What's On Your Workbench?

[RichterScale]

People take stuff and borrow stuff all the time. I usually take stuff headed for the dumpster. And I've probably brought in my own tools to use on projects more than I've ever borrowed theirs. Actually, that's probably a 90/10 split. I might take a handful of nuts and bolts on occasion, when I don't feel like stopping at a store and buying a box, when I need 4-5. But I also bring in stuff from home all the time for the same reason.
But with a big ticket item like this, I feel I should ask.
Funny, the first guy I asked, who's supposed to be "in charge" of me and the maint dept, a worker asked him if he could have a small stainless table for his father's camp, for processing food. It was with 4 other small stainless tables, in an out building filled with junk furniture that will never be used. He was told no. The reason was: "I don't wanna just give away another dept's stuff and start trouble.
A month later, that same guy who said no, went back and asked that same guy who asked for the table, to go dig out one of those tables for him.......to take to his camp for processing food! You have to either have dementia, a horrible memory, or just be a total douche for that one.
A lot of the maint guys ask for permission to buy a lot of tools and supplies that they don't really need and then they "borrow" them. Sometimes they come back sometimes not. But the boss who signs off on this stuff has no idea whether or not they actually need this stuff. The place is a joke.
But, the benefits are amazing. So, whataya gonna do?
I still don't want it for free, so, next time they pass out bonuses, I'll tell em to keep it.

 

[TerribleTim68]

... But the boss who signs off on this stuff has no idea whether or not they actually need this stuff. The place is a joke.
But, the benefits are amazing. So, whataya gonna do?
I still don't want it for free, so, next time they pass out bonuses, I'll tell em to keep it.

Didn't you say it's a school district? Government money? You really don't have to go much further.

Also, I'd keep the bonus if it was me. Enjoy the saw, I'm jelly.

 

[dwizum]

In the 00's, I spent a couple years doing consulting work for facilities and maintenance departments at schools, helping them set up maintenance management and inventory software. @RichterScale, I was actually in a couple of the SUNY schools over in your end of the state. Your stories fit pretty universally. I was consistently surprised at the stuff people would either just take, or deliberately buy on a PO so they could "borrow." My favorite was a load of motorcycle tires, purchased by a shop that maintained lawn mowers and golf carts. No one seemed to notice, or care.

I guess I can't talk though, my cordless impact driver has one of those shop's names written on it. Although, that was a legitimate dumpster dive (they threw them all out because they were switching brands) and I asked half a dozen people to make sure no one cared if I took it.

 

[Lo-E]

During the week the old Craftsman 150 drill press on my workbench grew another pulley.

Before:

After:

Okay, I might have actually put it there.

This brings me from 4 speeds to 12 (actually a couple more if I shift the motor pulley up). The additional low speeds will be very helpful for hole saws, forstners and metal work. The additional fast speeds aren’t likely to ever be used.

The conversion kit came from a guy on evilbay who makes them for a number of common vintage presses. It seems very well made and the design is better than the originals were - the originals that cost more than twice as much when you can find one! I’m pretty happy with the purchase.

 

[Lo-E]

I just made this adorable marking gauge for tracing guitar bodies:

Nice, easy little afternoon project.

 

[Max Bogosity]

Found a little local sawmill advertising pallets of offcuts and seconds. Picked up 75 board feet of mostly walnut, cherry, and maple, plus a bit of oak and maybe birch, for $2.50/bf. Some of it's junk, but most of it looks pretty usable.

Then I didn't have enough room to put it away, so I spent a good part of last weekend turning scraps into shelves under the stairs. I feel almost organized.

 

[Crawforde]

My wife and son are away for the weekend.
It’s got outside and brutal in the garage.
So the whole house is now my workbench. I’ll have some cleaning to do…

 

[Lo-E]

View attachment 4767702 View attachment 4767703 My wife and son are away for the weekend.
It’s got outside and brutal in the garage.
So the whole house is now my workbench. I’ll have some cleaning to do…
View attachment 4767701

I like that you’re using a bit and brace.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

I like that you’re using a bit and brace.

Of course he is… a powered drill might be messy in the house.

 

[TerribleTim68]

I own a brace, I own no bits tho.

Also, I'm super jelly of the sawmill find @Max Bogosity, what a score!

