Harbor Freight .... not again!!!!!

[STRIPER LOU]

I've been trying to follow Fred Oakes que as to return everything to its proper place after use. When running the lathe and mill there are a bunch of small tools I use every day and are really a PITB to take out and put away over and over again.
First try was some plastic tackle boxes for the small stuff and wearing my shop apron for the mic's and other goodies. Had to put all the plastic boxes in a tote to move them around and as for the shop apron, I never really liked wearing one from the very beginning!

In comes HF again. Nice, single drawer cart on wheels, on sale, priced at $69.95. Good ole coupon doesn't work on this baby, check the fine print!!! This cart is great. All the stuff I frequently use every day is right on top where I need it and I can move it from the mill to lathe and it really works well for me.
Drills, center drills, end mills, punches, reamers, mic's, verniers, hammers, and work pieces, all in hands reach. At the end of the evening the mic's and verniers go into the drawer and get locked away. As far as the rest of the goodies, if I'm not going to use them for several days it goes into the drawer and its out of sight. Regular price is $79.95 and $10. off when its on sale.
It's pretty darn sturdy and even has lockable wheels! I've got to say it again, Fred's right, it certainly saves a lot of time being organized!
...................Lou

[foakes]

Great idea, Lou!

You are really getting down to an efficient operation.

You will make more money, quicker, easier, and will realize it is supposed to be fun -- not frustrating or time wasted.

Last thing you want to hear when you are on the operating table --

"Geez, where is that thing-a-ma-jig? -- it was just here last week...".

My uncle was a watchmaker for over 40 years at a Jewelry Store here in Fresno, called Proctors.

When I used to go down to watch him work, even as a kid I was impressed that every tiny part of a watch would be laid out in a circle area of about 6" -- it seemed like.

And every tool he used was at hand -- and put back when not being used.

Tools used only occasionally -- were inside drawers in his bench.

The difference between a professional and an amateur is merely experience, technique, habit, and honoring your craft and tools.

And getting rid of anything not needed for the jobs at hand -- no clutter or ego hangers.

Best,

Fred

[Reel 224]

Lou; between you and Fred your going to make me spend more money on portable benches and wheeled storage  

Joe

[thorhammer]

Lou that's a great idea, with your time savings you'll be able to turn out some of those purty knobs for the AT faithful on the lathe!

[ossipeter]

Looks great!

[STRIPER LOU]

Fred, thank you. I'm learning from the best and I'm enjoying it! Are you back to the routine yet? I've been so busy here I may have to send some of my reel repair work your way

Joe, glad to see you on here often and hope you and Ruth are well. The rod building is going great on your end! I'm going to eventually get around to digging my stuff out of mothballs again.
Definitely not trying to make you spend more money. Just trying out different things here to make better use of my time. Had a new vendor come to the house the other day. He wanted to talk and look things over before he sent any of his work to me. The shop is nothing fancy and certainly not a ton of equipment,  but its really starting to get well organized and everything seems to be heading in the right direction.
He looked the place over and picked up a lot of things I've been working on, both prototype work and fishing related item's and didn't seem to have much to say. It looked as though it wasn't going well and figured ya cant win em all! Offered him a cup of coffee in hope that he might loosen up a bit. While we were talking he surprised me when he said he was impressed at the work he had seen and the attention to detail and asked if he could send his truck next week with the materials to get started. I almost fell off my chair and was really pleased. I think this will be the last of the new work I'll be taking in for a while.

John,
Sal and I had talked about the knobs quite some time ago and we came to the conclusion that it was a lot of work and not much to be made on them. They are time consuming but the tough part is the material. A lot of the companies that sell acrylics for pen blanks get their stuff from china and the quality is NG. Its cheap and its mostly junk. All the good stuff is made here and its custom and done in the open cast method. They pour open brick style so as to get the least amount of bubbles and/or imperfections. 2" diameter machined rounds from square blocks are available and start at $93. per foot for a custom pour with a 4 foot minimum. Ouch! The neat part is they can pretty much cast any color you want from a sample or picture and can even supply a test sample of a special concoction for a fee. You can cast your own but at this point I have way too much going on here to get into that.
I'm thinking I might take a crack at making some knobs available here if there's enough interest. We'll see how it goes.
Time to get back to work. All have a great evening,  ..  Lou

[conchydong]

Harbor Freight is great for some things. If I need a special tool that I may never use again than that is the place I go. Many times I am surprised that  the quality is about just as good as something you will pay double or even triple for. Looks like you got a nice wheeled tool cart.
Good on you!

Scott

[Reel 224]

Lou: Part of me going on site every day is because of the Versatility of so many people here and great Ideas, so don't worry about me spending my money for a good idea and a great product. Because Ill be the person that benefits the most. That's great news and congratulations for picking up a new client.

Joe

[Alto Mare]

Lou, carts on wheels do help a lot in tight areas.
As you've probably noticed on one of my earlier posts, one of my workbench is on wheels and I'm able to move it with one hand when needed.
All I need to do is to unplug one plug, all other wires are attached to the unit.


Very nice Lou.

Sal

[STRIPER LOU]

Sal, I remember that cart  and I love it. Its like a workshop on wheels. My only comment for that picture is with my boney butt I'd need a lot more padding on that stool.
..................Lou

By the way I've been looking for one of those old hand grinders for years. I use the belt sander for my fillet knives but those hand grinders with the right wheel do and amazing job without generating a lot of heat!

[Brendan]

     Fred I thought the last thing you wanted to hear would be oops. Look pretty good all.
Brendan.

[Reel 224]

Lou&Sal: I have that same stool and one other that's a much larger padded seat that fits my butt well, the smaller one is for Ruth's butt As far as shops go, you can't have enough bench space and storage as far as I'm concerned.

Joe