Interesting Woodnet/Toolcrib post - Lumberjock thoughts

Baby food jars are great for small things.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

I use small yogurt container lids, for mixing epoxy, the container for small amounts of paint.

-- -** You are never to old to set another goal or to dream a new dream ****************** Dick, & Barb Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1

one gallon size ziploc bag—- insert filthy 10” sawblade, hold plastic bag open while spraying liberal amout of cleaner of choice, place on flat surface, press all air out of bag and zip.

Blade then basically sits in a small bath of cleaner. Flip after five or ten minutes, push cleaner to blade edges and soak. Then, remove blade, rince under hot water using old toothbrush on pitch. Zip bag and discard.

Reinstall clean blade, once again dropping arbor nut into saw cabinet. Retrieve arbor nut and turn clockwise on arbor for three minutes until you remember it’s a left-hand thread. Reverse direction and drop the arbor nut again. Take long break, breathe deeply, find happy place.

-- Earle Wright, Lenoir City, Tennessee

Earle, Good idea and have you been watching me change blaeds on my saw? That sounds too familiar.

Thnanks

-- Hope Never fails

Plastic Dixie cups for mixing glues, stains and paints.

I used to keep empty coffee cans, Planters plastic nut jars, Kool-Aid drink mix jars, but have given them all away for 4”x18” storage bins. I have like 15 of them on the shelf, all full of goodies, seperated with the dividers. (Used to have metal card file cabinets.) And if the need arises to take those 3” screws to a jobsite, then I use a plastic jar or bucket.

Also, save your thin cutoffs as they make great stir sticks.

-- Bob Vila would be so proud of you!

~Baby food jars for small nuts and bolts

~Coffee can are good for just about anything

~ cut up sponges and clothes pins work well for appling stain and touch up painting or finish…

-- SAWDUST...Source of Fiber......Bob

Any small containers with lids are useful. I am a little ahead right now, so they are going into the recycling for a while.

I use mason jars for storing poly. This helps keep it from skimming over in the gallon cans.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

Still Laughing Earle. I’ve glued a rare earth magnet to a dowel for that very scenario. Yeah, it’s happened enough to warrant it! Not to mention the LH thread. I go “righty-tighty” every time. That is the primary reason I end up fishing for the arbor nut.

I’ll add a couple more things I’ve used:

~After trimming wired shelving for closets, I like to cut off the individual plastic covered metal rods from the scrap. They make great mixers. Use it to blend epoxy mostly, but most are long enough to mix other materials.

~Baby Wipes – They make spreading caulk and putty into a corner very easy and neat.

~ALMOST FORGOT one of my favorites – Empty nail polish containers. I use a lot of the same finishing materials over and over. I keep a little of each in the tiny containers. The finish keeps the brush moist so that it doesn’t dry out and is always ready for a touch up. Easy to store with built in applicator, nuff said. I’m up to 4 bottles and have requested the females in my life to save them!

-- Jeff, South Carolina

Don’t forget those fake plastic credit cards make good glue spreaders.
Use grocery bags to “sand” the final buffing on your poly or shellac finished projects. It works like a VERY fine sandpaper to knock off any “nibs” in your final coat.

-- Jim

-dixie cups for mixing and holding finishes on small projects
-baby food containers for holding random fasteners (my dad uses them mostly)
-paper towels for random cleanup or other things
-plastic knives for mixing and putting gel poly on a cloth
-fake credit cards and used gift cards for spreading glue

-Plastic shot glasses-for small glue applications and mixing sawdust and glue for filler
-peanut butter jars-store fasteners, dowel pins, biscuits, buttons, plugs
-hockey pucks-deaden vibration under table saw
-coat hangers-cut and bend to make custom pegboard hooks
-old t-shirts-excellent for applying stains
-newspapers-to keep the benches clean when applying paint, stain, finish
-shower curtain-covers the table saw when spraying or during glue ups when I use the saw as a bench
-margarine or ice cream containers-for mixing stains in and for storing scres and pieces of furniture while you are refinishing/restoring(make sur you label it!)

-- Kevin -- (http://www.furniturebykevin.com)

-the large rolls of heavy duty freezer paper to put on the bench when gluing of finishing. Keeps things clean.
-those very small plastic dixie cups, sold by the thousand, for measuring and mixing epoxy and resin glues and small amounts of stains.

-- Oldworld, Fair Oaks, Ca

old sheets and tees for stripping finsh

mud flaps off of trucks under the machines to absorbe to the harmonics.

coffee cans for storeing odd and ends

Plastic Jello and pudding cups for small doses of anything.

Been many, many, many years since baby jars have been in this house. The youngest grandkid is 13. The oldest is 18. (Let’s hope we’re not to be great-grandparents too soon.)

