Catching **** for cleaning tools...

[ChvyC10]

Anyone catching BS from guys at work for keeping your tools clean? The guys almost daily say something about it..

I tell them it's pretty simple... At a young age I was taught to take care of my belongings.

 

[blown94conv]

I used to catch it from my buddies. But at the end of the day, I hate picking up dirty tools to do a job. It says something about the level of pride you take in your work. I've heard all the "I'm too busy to clean", but i don't buy it. You could eat off my engine bay, and that only happens because I take the time to clean everything when I am done.

 

[nisreo]

I'm with you, need my tools clean when I reach for them, not only because they look nice, but I'd like to be able to bring any tool into a tan interior and not worry about leaving a stain.

Sent from my Android

 

[ChvyC10]

Oh... And I even hear some hate for the snap-on green handles!

 

[rmsg0040]

For me its a sense of pride and respect for my tools. That goes for everything else I own. I was never given, I worked for it all.

 

[The Dutchman]

I'm jealous of the guys that keep their tools super clean. I try to do that but it seems I'm always behind the 8 ball & never have time to really keep everything shiny!

Don't worry, there will always be people in the shop whose priorities are such that they can't just live & let live.

 

[Altec]

So, give it back... I'd bust their balls saying I don't want my tools looking like theirs.

I pay good money for my tools, and I'm damn sure going to take care of them!

The only thing I'm not all that concerned about is keeping the box spotless. That is a futile effort...

And everyone where I work has a color. I'm green, the owner is blue/orange, and the guy I work with mainly runs black. The only difference is I'm constantly asking the tool guys if they can get stuff in green, and I'm liable to buy something simply because it is cool, and green...

 

[Mike_C]

I wish I had the good habbit of cleaning my tools, and putting everything away as soon as I am done. Far to easy for me to just leave stuff out, or pile **** up in the drawers. I've been working on changing that, trying to improve my habbits and put things away.

With that said, I would give you a hard time about it at work too. But that is mainly cause our shop is always a mess. So if someone came in and kept a clean area, it would be out of place

 

[Altec]

I'm jealous of the guys that keep their tools super clean. I try to do that but it seems I'm always behind the 8 ball & never have time to really keep everything shiny!

Don't worry, there will always be people in the shop whose priorities are such that they can't just live & let live.

Spotless is a almost impossible thing to do. It is the simple stuff that adds up. Wiping down tools real quick with a rag before putting them away, if something is really gunked up a blast of brake cleaner. Wipe some drawer edges down once in a while and you'll be looking good!

Also, never just throw stuff in a box. You should always have a rough place for something.

 

[ChvyC10]

I give it back... believe me.

I find it just mind blowing the way some of the guys work...

 

[NinetyTwoFifty]

There's really not a reason to have filthy tools.

 

[slob]

I have a pretty good excuse. After a few hours of fixing train toilets, my tools usually have ***** matter on them. To not clean them would be inexcusable.

 

[bobcatdan]

Back when I worked on cars and it got real slow, the whole shop would clean tools. Guys would go as far empting drawers and pulling drawers out to clean behind them. Now a days, I don't clean my tools too often, I would doubt there is standing oil in some drawers.

 

[Altec]

I have a pretty good excuse. After a few hours of fixing train toilets, my tools usually have ***** matter on them. To not clean them would be inexcusable.

Sounds like a...******...Job... Sorry. That does **** though!

 

[canuckian]

I'm just a shade tree and still catch **** for keeping my stuff clean. Ah well. Doesn't bother me none. Of course, I have the luxury of time to keep my stuff clean and organized that people working in a shop often don't have. that being said, it doesn't take much time if you wipe stuff down and put it back as you go along and at the end of the day.

 

[BJ42LX]

I worked as a mechanics helper one summer. As such I was working out of the boss' box.

His tools were filthy. All his sockets were packed with greasy dirt. So much so I couldn't push the sockets on the heads of bolts/nuts! After about a week of that I took a couple trays of sockets and dropped them in the parts cleaner. Like new.

Later that day he pulled a few sockets out of the box for a job. He had to look at them real close - he didn't recognize them as his own!

 

[ChvyC10]

Sounds like a...******...Job... Sorry. That does **** though!

