Shop Furniture

[MoKelly]

Remember folks, everything in the shop is either hot, sharp, or dirty, and you are the softest meat sack in the place. Wear your gloves.

This is great advice. Plus safety glasses.

I’m good about wearing gloves. Not so good with safety glasses.

I was cutting a board a week or so ago. Only one board - no big deal. Takes less than 30 seconds.

While cutting, something flew up and hit me a inch or so from my eye. Cut me enough to bleed. I can’t imagine if it had hit me in the eye!

MoKelly

 

[Larry Caldwell]

This is great advice. Plus safety glasses.

I’m good about wearing gloves. Not so good with safety glasses.

I was cutting a board a week or so ago. Only one board - no big deal. Takes less than 30 seconds.

While cutting, something flew up and hit me a inch or so from my eye. Cut me enough to bleed. I can’t imagine if it had hit me in the eye!

MoKelly

Good reminder about safety glasses. More than once I have had to have a doctor dig something out of my eye, but not in the last 40 years. I bought a dozen cheap HF safety glasses and have them hung on nails all over my shop, so one is almost always within reach. Every workbench has at least two pair, a couple are hanging behind the grinder, next to the drill press, and next to the air tools. Blowing schmoo out of the works is a great way to get a face full of crap.

I wear a dust mask when using abrasives for cutting or grinding too. Some woods, like cedar, are nasty to inhale, so sawdust needs a dust mask.

 

[rgr33]

I started wearing eye protection in the shop about 4 years ago, when cataract surgery made regular eyeglasses unnecessary.

It was weird having no protection from flying objects, especially working underneath cars and tractors. Now it’s a habit, I hate going to get something removed from my eyes, especially metal slivers.

 

[ponytug]

Yes, Safety glasses definitely! I also try to wear nitrile gloves when around solvents/oil/grease/paint. I am always kind of wondering at the number of folks who don't wear respirators or masks when around dust or smoke. My lungs aren't very tolerant, so it is a habit for me. Especially with things like hanta virus around here. I remember haying when I was younger without dust protection and coughing/hacking up alfalfa dust for days.

I am always surprised at how fast I go through leather gloves; not their fault, just lots of rough material around.

All the best,

Peter

 

[dstig1]

Remember folks, everything in the shop is either hot, sharp, or dirty, and you are the softest meat sack in the place. Wear your gloves.

...But not around rotating equipment...or you can lose a finger, hand, arm, ...life...

 

[HawkinsHollow]

I built a shop last summer, not huge but adequate at 24x28 or about 650sqft. Luckily I have a contain where I store all the random stuff so the goal is to keep the shop mostly as work space.

My dad also has a garage full of tools and at 95 he is not using them much anymore. Every time I see him he brings me a few things, like this perfect condition Black and Decker drill bit sharpener, hardly any plastic on this thing. Or this mint condition Milwaukee right angle drill, with original box. I have also gotten a drill press, pneumatic tools, etc. And it is just the tip of the iceberg, he has a lifetime of amazing tools. And he is meticulous about taking care of them. I look forward to using them the rest of my life as well.

Half the reason I built the shop is I knew he would not be handing them down to me until I had a place to keep it all.

 

[Xfaxman]

I wear safety glasses with a reading lens:

And tinted with reading lens for outdoors:

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I built a shop last summer, not huge but adequate at 24x28 or about 650sqft. Luckily I have a contain where I store all the random stuff so the goal is to keep the shop mostly as work space.

My dad also has a garage full of tools and at 95 he is not using them much anymore. Every time I see him he brings me a few things, like this perfect condition Black and Decker drill bit sharpener, hardly any plastic on this thing. Or this mint condition Milwaukee right angle drill, with original box. I have also gotten a drill press, pneumatic tools, etc. And it is just the tip of the iceberg, he has a lifetime of amazing tools. And he is meticulous about taking care of them. I look forward to using them the rest of my life as well.

Half the reason I built the shop is I knew he would not be handing them down to me until I had a place to keep it all.

That Milwaukee Hole Shooter is a score!

Immaculately maintained is nice, but a lot of old tools can be refurbished with nothing but emery paper and Scotch Brite. Before about 1980, hand tools and shop tools used standard bearings and switches that are easy to buy and replace.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

That Milwaukee Hole Shooter is a score!

Immaculately maintained is nice, but a lot of old tools can be refurbished with nothing but emery paper and Scotch Brite. Before about 1980, hand tools and shop tools used standard bearings and switches that are easy to buy and replace.

I agree! Nothing better then taking an old, forgotten piece of American steel and making it shiny and useful again. I take great pride and satisfaction in doing so. I have an OLD Craftsman (WAY before it was Crapsman) drill press my dad gave me that needs some love. It works fine, just needs a little TLC.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

New furniture this week was a 4 x 5 x 20" small equipment repair bench. I can't afford a lift bench, so this is a compromise. I may weld up a light duty gantry over it to pick up a riding mower to work on the deck. It sits against the wall between roll-up doors, but is moveable and can be stood up to clear floor space if I need it. Let's hear it for scrap lumber. It cost nothing but a couple of hours time.