Shop Rules

[glentre]

Glen, you're welcome to stop by my garage/shop the next time you're near Baltimore. I can always use another friend! If I ever make it near your neck of the woods, I'll reach out.

Limited rules in my shop:

• Ask first
• Respect the tools
• Safety third!

Honestly, if I know you well enough to have you in my shop, you probably don't need to ask about using something. In my opinion, friends trust each other, and the relationship needs some amount of reciprocity. Trust and respect are two-way streets, and I'm happy to help on projects and share tools and knowledge as its needed.

Thanks for the kind words and invite. With covid19, we have stopped traveling but are anxious to get on the road again asap.

Glen

 

[Copymutt]

Several friends and neighbors stop in for a home brew and or to play cards. Nobody touches my tools except the neighbors 13 yr. old. when I’m there.

 

[sberry]

I been providing tools for so long that I am used to it. I provide everything when guys work for me. I got neighbors walk in and get what they need. I have had one or 2 minor things over the years got damaged, nothing, nada, not worth the worry. A couple guys that were minor problems but they long gone.

 

[kaymccampbell]

Stand aside. Keep your hands to yourself. Uninvited is unwelcome, expect the bum's rush.

 

[sberry]

Now, my kids are a challenge. They started out wanted their own tool boxes, got over it, mine is way easier. I did buy the eldest a battery drill.

 

[Bruce Amacker]

I have a 5 bay commercial garage I use for my own classic cars. No, you can't work on your car in my shop. Period. And if I'm working on it, you're going to pay me. No modern cars, classic iron only. (I ran a commercial garage for 25 years, I don't want to work on EFI anymore).

You're welcome to stop by and BS, have a drink and hang out. I even have "movie days" at my shop for my friends where I set up a projector and screen, run the audio through the stereo and watch Steve McQueen movies.

The only exception is "Tune-Up Day" where my car club comes and wrenches on their cars one day per year. It's part wrenching and mainly partying, the wives cook/provide food.

 

[kd3pc]

my shop is called "Daveland" and it is mine. I might and I might not share. Get your own stuff.

 

[Kent_B]

My son lives an hour and a half from me. He's in my garage so rarely that I don't set any rules for him. I'm not friends with any car guys, so that isn't a problem. There's no visible indication to a passer-by that anything of interest happens in my garage.

Sometimes I wish somebody would stop by for coffee & a chat. Mostly it's just me. Wife and daughter want me to work on their cars, but they have no interest in the process.

 

[Lassen Forge]

I've NEVER understood a woman's hang up with men not putting the seat down. If they sit down in a bowl of water in the middle of the night it's their own damn fault - watch where you put your ***! Don't put it on me.

No, it's NOT about "being considerate". You don't put it up when you leave so why do I have to put it down when I leave?

Ours is put the lid down when you're done - the feral cats are trained to **** on the little rug on top, and get offended when they fall in the water.

No one uses my shop unless I'm out there helping.

“Keep Out” seems sufficient.

no smoking

No one uses my shop or is even allowed in it.
I am the one and only master and inhabitant of my domain.

Stand aside. Keep your hands to yourself. Uninvited is unwelcome, expect the bum's rush.

my shop is called "Daveland" and it is mine. I might and I might not share. Get your own stuff.

That pretty much sums it up. I don't loan tools, motorcycles, cars, parts, or whatnot. Don't even ask. You want to work on something, unless we're like family or better, work on it at home. And even then you bring your own tools. I had to pay out of my own pocket for my stuff when I bought it, I sure as hell am not going to pay a second time when you break it.

And by the way - When I smoked, I didn't smoke in my own shop. Neither do you. Period. That porcelain "Stop your motor - No Smoking" sign isn't there for looks.

I have a 5 bay commercial garage I use for my own classic cars. No, you can't work on your car in my shop. Period. And if I'm working on it, you're going to pay me. No modern cars, classic iron only. (I ran a commercial garage for 25 years, I don't want to work on EFI anymore).

You're welcome to stop by and BS, have a drink and hang out.

