Archived from the Tools In Action forum (Introduce yourself). This thread is read-only.
Obviously I’m new here, otherwise I wouldn’t be starting an “Introduce yourself” thread. Anyhow, maintenance mechanic for around 28 years, professional photographer, “sharp stuff” collector (knives, swords, anything with an edge), and martial artist. I like tools, so any forum related to tools I have to at least give a look-see.
So, yup, me, new here, like tools, uhhh, really like tools, and hi. Think that covers it
My newly revamped work area in the garage…
Welcome Kato.
Welcome! Nice shop!
Thanks, it’s been through a pretty big transformation over the past few months. I keep going in there and finding something to revamp, so since early November there’s been a lot of changes. Here’s a Flickr set with photos, although I never thought to take before shots from the way I had it before I made the workbench.
The shelf over the workbench, I used to have another one under it, and that’s where I had the grinder and other stuff. The “work table” was basically the top of the toolbox, and we had all kinds of stuff in the garage like an elliptical and whatnot. Was a real pain in the neck working in there, and it always got under my skin because I like a clean and organized work area. Finally got sick of screwing around with the elliptical and bikes and stuff, went out and re-organized the shed and put the bikes in there, and took apart the elliptical and shoved it way back in the corner of the garage. That gave me floor space, and then I went to work on making a decent workbench.
Funny thing is that I already had the small table made, and when I made the workbench it turned out that the space between the garage door and workbench was perfect to fit the table. Put it on wheels and now it’s pinned to the workbench, and I can unpin it and move it around if need be. Everything else was a slow transformation here or there, making the battery rack, mounting the power tools, all just stuff I did because it popped into my head. At least the power tool mounts were a brilliant idea, using the shells form the old Ryobi NiCad piece of junk batteries to hang the tools.
Welcome Kato (aka Ed)! Sweet shop. Everything is perfectly organized. That’s my dream.
Welcome aboard Kato!
Welcome to the Forums. Pull up a chair grab a beer and look around.
I hope you enjoy our little community here. Welcome to the TIA forums!!
Thank guys. I don’t drink much so I’ll have a vanilla iced coffee instead, and so far I’ve enjoyed the site. As for organized, I’m pretty OCD when it comes to keeping work areas cleaned and organized. I’ve fired people for not putting tools away.
Welcome Kato! Nice looking shop. I’m a little OCD myself.
What kind if hand tools are you into?
Welcome! I’m trying to get my garage in order as well, too embarrassed of the mess to take pics right now. Every weekend I do a little more.
That is some camera you got there, those pictures are really clear!
ChaseRogers wrote:
That is some camera you got there, those pictures are really clear!
I don’t want to utter any lame photographer quotes but “It’s not the camera, it’s the person using it.”. People saying “Your camera takes great pictures” is like saying “Your stove makes great meals”…and the pics of my garage suck, look through my Flickr and you’ll see some pretty good stuff. If you’re into cars and bikes there’s plenty of that.
Conductor562 wrote:
Welcome Kato! Nice looking shop. I’m a little OCD myself.
What kind if hand tools are you into?
I like my Gearwrench stuff, can’t stand non-ratcheting wrenches, they’re like caveman tools to me. I like Stanley too, and considering Stanley and Gearwrench have lifetime warranties just like Crapman you can’t go wrong. I have a bunch of Craftsman stuff that I got from my cousin, but I’ll always love and go to my Gearwrench sets first. I’m a power tool kind of guy though, I’d rather throw a socket on the drill/driver instead of using a ratchet, kinda lazy like that I guess.
Nice shop, welcome to the forums!
Kato wrote:
I like my Gearwrench stuff, can’t stand non-ratcheting wrenches, they’re like caveman tools to me. I like Stanley too, and considering Stanley and Gearwrench have lifetime warranties just like Crapman you can’t go wrong. I have a bunch of Craftsman stuff that I got from my cousin, but I’ll always love and go to my Gearwrench sets first. I’m a power tool kind of guy though, I’d rather throw a socket on the drill/driver instead of using a ratchet, kinda lazy like that I guess.
I understand, but I’m the hand tool guy around here it seems. I love my ratchets…..all 30 some of them 😆
As for ratcheting wrenches, they are great, but I wouldn’t want them as my primary set though. I guess I’m a little old school, but the thickness of the rim on the box end restricts ratcheting combos in close quarters.
The Gearwrench brand is being expanded. The tools formerly sold under the KD label have been merged into the GW catalog and soon there will be no such thing as KD. GW is a decent quality import brand, just hope Apex doesn’t cheapen it up all to shit like the do most other things.
