I recently completed my new shaping space and have started to organize my tools. Today I made this gadget to hold my two planers on the wall. Next I need something to hold a couple of sanders. Show us how you organize your tools in your shaping bay.
John, shaping is my job, so I'm allowed to be a bit obsessed about pencils. It's the rest of the ''strange people'' I'm worried about.............. (Yeah, right. Who am I kidding? You have to be pretty far off the deep end to make a living shaping surfboards)
WO, its true you can never have too many pencils. When I dabbled in boatbuilding (even shapers need hobbies), I'd just get a couple of boxes of #2 and throw them all over the place so there was always one handy. I believe the ones that mysteriously disappear go into a parallel universe and come out as left-handed screwdrivers.
chrisp, when I get back to work Monday I can check on pencil brand/type. I've now got a list of stuff to do for Swaylock's when I return (take a pic of finless wakeboard prototype, pencils, and another photo of something.... better make a list)
Here's a pic of my template organization, with square and calipers in background. Those things go on right side light shelf in my world. Left side is pencils, various top-secret hand tools, some tape for order cards, etc. I have a table in left corner of room that holds outline saw and 2 Milwaukees.
Sorry… double (shot) post
Sorry, I have nothing of value to contribute… I keep my shaping tools in one tub, my glassing tools in another, and my sanding/polishing tools in yet another. They close up and stack on top of each other, with whatever I’m using on top. Rocker sticks, etc., are racked on the wall.
But your little jiggy that holds your planers is SWEET.
Vern,
Super topic for a thread! I made a "gadget" for my planers that is very similar to yours. I will take a pic tomorrow and post. That design can be adapted for sanders/grinders and who knows what.
Also I saw in one of Speedneedles pics a very simple but effective holder for multiple paint sprayers. Would love to see some other examples for paint sprayers.
regards,
Dave_D
My tools are kept in my work bench in different drawers and shelves. I also put pegboard on my wall to hang a lot of other tools. (Sorry no pics, outta town) I do like the contraption you made for your planers…very cool.
I'm afraid I dont organise my tools...I pile them up everywhere and spend hours of frustration searching for them at critical moments...now maybe theres a new years resolution in there somewhere...
Rich
I have to have my stuff arranged just so, I don't want to waste time looking for a tool. When I used to travel to shape, the first thing I'd do when I got into a new room would be to place all my blocks, calipers, square, screens, stringerplanes, pencils, etc. exactly as they were in my homeroom (all that stuff goes on the lightshelves). I just instinctively reach for things and if it's not where I expect, I've got to stop and look for it. Not only is this a waste of time, it interrupts my concentration.
Here's my planer hanger, courtesy of Clark Foam vac system. Placed high enough on wall to get slinky hose out of the way for finish shaping.
I don’t organize my tools either, yeah the sandpaper and screen are over" there" and the planes are “here”, I do have a shelf with risers and stops for my electric planes.
A few months ago I took on a young man from Portugal to train to shape, the first thing he did was put everything in drawers, tool boxes, on shelves, he put everything away. My shaping room normally looks like chaos, but I can reach elbow deep into the “shit” and come up with the left handed swizzle stick that I knew was at the bottom.
I took a week to find everything and get it back to where it was an arms length from where I am standing at any time.
I use the sailor’s dictum- “A place for everything, and everything in it’s place.” On a boat, at night, in a storm, when you need a specific item you cannot be searching around for it.
My studio is used 95% for making my art work (check out my latest- I’m pretty stoked about it- Jeff Matsuno ) and once a year for making a surfboard or two. It’s nice to know exactly where to find my 1/4" gouge or a piece of 60 grit when I’m looking for it. Oh, also the fact that I make all this stuff in our condo’s master bedroom requires a bit of orderliness…
Alphabetically
I use the "where did I use that last?" method, works fine for solo work, problems come in when there's other people hanging around expecting me to be in a panic over their personal issues.
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LMAO. Maybe I'll try the Dewey Decimal System.
Sometimes I have a bright idea and decide that a certain tool might be handier/less time to reach if it was in a new spot. I'll move it, then every time I go to use it, I reach to the ''old'' spot. After wasting time trying to adjust, I almost always move the tool back to where it was in the first place.
I am sooooo trained to put my pencils back in their little spot. Once I went into a panic because a certain mechanical pencil I've had for 25 years had just disappeared. If it wasn't in its ''spot'', there were only a couple of places I might have left it. But it was nowhere to be seen (and I'd just used it). After 5 minutes of desperate searching, I realized it was behind my ear.
'‘I realized it was behind my ear’
I have lost em in my beard.
I like to know where everything is and I can just grab it without looking. Plus it looks cool
Holy Shit kevincc ! Thats beautiful !!
After dropping every tool many times I just leave them where they fall and they get a lovely patina of white dust.
One concession to orderliness is one thin strip of wood nailed to a benchtop.
When I stop planing I want to put the planer down and I dont want to wait for the bloody thing to stop , so I put a strip of wood on a benchtop and now I can rest the front plate of the planer on the wood strip and it keeps the spinning blades up off the bench.
[IMG]http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s225/SURFFOILS/SURFFOILS%202011/planerblock.jpg[/IMG]
Howzit Jim, You and I do it the same way, things look like chaos but I can find anything I need in a matter of seconds. Aloha,Kokua
Mine tucks neatly into the left side of my trousers.
Mike,
Have you ever had a pencil fall from behind your ear and stick in the board? BTW the Clark Foam Vac Setup had to be the best deal ever! I would think that he had way more in them than they sold for. I got the last one Patrick had at USFG.
regards,
Dave_D
I usually don't stick pencils behind my ear, so I haven't had one fall into a board. However, like most dropped tools, it will land wherever it can do the most damage, haha.
Clark sold the vac system for way under it's value, that is correct. It was a ''service to the customer'' thing. The trap-door steel table alone was worth more than the total price. And his employees came and installed it in my facility for free, which was wonderful. I was hesitant to go vacuum, previous systems I'd used were too cumbersome. They told me they'd take it out if I didn't like it. After about 5 passes I was sold. When Gordon was here in October of 2005 (about 6 weeks before he threw in the towel), he asked me how I liked the vac set-up. I told him that now, I couldn't shape without it. His face just lit up. His employees later told me my comment made his day, which in turn made me feel pretty good.