Gareth's Tips, Tools, and Shop Tales - Issue #33

I have big news to announce. Starting next week, Gareth’s Tips, Tools, and Shop Tales will become part of the Cool Tools family. I have long been a huge fan of Cool Tools and Kevin Kelly’s work and a long-time friend, collaborator with, and admirer of Mark Frauenfelder, so I’m thrilled to be partnering with these guys.

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Tips? Tool? Tales? Talk to me.

Andrew Lewis created these 3D printable brackets that can turn custom-cut lengths of 25mm metal angle stock into storage shelves.

The column I’m currently working on for HackSpace magazine will cover workshop storage and organizing. As part of my research, I asked for relevant storage ideas on my Facebook page. My friend Jake Hildebrandt shared this idea. He uses dollar store zippered pencil cases to organize and label all of his cables in a drawer.

Jake Hildebrandt also shared this: “An old heatsink makes a great tweezer storage!” I just got a set of hobby tweezers for Christmas. I might actually try this.

I have been a big fan and promoter of paint touch-up bottles for years. I talked about them the first time I appeared on the Cool Tools podcast years ago and they are included in my contribution to Four Favorite Tools. I gave packs of these to a bunch of my family members this past Christmas.

“Here’s an easy way to find the center of an oval:  Perhaps you have wooden plaque, metal sign, or a frame that is an oval shape.  Place it onto a sheet of paper and trace its outline. Cut out the oval.  (Or, place the oval onto the paper and cut around it with a hobby knife.)  Fold your paper oval neatly in half across its short axis, then in half again across its long axis.  (In other words, carefully make two perpendicular folds to create a quarter oval.)  Finally, unfold the paper oval, where the two creases cross is the center. Now you have a template to mark or drill your oval workpiece.” [Via Emory Kimbrough]

I watch a lot of tool restoration videos (it’s my new jam). In my travels, I’ve noticed lots of anvil and bench vise restorations. It seems to be a trend. Here’s a great example above, Evgeniy Budilov’s restoration of a 60 kg blacksmith anvil he found in the dump.