Technical Little tips and tricks for garage hobbyists.

Hello,

When our son was a little toddler, we visited his grandparents that had moved to a big acreage property just outside of Lake Isabella near Bakersfield. It was barren forested lands and a little hilly where the residence was built.

My wife’s dad was proud that he had some rifles and had set up a mini shooting range on his property. It was far enough away from other folks and the tall mountain backdrop was the end of the shooting range, so no strays would go past the targets. (A self contained outdoor shooting range.) But, he got mad every time he gave me a rifle to shoot at some targets. I could hit the targets using less bullets and he did not like it that guns were not our thing. We were trained at the Pike, shooting those .22 rifles in the arcade. ha!

So, he introduced our son to a small 22 rifle. He was shown the correct way to handle and support the rifle as he tried to shoot at the targets. He wore ear plugs and held up the rifle in his own stance. Unlucky to rifles, he did not like the loud noises and wore modified ear plugs as the adult ones did not fit.

Jnaki

He liked holding the rifle, but did not like the result of shooting. First, it made a loud noise. Second, being left handed, the rifle spit out a hot shell on his arm and he dropped the rifle as it made a reddish burn mark on the arm location. He did not like that at all.

So, that cured his attempt at shooting rifles and no way was he going to hold a pistol and shoot again. Now, he was running around the forested areas using a branch that looked like a “Sten” Machine Gun and it had a nice home made, shoulder strap. He was proud of his find/build and was a happy camper to boot. No more loud noises other than a little toddler making shooting sounds… YRMV

 

Don't even talk to me about scissors

 

It is much deeper than right hand vs left hand. There is the dominant eye issue and right brain/left brain. We are not all wired the same. We may be much more different than we appear.

 

This thread has gotten a long way off the rails, maybe someone can get it back to the topic and post some tips and/or tricks?

 

Hey, you never know when a pistol/rifle/shotgun could come in handy in the garage... Just be careful. There are those that'd use it as a pry-bar...
Marcus...

 

Maybe this will get us back on track.

Yesterday I made a couple of screwdriver holder racks from scrap walnut wood. These are on my "secondary bench". This bench is on the other side of the shop from my main bench.



My brother and I built this bench over 50 years ago for him. He and his wife downsized a couple of years ago so he no longer had a place for the bench and he gave it to me.

The red vise I restored and installed there. The dark vise is a Wilton that I'll restore if I ever find a reproduction decal for it.

The white 5 gallon bucket holds a 9" punkin.

Although this bench is not my main bench I find having a few tools closeby is handy.

Note the tape measures. There are 11 of these around the shop, bought at the same time hanging on identical brackets. The brackets are meant to hold sectional couch pieces together.

 

Over the bench in my previous response this old rake hangs holding a few wrenches.

 

I like your tape measure holder...great idea...

 

Another tip:

When we made the benchtop (see post a couple before this one) we dowelled/glued the 2x8s together and ran it through a thickness planer. Then we cut the ends to square.

The top turned out perfect. You can't feel any of the joints.

 

I'm doing this on a phone so can't copy pix. If you Google "sectional couch brackets" you will see what these tape measure brackets look like.

EDIT: here's a pic I just took.

 

Here's a good way to store your extra distributors:

 

Don't stack your extra wheels on the floor. Build a rack to put them in. Note the two gaps. One is where the 15" slot mags go. They are temporarily on Clarence. The other is where my '35 Ford wire wheels are normally. They are on loan to a friend who might or might not put them on his Model A coupe.

Also the valve covers stored above aren't languishing on a shelf where they could be damaged.

Please ignore the "pretty" 1965 BSA gas tank.

 

An old kitchen drawer base cabinet and a cut down counter top make a great place for a bench top drill press. The drawers hold bits, clamps, vises, etc. all in one place and not scattered hither and yon like mine used to be.




Extra freebie tip: have two drill presses. This one is used ONLY for metal. There is a floor type drill press in another part of the shop that gets used ONLY on wood. No sawdust on your car part; no metal shavings on the wood project you're building for sweetie.

 

Hey Atch,

Pull down one of those valve covers & build a racer for Lloydfest 2025!

God Bless & Happy New Year My Friend!
Bill
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...ar-transport-hauling-open-or-enclosed.614419/

 

Everyone on here has his/her own way to temporarily mark spark plug wires. Here's one way (yep, those are clothes pins. Looks like I need to replace #1):

 

@Bill's Auto Works,

I've got a huge GMC 6 cylinder valve cover I want to use for that. Maybe too long. Maybe too heavy. Time will tell.

Edit; here's a pic:

 

Don't know how to store that gihugie 24" crescent wrench that gets used once every 5 years or so? Hang it on the wall.

 

More wall storage. Nailhead valley and valve covers and BBC valve covers. This stuff used to be piled up on shelves. Now safely stored.

 

Another use for a drawer unit. Near your lathe. Store all of your lathe accessories. Drill bits, calipers, etc.

Chuck keys, small hammer, wrenches, etc. stored on front of lathe bench.

 

A dedicated grinder located near lathe really comes in handy:



Note the really soft/squishy floor mats. These keep your feet from hurting. Whenever sweetie and daughters replace these at their kitchen sinks they give me the old ones. Believe me; you can't have too many of them.

 

Very familiar with that V.C as I was born in '62 & my Dad was a truck mechanic at a GMC dealership from 59 until the mid 80's so I grew up sitting in & then after about the age of 13 driving all kinds of trucks!

God Bless & Happy New Year
Bill
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...ar-transport-hauling-open-or-enclosed.614419/

 

Don't really need a #1 clothes pin if the rest have one.

 

You might, the minute that you accidentally knock off or drop one of the other 7 pins.

Cheers
Harv

 

While these clothespins have worked just fine for a long time I think that those metal clips would work better. WAY less chance of falling off. They could be labeled with a white paint pen. I don't know what these are called but here is a pic:

 

Binder clips. Common in any office.
They're also handy when welding sheetmetal.

 

Yeah. Binder clips. I really did know that but couldn't remember the name. This getting old sucks. I've had CRS for a while now.

 

Bulldog clips down here

cheers,
Harv

 

Wheel rack with nice paint seen at the Retromobile motorshow a few years ago. Could be cool in a shop with casters to be moved

 

I just keep it simple and write the number on the plug boot.

 

Good idea. What do you write with? White paint pen? Silver Sharpie? Other?