I thought KD was dead. I have some 1/4 inch drive sockets and they are great. I wouldn’t want ratcheting wrenches as a primary set either. I haven’t used mine in over six months due to the fact that they are much thicker and won’t fit or I will just use my ratchet. They are great when you can use them though
I don’t find any issues with getting into tight areas with the Geawrenches, in fact I’ve gotten them into tight spots where a standard wrench wouldn’t fit. But, everyone has a favorite, nothing wrong with that. The Gearwrench tap and die set I have is my absolute favorite thing out of any tool I own. I keep it clean, obsessively clean. It looks like I never use it but I use it all the time.
Well, I try to keep all of my stuff clean, that’s the way I am. But, the tap and die set, I’m a little overboard with the cleanliness of that. Even used it for some practice shooting in the lightbox…
Can I borrow you for a few days Kato? Even though you have been only on the forum for a few days I could really use your skills at cleaning and tool organization at the moment 🙂 You keep a clean shop!
How much do I get to charge you?? A clean shop is a productive shop, and I’ve been known to fire people for not putting tools away
I was hoping some good craft beer and coffee would be enough 🙂
Conductor562 wrote:
I understand, but I’m the hand tool guy around here it seems. I love my ratchets…..all 30 some of them 😆
I had a nice collection of hand tools, mostly Armstrong and Proto. I sold off my box because of hard times, moved around a bunch, and the tools were the first things stolen… 🙁
Slowly I’m building the collection back up.
EEtwidget wrote:
I had a nice collection of hand tools, mostly Armstrong and Proto. I sold off my box because of hard times, moved around a bunch, and the tools were the first things stolen… 🙁
Slowly I’m building the collection back up.
Proto and Armstrong, can’t go wrong there.
DR99 wrote:
I was hoping some good craft beer and coffee would be enough 🙂
Depends on what kind of coffee, I’m always willing to do free stuff for good coffee. You supply the supplies and I’ll build you a workshop castle. My only problem is putting gas in the 26-gallon tank of my mini-van. Been out of work for a while now, so we’re lucky we can feed the dog and haven’t looked for a “How to Cook Dog” cookbook yet…
Kato, those close up photo’s a great. They look like high end advertisement photo’s.
Thanks. Those were just for fun and practice but I’ve done product shoots for companies. Always good to test out lighting techniques and stuff, gives a broader spectrum of skills to match what companies want to see. Plus I love that tap and die set, so I couldn’t resist shooting it.
Very nice shop, I’m rebuilding a small shop at my work in order to find my tools quick….ha ha. Anyway I customized a pegboard but on another wall I would like to do something similar to your shop.
[External image (uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com), not copied][External image (uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com), not copied]
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I don’t care much for pegboard, but I like the paint scheme on yours. My workspace looks a lot different now, everything got rearranged when we bought the new cars and I decided I wanted to park in the garage. IT looks a bit different than this picture too, I moved the grinder over to the left of the bench a couple of days ago…
@Kato you making a bed dude?
I was, that’s an older photo too. I was making a bed frame for my daughter, it was time for a bigger bed and it was cheaper to build a frame than it was to buy one.
Kato wrote:
29 minutes ago, Kato said:I was, that’s an older photo too. I was making a bed frame for my daughter, it was time for a bigger bed and it was cheaper to build a frame than it was to buy one.
Looking good Kato
Kato wrote:
On 6/29/2016 at 9:01 AM, Kato said:I was, that’s an older photo too. I was making a bed frame for my daughter, it was time for a bigger bed and it was cheaper to build a frame than it was to buy one.
Whoah, nice! You find a stain that dark or perhaps make one? Like vinegar and steel wool perhaps? I’ve actually done this myself once before
We used Varathane Ebony, just threw a couple of coats on the wood to make the shade she wanted. Standard staining technique used…stain, sand, stain again. I think I only did one quick sand between coats, wasn’t planning on making it the greatest thing in the world. Just wanted it the color she wanted and for it to be smooth to the touch. It’s a darker shade but it went on light, as stains typically do. She wanted it dark so we made sure to do enough coats to satisfy her taste.
It was fun to make, it was cheaper than buying a new frame, and she loves it (this is all that really matters in the end). I want to plug the screw holes but she’s against it, she likes it the way it is so who am I to argue…
This is the shade with one coat…
[External image (c5.staticflickr.com), not copied]IMG_0887 by Edward Durbin, on Flickr