Have a Workspace? Here Are 10 Items You Need in It

In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :

Glass or plastic jars?  What's in em?  Last guy I saw do that was Arthur Morrison in Hampton Bays, NY circa 1976(ish).  Claimed he was the youngest crew chief on B-something or others(17s?) in WW2.  Made gaskets out of scraps of leather, shimmed the centrifugal clutch blocks on the my Briggs & Stratton go-kart with flattened beer bottle caps, just for the hell of it.  Mad as a hatter, but he made E36 M3 go.

My dad did the jars under the shelf thing. When I built my current work areas I put up one old jar to remind me of him. I like Hellmans, he liked Cains. I like bins, he liked jars. While we're different in many ways we're similar.

[URL=https://app.photobucket.com/u/NOTATA/a/05b53996-5069-4d81-b347-6e06f4236899/p/3287b89a-654c-4d8d-9039-6ff2efa47db4][/URL]

[URL=https://app.photobucket.com/u/NOTATA/a/05b53996-5069-4d81-b347-6e06f4236899/p/0c3fe906-12d2-4047-897b-b7dda7b89068][/URL]

Pegboard is great if you have a lot of wall space.

All of my walls save one are lined with shelving or toolbox.  I guess I could put some over the workbench, but the bench is 30" deep and 40" high, anything on it would be a real pain to get to.  Plus I'd have to build a fake wall because that wall is just a sheet of plywood dividing a garage in half.

In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :

your collection of electric tools is impressive :)

Thanks, my neighbors are very impressed. :)

They get a lot of use, it’s nice having what I need right where I can find it every time. My less used tools are hidden away in cabinets, and they are noticeably less convenient to grab when I need them. If I had the room, I’d hang everything up. It also makes it easier to deal with the batteries.

I would have loved to have used slat wall, and intended to switch over from peg board when I moved to the new house. But it was just too much more expensive and not as easy to source hooks. Plus you lose a lot of the ability to set heights of hooks- increments of inches instead of fractions of an inch. Not a big deal if you have lots of space, but important when every square inch counts. 

a fridge full of beer is another necessity 

I know this wouldn't be on most peoples' ton ten list, but what about an air compressor?  I've known people who say they couldn't live without theirs, but I've never had one, and can't think of many situations where it would have helped.  With the advent of high powered electric tools, I'm struggling to see the advantage of being tethered to an air hose over an electric cord.   

To add to all the other good ideas- foam pads! Foot fatigue is a big deal, and anything that makes you NOT want to work will hinder your progress- so you should remove it at any chance! Anything that makes a space comfortable makes more work happen in it.

In reply to Boost_Crazy :

There's a mindset to using pegboard in a garage to me- Adam Savage has opined before that "A tool that isn't seen isn't used", so I think it's a real love-it-or-hate-it type of material. Guess I'm going to see soon when I salvage a bunch. 

Anyone have any experience using shelves from storefronts? There was a GMC Down the street from me that's getting torn down that I could get it all for free...

Being on the eastern shore of Maryland, heat AND AC. There's about 4 days that neither are needed.

Regarding pegboard... many of us like hanging tools, we just dont like pegboard. It is rarely the best way to organize things, but it works for some people.  I recently had to chop some up, and toss it. I hated to do it, but I literally  couldn't give it away.

GIRTHQUAKE said:

To add to all the other good ideas- foam pads! Foot fatigue is a big deal, and anything that makes you NOT want to work will hinder your progress- so you should remove it at any chance! Anything that makes a space comfortable makes more work happen in it.

+1

The older I get the more difference foam pads seem to make! 

I noticed the Panasport hose reel in the original article. I have a set from a past Datsun project. That looks like a nice touch although not sure how long a hose will fit in there. Also I use old card catalogs from the library for hardware organization. Not a must, but quaint. 

In reply to Cloud9...68 :

I have an electric ratchet, impact, drill, and a bunch of power tools. They get used regularly. My air tools get used just as often or more. As much or more power, smaller size, less weight and don't get hot. An air powered drill will fit places no battery powered drill will dream of going. As will most die grinders, impacts, and cut off tools. 

Then throw a tire machine in the mix or a sandblast rig and cabinet, or a plasma cutter. My compressor is probably the most used electric powered tool in my shop. 

Mine is just shy of 50 years old and a beast. If you ever have a good compressor, you will never want to live without it. 

Quincy compressor repair thread.