 

[TerribleTim68]

I feel bad because I haven't done anything guitar related in weeks, months even. My workbench got piled on when we unpacked after our last camping trip. My wife just unloaded everything onto it because "Hey look, a flat surface!" Then my garage got totally destroyed as we started trying to fix motorcycles and get her geared up for her big weekend at the NHRA Drag Racing event here. Every year she volunteers as staff for that race, she usually works the "turn-around crew" -

If you watch that stuff on your boob tube, you might have seen her doing things like pushing cars out of the way or rolling up parachutes -
(this is literally a screen shot of the television broadcast)

Because of our state's strict COVID regs, the NHRA didn't come here for two seasons, so she's been waiting for this weekend for three years now. So the garage looks like a bomb went off in it, and my workbench may have been ground zero. I tried to go out there the other day to just clean up and get it organized, but I could NOT find any motivation at all. Every time I look at it I'm just frustrated.

At least she had a good weekend.

 

[Lo-E]

So the garage looks like a bomb went off in it, and my workbench may have been ground zero.

If it makes you feel any better, my workbench looks like that a vast majority of the time and I can’t blame my wife because she avoids my workshop whenever she can.

 

[TerribleTim68]

If it makes you feel any better, my workbench looks like that a vast majority of the time and I can’t blame my wife because she avoids my workshop whenever she can.

It's kind of funny. There's parts of the garage that I don't even bother trying to organize, and I'm by no means a clean freak. But man when my bench is a mess it just guts me.
And it's not even a nice bench, it's just the Harbor Freight workbench that I got used on the local OfferUp market with a big old stain on one end of the top. It's not even all that great, but it was $60!

 

[Flamingo21]

I feel almost organized.

Awww... I sympathize with you. Rest assured the feeling will pass.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

I feel bad because I haven't done anything guitar related in weeks, months even. My workbench got piled on when we unpacked after our last camping trip. My wife just unloaded everything onto it because "Hey look, a flat surface!" Then my garage got totally destroyed as we started trying to fix motorcycles and get her geared up for her big weekend at the NHRA Drag Racing event here. Every year she volunteers as staff for that race, she usually works the "turn-around crew" -
View attachment 4768550
If you watch that stuff on your boob tube, you might have seen her doing things like pushing cars out of the way or rolling up parachutes -
(this is literally a screen shot of the television broadcast)
View attachment 4768551
Because of our state's strict COVID regs, the NHRA didn't come here for two seasons, so she's been waiting for this weekend for three years now. So the garage looks like a bomb went off in it, and my workbench may have been ground zero. I tried to go out there the other day to just clean up and get it organized, but I could NOT find any motivation at all. Every time I look at it I'm just frustrated.

At least she had a good weekend.

At least you have a good reason. I haven’t been doing much in the garage because (whiny baby voice) “It’s too hot!” We’re supposed to back to more normal (hot instead of sweltering) temperatures this week. Hmmm… I’ll have to work on new excuses.

 

[Max Bogosity]

Also, I'm super jelly of the sawmill find @Max Bogosity, what a score!

I found it for sale on Facebook Marketplace, of all places. He said in the winter he sells lots of 'odds and ends' like this to guys who make cutting boards and small stuff like that, but in the summer it just piles up and gets in the way.

 

[Lo-E]

I found it for sale on Facebook Marketplace, of all places. He said in the winter he sells lots of 'odds and ends' like this to guys who make cutting boards and small stuff like that, but in the summer it just piles up and gets in the way.

I wish someone had that problem in my neighborhood!

 

[TerribleTim68]

Same Lo-E, same.
I found several local sawmill dudes, because PNW and we have tons of trees, right? They all quoted me prices basically the same as Home Depot but I'd have to drive 45 minutes to go get it rather than the Home Depot that is literally 1.5 miles from my house (if driving, it's like 3,000 feet as the crow flies).

 

[Max Bogosity]

Same Lo-E, same.
I found several local sawmill dudes, because PNW and we have tons of trees, right? They all quoted me prices basically the same as Home Depot but I'd have to drive 45 minutes to go get it rather than the Home Depot that is literally 1.5 miles from my house (if driving, it's like 3,000 feet as the crow flies).

Home Depot here used to be OK, but now they've gone insane. They want $96 for a single warped 1"x6"x8' maple board.

 

[TerribleTim68]

Home Depot here used to be OK, but now they've gone insane. They want $96 for a single warped 1"x6"x8' maple board.

Yeah, any time you get wider than 4" the cost goes up exponentially. Even 2x4s here are insane. We're currently at $38 for an 8 foot Southern Yellow Pine 2x4 or $21 for Western Red Cedar 2x4s. I can recall them, just a couple years ago, literally being $4 for an 8 foot 2x4. How they went up $34 in two years is beyond me.
But yeah, a 1x8 or a 1x6? Those are "per linier foot" at $7 a foot, so $56 for an 8 footer.
The worst part about being any sort of woodworker right now is....the price of wood!