# Favourite tip



## mygrizzly1022 (Jan 13, 2012)

Hi all

 I started a similar thread over on The Home Shop Machinist forum so I thought I would do one here as well as it may generate a different batch of pearls of wisdom.

I am sure that most readers here glean any number of useful and well used tips from these types of forums. As well, we all use other sources for ideas and hints, i.e. books and magazines, teachers, and other mentors. What I would be interested in hearing about, is your favourite, or most well used gem of info, you have picked up over the years.

My personal favourite, which I use almost every time I am in my workshop deals with tidiness. It was gleaned from the pages of Machine Shop Trade Secretes by James A Harvey. 

When tidying up he suggests: That once you pick up something to put away dont set it down again till it is in its proper place.

This book has literally hundreds of very worthwhile but tips but this simple gem stuck a chord with me and has contributed to a much tidier shop for me ever since I read that tip. I seldom put something away that I dont think of that book and the man who wrote it.
Looking forward to some other examples..

Regards Bert


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## maverick (Jan 13, 2012)

Thanks for the tidying up tip Burt, I need all the help I can get in this area. I guess what I really need is someone whack me with the 
  thing that needs put away.

  Regards,
  Mike


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## Maryak (Jan 13, 2012)

Bert  said:
			
		

> When tidying up he suggests: That once you pick up something to put away dont set it down again till it is in its proper place.



That is probably one of the truest, simplest and dare I say the most difficult to implement tip I have read. :bow:

Best Regards
Bob


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## ninefinger (Jan 13, 2012)

Proper place - hmm - that is where I seem to fall down - I'd be holding everything forever...

Mike


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## rake60 (Jan 14, 2012)

I may be the world's worst offender where tidy is involved.

I do have a place for everything. It's called my work table.







If I put anything away I can never seem to remember where I put it.

Rick


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## doc1955 (Jan 14, 2012)

rake60  said:
			
		

> I may be the world's worst offender where tidy is involved.
> 
> I do have a place for everything. It's called my work table.
> 
> ...


 :big: :big: :big: :big: :big: :big: :big: I know the feeling so well.


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## doc1955 (Jan 14, 2012)

Ok on a serious note now.
Here is one I like not sure if I read this here or some where else so not sure where the credit should go.
All the years I spent time looking for a piece of paper to touch a cutter off of a surface was ended when I read this.
Don't just throw out those old phone books cut them into several pieces and hang on on your mill you will have paper to touch off your cutters close at hand.


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## mygrizzly1022 (Jan 14, 2012)

Hi Again

Have no doubt, my work bench used to be no different and frankly can still sometimes get that way. But I try to avoid it.
What I discovered once I took that little tip to heart, was I no longer spent forever looking for a tool .I just used a minute ago. If put things away after use, you invest only a few seconds time. The return on that investment is that the Tool hunts become a thing of the past.

Regards Bert


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## pelallito (Jan 14, 2012)

Doc,
I think that you found it on Frets, Frank Fords site.
http://www.frets.com/HomeShopTech/QuickTricks/CigPaperSub/cigpapersub.html
Please keep good hints coming in, I need ALL the help I can get! :-[ :big:
Regards,
Fred


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## doc1955 (Jan 15, 2012)

pelallito  said:
			
		

> Doc,
> I think that you found it on Frets, Frank Fords site.
> http://www.frets.com/HomeShopTech/QuickTricks/CigPaperSub/cigpapersub.html
> Please keep good hints coming in, I need ALL the help I can get! :-[ :big:
> ...



yep I believe that is where I read that one and I must say I have one at each machine.
Thanks Frank Ford


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## Ken I (Jan 16, 2012)

I have all my drawers and shelves numbered (A1 to D5) and keep a spreadsheet of all the things and where they are kept.

Its just too much stuff to keep organised in my head.

The list is stuck to my wall above the bench.

Ken


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## smfr (Jan 16, 2012)

To try to keep the work bench organized, I bought a couple of Rubbermaid trays, one about 6" x 9", another 3" by 9". They are the kind with the rubberized bottom with nubs on. Now, when I'm swapping out drill bits, reamers etc, I put the "in use" tools in one of these trays. The other smaller tray is used for "in-use" tools like small spanners and the like when doing assembly. As long as you get into the habit of always putting things in one of the trays, they are easy to find again. Then, at the end of the day or part of a project, I just have to put away everything in the trays.


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## ShopShoe (Jan 16, 2012)

smfr,

It looks like we think alike. I have been doing the same as you. When the load gets larger and/or farther from the bench, I have several of these

http://www.stack-on.com/categories/other/products/157

Which I store empty, but pick up for temporary use and transport back to the storage area. If a project like work on a car stops unfinished at the end of a day, I just bring the tray (Or trays) inside to go back outside the next time. This is especially helpful when a cleaning or resharpening step needs to be added before putting something really away.

--

My first job out of high school was working for a contractor who thought leaving tools behind was enough of a problem that he made everyone put everything in the middle of the floor where we were working so everyone on the crew would see it to get it back on the trucks. Thanks to me "knowing better," there are measuring tapes, pliers, screwdrivers, and my then-best Swiss Army Knife built into houses in that town. I use this idea when working "away from base." and very few tools have been forgotten over lots of years.


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## Captain Jerry (Jan 16, 2012)

Here is a tip that makes more sense as you get older: ;D

You can't do good work if you have to pee.


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## Maryak (Jan 16, 2012)

Captain Jerry  said:
			
		

> Here is a tip that makes more sense as you get older: ;D
> 
> You can't do good work if you have to pee.



And it no longer sneaks up on you but arrives with an almost uncontrollable flood. 

Best Regards
Bob


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## bvd1940 (Jan 17, 2012)

A statement from my Forman & longtime friend Hitch.  
Given the proper motivation & time anything can be repaired except a broken heart. 
[/color]
Not a shop tip just a thought what a machinist thinks about a job ;D


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## mklotz (Jan 17, 2012)

bvd1940  said:
			
		

> Given the proper motivation & time anything can be repaired except a broken hart.



Exactly how could a male deer (hart) be broken?  ;D


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## bvd1940 (Jan 17, 2012)

mklotz  said:
			
		

> Exactly how could a male deer (hart) be broken? ;D


So I left out a letter so shoot me :bow:


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## tel (Jan 17, 2012)

Depends on the size of the semi-trailer!


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## purpleknif (Jan 18, 2012)

Been a full time machinist for 30 years now and still the best piece of advice I ever got was "Kid, there's no bigger waste that takin' a dump on your own time."  :bow:


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## lee9966 (Jan 18, 2012)

One from Bogs that stuck with me is to not be afraid of taking faster/deeper cuts when appropriate. I was always skeered and was doing more work hardening than cutting sometimes.

Another that helped me is to put away yesterday's tools first thing when getting to the shop, before getting too involved in whatever I am fussing with.

Lee


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