+100. I'm kind of like Ronnie Van Zandt and the song "Don't Ask Me No Questions"... if you wanna come by (after the 'Rona thing settles), shoot the **** about the garden and hunting and what's cooking in the still (but not politics... I HATE politics...) that's fine... But my business? Use my shop and tools? If you want to get into my business, buddy, you're just wastin' time.

 

[p00p]

If I were to be inconvenienced to draft up some shop rules for others disregard & disrespect of my belongings, then I would not allow those folks in my shop at all.

For the shop, & shop only, I don't mind if a friend smokes. As long as they use common sense, it is not an issue. If I am dealing with flammable chemicals, combustible fumes, or am dealing with an odor sensitive project; they better use the brain or they'll get the foot.

 

[p00p]

My son lives an hour and a half from me. He's in my garage so rarely that I don't set any rules for him. I'm not friends with any car guys, so that isn't a problem. There's no visible indication to a passer-by that anything of interest happens in my garage.

Sometimes I wish somebody would stop by for coffee & a chat. Mostly it's just me. Wife and daughter want me to work on their cars, but they have no interest in the process.

careful, it's a slippery slope once people get to "know" you & what you might have to offer to them.
They start off with that whole "can you tack weld this up?" then it turns into, "My trans is hard shifting, think you can take a look into rebuilding it?" & can go as far as, "My sons friend is in a school program that needs someone to fabricate xYz for the whichamajig thingie & you seem to have time to help with it, yes???"

 

[Lucid Moments]

I let people I am friendly with, and friends use my shop. Note that those two are not the same. The rules I am thinking of are really aimed at the first group more than the second.

 

[coljar]

The only ones that I let use it are the ones that I don't need any rules with.

 

[Robbie B]

LOL I hope not


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Me too. My dad was the absolute grouchiest, angriest s.o.b. that’s ever walked the planet. I miss the old man dearly but life is a lot more peaceful since he isn’t around.

 

[Chuckster in NJ]

What happens in the garage....... Stays in the garage.

 

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

Me too. My dad was the absolute grouchiest, angriest s.o.b. that’s ever walked the planet. I miss the old man dearly but life is a lot more peaceful since he isn’t around.

Wow lol mine is nice sometimes and mean sometimes and has an anger problem lol


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[Hal]

I do some work for a few people, let a very few other people do their own work, or help them. The hard and fast rule is," nothing that won't roll in, roll out, in one day".

 

[Robbie B]

Wow lol mine is nice sometimes and mean sometimes and has an anger problem lol


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My dad broke his back when I was 2. I know he hurt all the time and I know from my own experience that can make you grouchy but according to my mom he was always very angry before hand. He didn’t care who he was mean to. He’d be mean to a waitress at any random restaurant just because she did or didn’t do something how he wanted it even though he never told her. He was um... something to say the least.

 

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

My dad broke his back when I was 2. I know he hurt all the time and I know from my own experience that can make you grouchy but according to my mom he was always very angry before hand. He didn’t care who he was mean to. He’d be mean to a waitress at any random restaurant just because she did or didn’t do something how he wanted it even though he never told her. He was um... something to say the least.

Lol my dad nor me has ever broken a bone luckily. My dad is just impatient when it comes to doing things especially on cars or trucks and he tells me how to do the things and I’m the mechanic he is the truck driver and I can’t stand people standing over me telling me what to do like he does. My mom and him both said he used to be a big car person but only on European cars like he had at the time. And when they needed fixed he would fix them it’s like the time he tried to put spark plugs in our Jeep Cherokee and couldn’t get the spark plug socket to come off of the plug when in the cylinder so he got mad and threw them away and crushed them with a sledge hammer to make sure I wouldn’t try to fix it then took it to the mechanic and had them do it. He has serious anger problems about things. Lol as you could tell.


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[Dan in Pasadena]

................... It is my shop, I seldom sit when using the toilet so visitors should return things to they were before they moved them.