 

[RRmech]

I had to keep my tools clean.
After a few hours they'd get so covered in oil, grease, and dirt that they'd be slippery as hell!!

Steve

 

[fordbroncodave]

heck, at my part time job all i do is clean and put tools away as well as clean the toolbox and the working environment. i also maintain the machinery. a handy man in a carhartt coat.

a clean toolbox and a clean set of tools in the right places makes all the difference.

 

[jtfc]

If you are busting out the buffing tool to bring back the shine on your ratchet I might flick you some ****. But if you are just giving them a quick wipe with a rag then tell them that when they start buying your tools you will start taking their opinion seriously...

 

[el tanque prohibido]

Clean tools function better and last longer.

 

[The Dutchman]

Spotless is a almost impossible thing to do. It is the simple stuff that adds up. Wiping down tools real quick with a rag before putting them away, if something is really gunked up a blast of brake cleaner. Wipe some drawer edges down once in a while and you'll be looking good!

Also, never just throw stuff in a box. You should always have a rough place for something.

Yeah, I do always wipe off wrenches quick before I put them away. With the smaller wrenches--hard to get inside the web, though. What REALLY burns My *** is there's one guy who gives your sockets back to you caked with grease. ARGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Altec]

If some borrowed your car, and brought it back covered in mud, would you let them borrow it again?

I'd simply say that I can't let them borrow it again.

 

[SINISTER]

There's some guys in my shop who wipe off their tools after they touch them, even if they are going to use them again. Ill bust their balls especially they new guys who just started buying snap-on, mac, matco ect. They think their tools are worth more than they are in reality. "175$ on a ratchet, no one can touch it and I am keeping it in a glass case" type of guys.

After every job I gather all my tools toss them on top of my box, grab the simple green and a clean shop towel and wipe them all down. Seldom, I will take the really grimey ones to the parts washer. I would say about once a month I will go through my box organize it and clean everything as close as I can to like new condition.

I know some guys who have never cleaned a tool in their life, thats just not for me. I like to have a clean tool, clean box, clean workspace ect. Let one of those things go and the rest tend to go with it.

I will say though you are going to far if you have to clean your tools off after you touch them, and then use them again, clean them ect all while still working on the same thing. I have seen it and its pretty funny.

 

[mrbreezeet1]

not about cleaning tools, but there is more ********, comments made, practical jokes,singing, radios blasting, running there ******* mouths, etc, I just cant stand it sometimes. Most un-professional place I have ever worked.
Kind of **** that would not be allowed in an office.
Hopefully this other job comes through for me, same place, different dept.
There is only 2 other guys there& the boss, so it shouldn't be too/as bad.

 

[babewatcher]

Tools that I've used for the day are all wiped clean at the end of the day and put back in my box. Way I've always done it. For 35 years. I say screw em. Tell them to mind their own business.

 

[Altec]

not about cleaning tools, but there is more ********, comments made, practical jokes,singing, radios blasting, running there ******* mouths, etc, I just cant stand it sometimes. Most un-professional place I have ever worked.
Kind of **** that would not be allowed in an office.
Hopefully this other job comes through for me, same place, different dept.
There is only 2 other guys there& the boss, so it shouldn't be too/as bad.

I feel blessed to work next to a old fart. Although his police scanner gets annoying after a while...

 

[Outlawmws]

Nothing goes back in my box unless it is reasonably clean. Do I get every speck off in every nook and cranny? no, but reasonably close. Certainly I'm not going to feel oil or grime on a tool by picking it up out of the box, and no very few of my tools look "brand new" They are tools, and they get used.

I'm also insistent that every tool goes back where it was found. I'm actually this close to telling my son to use his tools (which are in his room) if he can't put mine back in order when working in the garage...

 

[mtkst19]

end of the job i roll my cart back to my box, wipe stuff down as i put it away and leave out the stuff i will use on the next job. my old boss use to ***** at me for doing this. felt i wasted time by cleaning my tools. to me, it doubles as a tool check because if im missing something i catch it right then and there.

i get **** though for cleaning out my bay. once a month i dump a gallon or two of muratic acid on the floor and give it a good scrubbing. with it being winter time, i havent had a good chance to clean the floor due to weather/snow. yet today was spring like. i had a coolant leak on the floor earlier today and tomorrow i know i will be kneeling on the floor doing a heater core in a bmw--so the bay got cleaned before i left work in prep of tomorrow.

