It’s the little things…
Another tip from guest-author Brian. –dan
I share my garage shop with the washer and dryer, and recently my wife has been threatening to stop doing the laundry if she continued to find sawdust filling her laundry baskets. Figuring that I had a pretty good thing going and better act quick, I used part of my Christmas vacation to add a new wall to separate the laundry from the workshop. Seemed like a good chance to re-do the workshop to fit me at the same time. The wall is now up, and as I put the shop back together I’ll try and share some of the goodies I find along the way.
First up are these magnetic toolbars from Lee Valley (one of the most dangerous sites you’ll ever visit!) I recently picked a few of these up to have somewhere safe and handy to store my chisels. I hate to have chisels hidden away in a case or drawer out of easy reach. At the same time I cringe at sound of my beloved chisels as they are knocked onto the unforgiving concrete in my garage. With a few of these placed around my work areas, I’ll have safe place in easy reach to put my chisels.
The bars themselves are solidly built with a nice thick mounting tab to drive a screw through. They have a nice coating on the magnetic surface to keep metal off metal and a solid grip on the tools that feels secure but lets go with a comfortable tug. Overall another great product from Lee Valley.
Another suggestion: my wife is a professional organizer (www.personworks.com) and an expert in such matters. She equipped my shop with magnetic knife racks from Ikea. They’re not quite as nice as the Lee Valley version, but they’re also only six bucks. –dan
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