you deal with the debris? Or do you even bother much?

Are magnetic tool holders a good idea in a metal shop?

In a metal shop, maybe not. Without a doubt, for my shop purposes and conveniences, they are the best thing since power sanders.

The magnetic tool bars I set up to hold the selection of most often used tools have been an evolving godsend. There is now 42 inches of magnetic tool bar set in front of the bench. I added a third magnetic bar a few weeks ago as I continued to find more everyday tools that I wanted kept within easy reach.

Actually, I altered the position of all three everyday bars. The main bench is 38 inches deep, and my arms are not that long. I added a 7 inch deep wood extension off the wall to hold the tool bar closer at hand. Now I can reach those tools and put them back without an awkward stretch.

That simple no stretch convenience has made a world of difference, especially with my putting the tools back on the bar instead of pushing them into a pile on one side of the bench until Dammit, where is the little Phillips head? It is just as easy to slap them back on the magnet bar an arms length away.

I'm often working on jobsites and this is my biggest annoyance.
On a long project this past year I shared tools with a friend who is terminally tool challenged ie He picks up item/tool , uses item/tool, and immediately misplaces the darned thing. I started bringing a dozen pencils to work every morning and three extra tape measures. "Hey Brad, got a pencil, and did you see what I did with my tape measure?" They would last till lunchtime, when I'd go hunting for them again.

I spend a lot of time working in the shop at the Tortoise Reserve and, when working with other folks, developed the habit of accounting for all the tools I brought down a couple times a day. And making sure all my stuff, even the extension cords, are marked with a big M in enamel paint pen.

About pencils and tape measures. I bring a 10 pack of cheap No 2 pencils and a couple of carpenter pencils to leave behind at the Tortoise Reserve every trip. Twice a year at least. I have brought at least three multipacks of inexpensive tape measures and left them during past visits. At least 9 tape measures. 11 if you count a couple oddballs.

Next visit a few months later I am lucky if I can find a single tape measure and a lone No 2 pencil with the lead busted out.

The oddball tape measures left at the Tortoise Reserve were just plain mean. I accidentally broke the first two inches off a quality tape measure, so I reattached the tang at the 2 inch mark. I deliberately cut the first 8 feet off another to attach vertically to a wall, and reattached the tang at a nice uneven 97 and some fraction inches. Even those two tape measures wandered off in short order.

 

[Odyssey]

Yes, at the end of every day I do a reconnoitre of the site looking for my stuff and to remind myself I am having fun.

 

[Chip]

Folks who routinely do metal work, how do you deal with the debris? Or do you even bother much?

Captain Pat uses the same weapons you do: broom, shop vac, and leaf blower. He puts on the respirator when leaf blowing, and I take his dog for a walk around the block, upwind.