Nothing aggravates me more than kneeling on the ground and getting dirty knees. I wear white t-shirts to work and can do total **** job yet still stay clean.

 

[wreckerman5357]

not about cleaning tools, but there is more ********, comments made, practical jokes,singing, radios blasting, running there ******* mouths, etc, I just cant stand it sometimes. Most un-professional place I have ever worked.
Kind of **** that would not be allowed in an office.
Hopefully this other job comes through for me, same place, different dept.
There is only 2 other guys there& the boss, so it shouldn't be too/as bad.

Sounds a lot like the last shop I worked in.

 

[torqueman2002]

Take a look at the pit crews - NASCAR, F1, doesn't matter.

Neat, clean, and organized.

There's something to keeping your area and tools clean.

I'll have a pile of tools after I finish a job. They get cleaned up/wiped off and put away at the end of the job. If it's a job that stretches over a couple of days, same treatment at the end of the day.

 

[bigcaddy]

Your co-workers sound like idiots but then again, not everybody has the same set of priorities. When i started helping my old man service the engines of truck fleet, and used HIS tools, i would get reamed if i didn't wipe them down with a rag and lacquer thinner when done.

This may not be the best method of cleaning for tools with plastic handles or grips but it has stuck with me as i've grown older. My tools will be covered in grease and crud when I'm replacing a intake gasket but they ALWAYS get wiped down before being put away when i'm done.

I'm curious, how does the inside of their home garages compare to the inside of yours? Does theirs, in any way, reflect how they treat their tools?

 

[Kurn]

There's a lot of slobs out there.When I brought my boxes into the shop,people couldn't believe that my stuff was clean and organized,and it stays that way.I know exactly where a tool is,and don't have to go rummaging around to find it.And to my way of thinking,there is no excuse for dirty tools.I clean 'em when I put them away for the day.

 

[Mstrfxit12]

I always looked at it like this. I wash my truck and Harley's pretty routinely and I've spent more money on my tools than on them so why wouldn't I routinely clean them too.....

 

[wannab20hatch]

I catch **** all the time at work for keeping my box organized and tools clean. I just let in go in one ear out the other because every time the GM goes by or an adjuster walks through I always get compliments on my cleanliness. I even wipe down/wax my box weekly. I always keep my tools clean because i never know if i need them under the hood or inside. Last thing I want to do is buy interior trim because of a grease stain. Organizing my box helps me keep track of my tools also. Im like every other guy I have more invested in tools and a box then some people have in their cars so why not take care of them.

 

[rmchrgr]

Its lucky if my tools end up back in my box most of the time. I clean my stuff on an as-necessary basis. My cart is actually pretty grubby right now, I do actually need to clean it up.

Nobody is real **** about cleaning tools where I work.

 

[otis66]

I wipe my tools down at the end of each day. It helps keep track of the tools you have used. If you accidently leave somthing out you will know. So far after 24 years I have never lost a tool because I left it out at the end of the day.

 

[SpiderGearsMan]

do it on your own time ..and waxing tool boxes ? oh brother

 

[bradleykd]

I always wipe my tools down after a job, and my box is set up for a place for everyting and everything in it's place. I catch **** all the time, people saying i dont work in a hospital and that kind of thing, Or when someone is working with me, they act like they are going out of their way not to set my tools on the ground or something because I might get mad?? I just tell em that Im not afraid to use my tools, but at the end of the job I want em wiped off and put back where they belong is all. I hate picking up dirty tools to start a job, and I like being able to tell someone exactly where one is when I'm standing on my head in a machine and I need them to hand me a tool....

 

[The Dutchman]

Cleaning off your tools at least a few times a day is part of the job. I assume most of us are talking about working on cars here, but any shop where you use your own hand tools would be a similar scenario.

Becoming proficient in this type of work is a journey from disorder to order. If I have too many tools out on a big job with no more room to put them I stop & put SOME of them away in my tool boxes where they belong. Of course you can't put wrenches covered with grease back in the drawer, so you gotta wipe 'em down some. If you dump them in say, a 5 gal container they're not in any kind of order & you can't find them. Speaking for myself, any-hoo...