Shop reference card

when we attended a wood show last year the lady at the bandsaw blade booth asked us what size we wanted… ah.. ah… ah… so then she asked us what brand of saw we had .. we paused (we did know the name! woo hoo).. she then grabbed a mini notebook (which had their label stuck on the front) and said “record every piece of equipment you have and all the information you might need about each… then take it wherever you go.”
And so we have the little notebook with the tools, the size of blades & replacement parts for each, model number etc…, and it stays in the glove compartment of Rick’s truck. When we buy a new piece of equipment we record in the book as soon as we get back in the truck.

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Dang, that’s a good idea…

-- Dekker - http://www.WoodworkDetails.com/Blog/MNagy/

Thank you for the idea, I knew that others have run into this and had viable solutions, thanks

-- Hope Never fails

And here I thought it was just encroaching senility when I last went to the BORG for a sanding belt.
Brilliant!

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

This is a great idea. Ms Debbie’s method of keeping info about equipment (in addition to supplies) has a secondary benefit – if you ever have to make an insurance claim, having a list of all the tools in the shop is a lot better than having to dig through the ashes – or harder, dig through your memory.

-- Coffee is best with a fine layer of sawdust on top. -- http://www.north40custom.com

Unfortunately, for an insurance claim you’d probably have to produce receipts and photos… and you’d only be covered for a small amount unless you got extra coverage for your pricey tools… Usually like a dollar per grand of value, but might be worth it if you have a Festool in your shop…

-- Dekker - http://www.WoodworkDetails.com/Blog/MNagy/

I can’t speak to a home shop, but when our business burned this spring we didn’t have photos and our receipts were in the shop. Insurance wanted a list of tools, materials, supplies, etc. and their replacement value. They accepted the list of items we generated but checked most of the prices we submitted. Large tools – over $1000 for our policy – have to be itemized and insured individually. Before you clean up the damage, an adjuster comes to see, and takes photos. If you tried to claim you had a $30k machine and they couldn’t see anything bigger than a router in the adjuster’s photos, I’m sure they’d require more proof. But who has photos and receipts for all of their possesions stored off site? If that was required for a claim, insurance would never have to pay out! That being said, having photos of everything is a good idea too, but even a photo isn’t proof of ownership.

On the homeowner side – I do know that my homeowner’s insurance policy states that my garage and contents are insured. They know that most people have more than a car and a lawnmower in their garage.

-- Coffee is best with a fine layer of sawdust on top. -- http://www.north40custom.com

Never seen a lawnmower with orange tires.

Videos help too. Some of the guys here have posted video shop tours. That and the melted blob are really all the insurance guys need.

-- Bob Vila would be so proud of you!

No, really – it was parked right next to the table saw when the shop burned.

-- Coffee is best with a fine layer of sawdust on top. -- http://www.north40custom.com

I believe you – I believe you!!! really I do

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

I know it is a shop tool! That is home despot orange!

-- http://www.woodsongsfurniture.com

LOL – home despot! that’s better than the borg!

Poor Mario, we’ve hijacked his thread.

-- Coffee is best with a fine layer of sawdust on top. -- http://www.north40custom.com

I’ll let you hijack the thread if I can hijack the car.

-- Hope Never fails

Sorry, Mario, it burned up in the fire and insurance doesn’t believe that it was in there!

To your original question – I think the supplies card would be different for everyone. If I were trying to put one together (I really should, it’s a great idea), I think I would just start with what you can think of off hand. Then carry the card around with you in the shop and when you’re at the store. When you are in the shop, you say to your self, “Hey I’m almost out of #2 widgets, I’d better put them on my shopping list. You know, I go through a lot of #2 widgets – I’m going to put them on my stock card, too.” When you are at the store you say, “Wow, that’s a great price on whatsit! Darn, what size whatsit goes on my thingummy? I’m going to write ‘whatsits’ on my card and write down the size when I get back to the shop.”

Your profile says you are a network admin – I’m guessing you have a PDA? Put your list on the PDA because I’m betting it will outgrow a card in a big hurry! Good luck, and great idea!

-- Coffee is best with a fine layer of sawdust on top. -- http://www.north40custom.com

Yes I do have a PDA but I am fighting the urge to do that as I see my woodworking as my escape from the digital world as much as I can. ( my table saw has never paged me in the middle of the night to notify me that it needs something) I guess resistance is futile… I was thinking that I would never find that my index card would not open, or that it crashed.

-- Hope Never fails

Yeah, I know what you mean by trying to escape the digital world – I used to do CAD and write and manage databases. When the company I was working for offered me a position in their Manhattan office, it became clear to me where my life was headed if I didn’t make a change. So rather than a computer and a desk at “30th Floor, 3rd Avenue,” I have a table saw and a jointer at “Your Shop is Where?, Idaho.” But after about one project drawn out by hand, I fired up AutoCAD. After getting all the way through finishing one project and realizing the drawers were 1” too deep for their cabinets, I wrote a little parts-list database.

Table saw, router (dual meaning for you!), hand saw, drill press, PDA, wireless network adapter – they’re all tools. Which tools you use are entirely up to you. I have a huge amount of respect for the guys who choose to work with no power tools at all – I’d like to give that a try on a project sometime. For me, I want to spend as much time making sawdust as I can. I find I get more time in the shop if I do my plans on the computer, rather than by hand.

For me, the PDA is a lifesaver for my woodworking. I carry it with me everywhere anyway, and if I write my shopping list on paper, I’m sure to forget the paper list about 50% of the time! And my stock list wouldn’t fit on a card that would fit in my wallet! Maybe the thing to do is start with the card – if you never outgrow it, then you’ve kept that one bit of the digital world out of your personal life. If you do outgrow the card, then you can decide whether to move to the PDA or get another card!

Wherever you write it down, it’s still a great idea! (How did I get so long winded??)

-- Coffee is best with a fine layer of sawdust on top. -- http://www.north40custom.com

The biggest piece of advice I could give you for insurance is to invest in a safety deposit box off site. Keep anything you would need at claim time there. I have the luxury of being an insurance agent at a bank so we have a lot of customers who use both services. I can tell you it has been a life saver for a few policy holders.

-- Happy Ripping!!!