A neighbor stopped over and wanted to borrow two adjustable wrenches. I'm the neighborhood tool/air compressor for bicycle tire guy. When he returned the wrenches he saw me closing both before putting them back in the tool box. He asked me what I was doing and I told him that whenever I put adjustable wrenches back, I close the jaws. He opened the draw and saw about 8 or 10 wrenches all closed. He then told me I was absolutely nuts. Am I the only person with "tool quirks"?
Cord's/line's here.... Had my welder for 30 yrs. Only replaced the liner due to wear.... Worked in shop's the welder's 5 yrs. old An you can't put down 3"s of weld without a birds nest..
I usually do that with clamps and pipe wrenches just so they fit back in my drawers. Am anal about cords. They have to be rolled correctly on my hanger or it drives me nuts. My work space floor is always clean by the end of the day. Hate starting out on a new day with a fking mess. I wouldn’t even feel like starting again.
Adjustable wrenches closed; screw drivers in a rack in the toolbox drawer; torque wrenches set to "0"; welding gas turned off at tank, then valve emptied and left open; all tools cleaned & accounted for; then put away; air compressor shut-off and drain opened to empty the tank and left open; and the floor swept. Probably a few other rules, all learned from working in a machine shop for 40+ years. "Quirks" ? Maybe, but I like a neat shop and not spending my time looking for stuff.
Before I put them away , I flip the levers on my ratchets so they are ready to remove fasteners....That count?
Vice grips must be tight so they do not open in the drawer, screwdrivers are sorted by tip, INCH wrenches in a separate drawer from Metric, same for Whitworth. Notice I said inch or fractional not standard wrenches..........
I find by racking your tools after each job you tend to not loose any. If there is any empty spaces you will look for them. I worked in a body shop for over 50 years and lost very few tools. That's why I always racked up after every job.
I can understand closing visegrips as they tend to catch in drawers but closing adjustable wrenches is on the highly anal end of the spectrum. You can't use a closed wrench so it will have to be opened to do anything with it.
Vice-grips and welding clamps get closed. Everything else gets tossed in the appropriate drawer. There's a fine line between organization and anality!
Metrics in one place, standard inch in another. Soon metrics will have their own box. Everything else just gets put in the proper drawer, wrenches in one, 3/8" drive sockets in one, 1/2" drive in another, pliers in their own drawer. Have one drawer dedicated to electrical stuff, terminals, sockets , wire, one for pullers and specialized tools I don't use much, one for AC and tire valve stems and shop air fittings. And nuts and bolts scattered in just about every drawer!
Larger adjustable wrenches get closed for space, Visegrips ditto. Some snips, wire strippers or any spri g loaded plier type tool may get a ziptie around it. Sent from my LG-TP450 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Ive lived with several stupid comments about my organization in the shop. Then the same people wonder why i can work so quickly. Adjustable wrenches opened or closed , at least you are putting them away.
A metric is one of those sockets you pound on to a bolt that you rounded off using one of those adjustable wrenches. Pete
I close adjustable wrenches after I loan them out to see if the jaws got sprung by the person who borrowed them.
This is my system and it works for me....If I need a wrench, I go to the last thing I worked on and there is the wrench I used. I only put everything in its place about once a month or whenever a project is finished. I find if I put everything where it belongs, I forget where it belongs.....
Why are you loaning tools to someone who thinks you are nuts? I would have told him to buy his own f****n tools.
That's me too DOM, about as anal as I get with my hand tools but I do respect my tools, especially my mics, calipers, etc. One thing that always bothered me was some of our other machinists always left their dial calipers open on the bench in their work area, only takes some dust or grit to make them jump, when I ran the toolroom they were constantly wanting their dial calipers sent in (at company expense) for cleaning and adjustment. I'd "scold" them a bit then I'd try to get them zeroed with the little rack/pinion adjustment tool that comes with them, which they usually had lost, sometimes worked sometimes no.
I have a set of non-digital calipers in the top of all of my tool boxes. They sit on edge between the socket tray and the tool box divider. For some reason (??) I always leave them open about an 1/8th of an inch. I leave vise grips closed and set ratchets to loosen. As well I set my half inch imact to loosen when I put it away.
Now that I think about it, I always flip my cordless drill back to forward before putting it away. Like which pants leg goes on first... just a built-in action.
I was advised at a young age to never fully close micrometers or precision instruments for storage because temp changes might bend the frame and throw off the reading. May be nit-picky, but a life long habit none the less. Been using the same set of mikes for 40 years, never needed adjustment.
I close my adjustable wrench just so when I shove my hand in my work backpack I don't jab my po' lil fingers. But everything does have its specific spot. Sent from my SM-G955U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
The Jalopy Journal
