A local furniture store runs a television ad where the spokeswoman talks about how the couch “anchors” a living room. I suppose every room has an anchor, even the garage. For me, growing up it was a workbench made from a couple of 2 x 10 planks cantilevered off the exposed studs of our garage. Far from today’s standards, most of the bench was grease soaked with a crevice between the two planks that had become the final resting place for numerous lock washers, cotter pins, and snap rings of forgotten origins. At one end of the bench was a row of Butter-Nut and Folgers coffee cans with every spare nut and bolt my dad had ever come across. At the other end was an S-K hip roof toolbox that contained my dad’s modest but well used set of hand tools. Mounted above the bench was a small dedicated shelf for the hand-me-down AM radio that provided the background static for tinkering at the bench. The crackling of that old AM radio and the smell of grease soaked wood made it a familiar, comfortable place- I guess that made it the anchor for me.
Today my garage anchor is not nearly as quaint or memorable. I’m somewhat embarrassed to say it’s probably my HF tool cart, just because that’s where most of my frequently used tools end up. I hope to up my game soon (with inspiration I find here on GJ) and create a legitimate work center to anchor my garage.
So what anchors your garage then and now?
Today my garage anchor is not nearly as quaint or memorable. I’m somewhat embarrassed to say it’s probably my HF tool cart, just because that’s where most of my frequently used tools end up. I hope to up my game soon (with inspiration I find here on GJ) and create a legitimate work center to anchor my garage.
So what anchors your garage then and now?
