When in Doubt, Organisize

Wrong spelling  and one woodworker's corny attempt at humor aside, my woodworking hobby has one challenge other than completing projects - keeping my tools organized.  As good as I think some of my projects may have been, my wife is the first to tell me that keeping my tools organized is one never-ending quest with which I struggle just to make a passing grade. I can't argue with her on that.  It is an argument I can't win, not that I have any fantasy at all of winning that one.

So, the quest is to make it easy to return my tools to their proper places because: (1) that's the best way to find them later when you need them, again; (2) that's the best way to know where to put them back after each use.  Easier said than done, so over the years, as the reader shall see later at the bottom of this blog, I have had all kinds of projects toward that end.

Here is the thing. I find frequently used tools are not best kept in a tool box. Keeping these tools in plain sight is what I try to accomplish with this latest project.

Inside the house, not in the workshop, are frequently used tools that in the past were in a tool box.  I chose four that I have determined to frequently go to - other than kitchen tools or utensils, of course - and separated them from the less frequently used household ones. 

There is the multiple-bit-abled screw driver, of course. A pruning shear for the indoor plants. A heavy duty shear to open up those pesky clam shell plastic wrappers. And a box cutter to open up taped packages.

 

I glued together strips of the scrap wood for a wider board

Tried to configure best compartmentalization (a long word for any woodworker!) for the four tools

Flattening the now wider board with a hand [lane

Super glues are fast acting but if that is not fast enough, how about one second for the glue to set. Use an accelerator that when sprayed on the joint where you had just applied the super glue, the joint will set hard in one second flat.

Two rare earth magnets will hold in place the assortment of screw driver bits and the telescoping magnet-tipped pick-r-upper for picking up screws  or other ferrous materials, even other tools dropped on the floor

One strategic place to locate this in plain sight is the plant stand near the kitchen table. 

The screw driver is the one ubiquitous tool that is in almost every household. This one compact quick-connect-disconnect one will drive a variety of interchangeable bits.

Pocket knives are also good to have in plain sight/

Below: caddy for frequently used marking tools has magnets at its bottom to hold it in place but will easily slide to move it around the table saw top.

Work bench caddy for other tools

These are less than half of what needs organizing. I'm afraid I can't show the rest of the small workshop but it is work in progress.