MFortie
Well-known member
My name is Mark and I'm a tool addict.
It all started in 1972 when Sears granted me a credit card three months before my 18th birthday. I have to assume they saw the 'need' in my eyes and knew the risk of providing unsecured credit to a minor would pale in comparison to the windfall profits they would reap from my addiction.
(Hmm, isn't that how crack dealers start?)
At the time I owned a 1969 Camaro SS396 that my Dad co-signed for to replace the '61 Comet station wagon I kept shredding those Ford 3-speed trannies 'cause I thought I was Don Garlits behind that 144 cubic inch in-line six!
Of course, the first thing I needed to do with the Camaro was make it a hot rod! On went the air shocks, and the headers and a set of traction bars. It wasn't 'til my fuel pump gave up the ghost that I learned the true meaning of D.I.Y...
Dad said, "I don't want you changing the fuel pump; take it to the shop." Naturally my seventeen year old Id was shattered by the fact my old man didn't think I could change a fuel pump. So I did what most seventeen year old kids would do -- I changed it anyway! Of course, it didn't go quite as smoothly as I hoped and after a whole day of trying to figure out why the darned pump wouldn't go back on (and Dad coming home from work and asking "What are you doing?" "Changing my fuel pump." A disgusted head shake and he walked away to leave me with my folly...), broke down and called a local gas station (that was back when they had mechanics and I had talked with this one a few times); the mechanic asked me if I pushed the push rod up out of the way when I told him my dilemma. DOH! (Homer Simpson
owes me royalties on that phrase!)
Fifteen minutes later the Camaro was roaring it's approval through those old Hedman headers and Dad was begrudgingly acknowledging that I was not quite as much of a doofus as he had thought (he didn't know about the phone call.)
That minor accomplishment fueled my lifelong love of tools and 'doing it myself'. Over those last 38 years I have bought cement mixers, tile saws, welders, tractors, roto-hammers, PEX tubing expanders, engine hoists, jointers, planers, band saws, brake flaring sets, ball joint presses, drywall hoppers and hand tools enough to choke any man's credit score! (BTW, I use none of the tools in my chosen profession of computer geek...)
Any time we have another project, my wife cringes at my now familiar mantra, "Hey, I could buy the tools and do it myself!"
All of this leads to the all so often and commonly known problem of 'not enough room'. We live in a standard, four bedroom, three car garage suburban So Cal neighborhood (although we do have a lot of land -- most of it canyon and sloping). Most of the time the garage is so stuffed with tools and projects and dog food bowls, we can hardly navigate from one side to the other.
So, imagine my joyous rapture on finding the Garage Journal forum -- a place where like-minded folks gather and share their tales of storage, building and other tool related activities! People with suggestions and projects to manage this garage hydra I've created!
I've once again embarked on the Herculean task of getting my garage organized with the inspiration of this board. Oh, I've started before. I have half-finished cabinets on one side of the garage with drywall and slat wall. I have a full Racedeck floor that I installed during one such effort. I have 20A outlets, subpanels and 4 lamp fixtures galore for my power and lighting. Believe it or not, I only have a 125A main feeding a couple of subs for the pool, welders, RV outlets, etc. -- haven't popped a circuit yet! (My wife, on the other hand...)
Over the last two weekends, I've pulled the tools filling the single car side out and they are now taking residence in one quarter of the 25'x50' steel canopy I built for the RV. Fortunately in So Cal rain is kinda rare, so they should be fine for the time being. (And someone is almost always home and we are way 'out of sight, out of mind' as far as theft goes - besides, I know at least one of the four dogs WILL bite...
)
My goal is to move everything on the common wall over to the small side so I can re-drywall the common wall (pulled the drywall off when I replumbed from that damned Qest pipe to PEX last year.) Then I'll line the wall with the five or so Craftsman cabinets that are living on the double side and build some soffit cabinets for my reloading stuff (again, too much there as well.) Relocate the safe and put the good ole laundry sink back in (that I took out when I replumbed, yadda, yadda, yadda.)
The small side will become the metal working area where I'll build a welding table and other steel tables for auto work, etc. I think I'll make an 'island' in the middle of the double side for woodworking -- I've already got a new mobile cabinet to house the table saw and router 'table' half built. I'm thinking of somehow incorporating the band saw and planer in the mobile cabinet as well.
My wife likes the idea of tiling the garage floor -- she's not overly crazy about the Racedeck; I'm a little ambivalent -- seems to hold up OK (except to weld splatter
), but I've scratched it and gouged it during some of my more 'intense' projects (like the Jeep build.) Here's a pic during the Jeep project of the garage:
Anyway, I'll cut this short
and post pics as I go. Thanks for the forum and a place to share my 'affliction' and I promise a bit more brevity in my future posts!