Had a neighbor who turned lots of pens. He took 2 liter soda bottles, cut the top off and fastened the bottom to wooden squares. He then numbered the container and kept track of his pen blanks that way.

Lee

-- No piece is cut too short. It was meant for a smaller project.

I hear you Lee. My youngest is now 1 and the baby food jar supply is exhausted. One the upside, he’s getting closer and closer to playing with Lego’s and other toys Dad wants to play with but is too embarrassed to get for himself. hehe. My 3 year old daughter just isn’t into the good stuff. I can only take so much My Little Pony and Care Bears. Thankfully, there isn’t a Wiggle or Teletubby within a mile of the house. Phew.

ANYWAYS, got another idea last night. I recently bought a 6 pack of Harbor Freight 8 oz. plastic storage bottles (HF is great for these types of things – $1.49). They have the little white flip tops with about a 1/4” spout. I’ve put a lot of finishing materials in them. I buy things like Mineral Spirits in large containers so it is very nice to have an 8 oz. container for those. It’s also easy to eyeball measurements for diluting things. I can mix my Shellac and D.A. 3:1 quickly. IDEA – I was eating a salad (happens occasionally) and realized the salad dessing bottle was just about the same thing in a different shape. Slightly larger spout. Will try it when it’s empty.

-- Jeff, South Carolina

This isn’t a plug for Vitamin Water, but in addition to the fact that I love it, the caps are really great for glue.

Playing cards or cards from abandoned board games are good for all kind of stuff – mixing small amounts of epoxy, spreading glue, used as shims and spacers.

Canning wax – I always keep a slab handy for slapping on saw blades and plane soles.

Plastic packing tape – great to put on glue blocks and cauls.

—Lakey

-- "No Board Left Behind"

Small plastic folgers coffee cans are great for blending and storing finishes. French’s plastic mustard bottle w/ screw top for easy glue distribution whe you purchase in larger containers.

-- If you think healthcare is expensive now, wait until it's free! PJ O'Rourke

I keep any type of jar, plastic or glass. Great for mixing and storing dyes and finishes.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

My grandfather used old jars to store the stains and finishes that he would mix up. Also, baby food sized jars are great for storing miscellaneous screws and such cause you can see them in the jar.

Screw the lid to the underside of an eye level shelf and you can see what you need, unscrew the jar from the shelf, take what you want and screw it back up on the shelf. It’s a great use of unused space.

-- life can always be weaved into a song.

if you ever have access to some thin bamboo strips, you can make up simple glue brushes amazingly quick, Just cut them in 1/4” strips (or what ever width you would like) and then sand of the softer interior of the bamboo and crush the surface with a hammer. If you have the strips cut and setting in a corner or cup somewhere it takes literally seconds to make a new brush….and you can just cut off the used portion and keep reusing the bamboo until the stick is too short …. this is a great post, I think most people take for granted the small items that are used each day and we don’t realize how these cost’s add up.

-- If knowledge is not shared, it is forgotten.

My favorite one for home and shop:

Popsicle sticks! ...and especially the larger “craft” sticks also used as tong depressors in doctor’s offices.

I get them 1000 at a time in a box from the craft and fabric store. At home I use them as stir sticks, butter knives and spreaders because they are cheap, easy, bio-friendly, and disposable. We don’t have a dishwasher so it is nice to grab one for a quick PB&J sandwich, etc.

In the shop they are glue spreaders, paint mixers, shims, epoxy mixers, box splines, mini biscuits, etc. You can put them under a project while you finish it. If you twist them they will break with a pointed edge which is perfect for touch up, detail cleaning, tooth-picking, etc.

I go through a lot of these, they are the perfect quick-to-grab shop accessory.

-- Check out my new website! http://www.blakeweberwoodworking.com

I save all the plastic PB jars. they are great for fasteners, nails, screws and to mix and store water based paint. I also always save any small to medium size pieces of cardboard. I cut them up and use them to mix bondo on. I also save the tall thin plastic containers the cat treats we buy come in. They are great for storing acid brushes. Unfortunately I am a bit of a pack rat and I tend to keep allot of scrap wood I should really just throw away!

-- David, South Windsor, CT "I love the smell of sawdust in the morning"

For a good while I was buying the round silicon ball type cat litter. These containers work great for storing many things. I have a half dozen that store the white clips for Christmas lights. I also use them for immersion of items that need to be cleaned mainly like lawn and garden type tools. The orange box sells these little flip top boxes from Sterlite every spring time for a $1.99 and then they clearance out at $.99 I buy a bunch of these also. They work great for storing project based supplies. I typically look at a project and start buying the hardware for it and this is how I keep up wit them.

-- //FC - Round Rock, TX - "Experience is what you get just after you need it"