Regards,
Mark
It all started in 1972 when Sears granted me a credit card three months before my 18th birthday. I have to assume they saw the 'need' in my eyes and knew the risk of providing unsecured credit to a minor would pale in comparison to the windfall profits they would reap from my addiction.
(Hmm, isn't that how crack dealers start?)
At the time I owned a 1969 Camaro SS396 that my Dad co-signed for to replace the '61 Comet station wagon I kept shredding those Ford 3-speed trannies 'cause I thought I was Don Garlits behind that 144 cubic inch in-line six!
Of course, the first thing I needed to do with the Camaro was make it a hot rod! On went the air shocks, and the headers and a set of traction bars. It wasn't 'til my fuel pump gave up the ghost that I learned the true meaning of D.I.Y...
Dad said, "I don't want you changing the fuel pump; take it to the shop." Naturally my seventeen year old Id was shattered by the fact my old man didn't think I could change a fuel pump. So I did what most seventeen year old kids would do -- I changed it anyway! Of course, it didn't go quite as smoothly as I hoped and after a whole day of trying to figure out why the darned pump wouldn't go back on (and Dad coming home from work and asking "What are you doing?" "Changing my fuel pump." A disgusted head shake and he walked away to leave me with my folly...), broke down and called a local gas station (that was back when they had mechanics and I had talked with this one a few times); the mechanic asked me if I pushed the push rod up out of the way when I told him my dilemma. DOH! (Homer Simpson
owes me royalties on that phrase!)Fifteen minutes later the Camaro was roaring it's approval through those old Hedman headers and Dad was begrudgingly acknowledging that I was not quite as much of a doofus as he had thought (he didn't know about the phone call.)
That minor accomplishment fueled my lifelong love of tools and 'doing it myself'. Over those last 38 years I have bought cement mixers, tile saws, welders, tractors, roto-hammers, PEX tubing expanders, engine hoists, jointers, planers, band saws, brake flaring sets, ball joint presses, drywall hoppers and hand tools enough to choke any man's credit score! (BTW, I use none of the tools in my chosen profession of computer geek...)
Any time we have another project, my wife cringes at my now familiar mantra, "Hey, I could buy the tools and do it myself!"
All of this leads to the all so often and commonly known problem of 'not enough room'. We live in a standard, four bedroom, three car garage suburban So Cal neighborhood (although we do have a lot of land -- most of it canyon and sloping). Most of the time the garage is so stuffed with tools and projects and dog food bowls, we can hardly navigate from one side to the other.
So, imagine my joyous rapture on finding the Garage Journal forum -- a place where like-minded folks gather and share their tales of storage, building and other tool related activities! People with suggestions and projects to manage this garage hydra I've created!
I've once again embarked on the Herculean task of getting my garage organized with the inspiration of this board. Oh, I've started before. I have half-finished cabinets on one side of the garage with drywall and slat wall. I have a full Racedeck floor that I installed during one such effort. I have 20A outlets, subpanels and 4 lamp fixtures galore for my power and lighting. Believe it or not, I only have a 125A main feeding a couple of subs for the pool, welders, RV outlets, etc. -- haven't popped a circuit yet! (My wife, on the other hand...)
Over the last two weekends, I've pulled the tools filling the single car side out and they are now taking residence in one quarter of the 25'x50' steel canopy I built for the RV. Fortunately in So Cal rain is kinda rare, so they should be fine for the time being. (And someone is almost always home and we are way 'out of sight, out of mind' as far as theft goes - besides, I know at least one of the four dogs WILL bite...
)My goal is to move everything on the common wall over to the small side so I can re-drywall the common wall (pulled the drywall off when I replumbed from that damned Qest pipe to PEX last year.) Then I'll line the wall with the five or so Craftsman cabinets that are living on the double side and build some soffit cabinets for my reloading stuff (again, too much there as well.) Relocate the safe and put the good ole laundry sink back in (that I took out when I replumbed, yadda, yadda, yadda.)
The small side will become the metal working area where I'll build a welding table and other steel tables for auto work, etc. I think I'll make an 'island' in the middle of the double side for woodworking -- I've already got a new mobile cabinet to house the table saw and router 'table' half built. I'm thinking of somehow incorporating the band saw and planer in the mobile cabinet as well.
My wife likes the idea of tiling the garage floor -- she's not overly crazy about the Racedeck; I'm a little ambivalent -- seems to hold up OK (except to weld splatter
), but I've scratched it and gouged it during some of my more 'intense' projects (like the Jeep build.) Here's a pic during the Jeep project of the garage:
Anyway, I'll cut this short
and post pics as I go. Thanks for the forum and a place to share my 'affliction' and I promise a bit more brevity in my future posts!Regards,
Mark