In that case I agree. (Not that you should care, lol) Anyone who comes in my shop MUST leave things as they found them. Proceed

 

[klassenl]

My shop is a woodworking shop. I have some acquaintances that are woodworkers like me but none that would come use my tools. So it's only my 3 kids that are ever in my shop.

I really only have 2 rules.
1. You can't be out there if I'm not there.
2. If you're in the shop for any reason, even just to bring a message you have to wear closed toe footwear. No bare feet, no sandals.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

my shop is called "Daveland" and it is mine. I might and I might not share. Get your own stuff.

Love this^^^

I'm stealing it and for me it rhymes: Danland!

Next time I go to a swap meet - probably in few years at the rate things are going - I'll see about getting a sign made.

 

[ovilla]

My only rule is that you have to take your used tires with you - as soon as you leave. I have a very attractive (****) COATS tire changer (with robotic arm) and wheel balancer that attracts a lot of car guys. Most friends get trained on how to use the equipment so they can do their own stuff. I also ask friends to just use my tools so that we don’t get any of their tools confused with mine. I just ask that they help clean and put tools away. I don’t ask for anything but I’ve had friends order tools and parts for my shop since they use it almost as much as I do. Right now I have a young kid going to UTI that stops by a lot since his family doesn’t have any tools. He’s a ricer so I’m having fun working on his projects with him. He’s offered to let me buy stuff through his student discount but they are only allowed to buy very basic things and I already have all of those tools.

With regards to tools, I only lend out my good (Snappy) tools to three fiends. Everyone else gets a cheaper version of whatever they need and I take a picture of them holding up whatever they borrowed. Just makes it easier to remember who borrowed what.

 

[Jagmandave]

I have a few friends who I allow to come work in my shop, my only rule is if you break it you replace it.

Most of the time I prefer to work alone......I get far more done without the distractions and I make fewer mistakes or forget things.

 

[gnpenning]

There is a difference between those that appreciate things and those looking to take advantage. I have friends and acquaintances, many acquaintances that used to be friends. Learning the difference made my life better.

My friends know I would do anything I can for them. Acquaintances that thought I should do everything for them at my expense. Never lost a friend.

For some reason I get along with guys much older than me that some call grouchy old farts. They really aren't, just people that you don't con or BS and treat their property with respect. Pretty simple to be respectful, more work to be a jerk.

 

[ez-duzit]

I have only found one rule necessary:

Don't even think about asking me to use my shop. No exceptions.

 

[liliysdad]

There are a LOT of crotchety old folks around here.

What's the point in having a shop if you cant help folks out? Anything I have is open for use. If its something I don't feel comfortable letting out of my sight, or I an't afford to replace, I will use it for you. Anything else...if you don't know how, I will show you.

 

[niget2002]

There are a LOT of crotchety old folks around here.

What's the point in having a shop if you cant help folks out? Anything I have is open for use. If its something I don't feel comfortable letting out of my sight, or I an't afford to replace, I will use it for you. Anything else...if you don't know how, I will show you.

I guess the difference for me is my shop is mostly woodworking. I have an electronics bench and I do some automotive, but mostly woodworking.

I help folks out all the time. They tell me what they need, or they give me something with a request for a change on it. Then I take it away for a bit of time and come back with whatever they asked.

Even if they wanted to use the shop to make something themselves, I'd be out there doing most of the work. Most of the tools in my shop will easily lop off an appendage, and I don't want to assume any risk of someone else hurting themselves.

 

[Metallitubby]

What's the point in having a shop if you cant help folks out?

For me, helping out is in the labor and not the building or tools. It's taken me my entire career to build a shop and have enough tools to work on most everything I do regularly.

Regarding the topic:

I've been working out of a fellow co-worker's shop for the past couple years, and working with him has taught me that treating his stuff like "my stuff" is key.

 

[Lucid Moments]

Regarding the topic:

I've been working out of a fellow co-worker's shop for the past couple years, and working with him has taught me that treating his stuff like "my stuff" is key.

I treat other peoples stuff better than I treat my stuff. My stuff is mine. If I break it then it is on me. If I think there is even a vague chance someones elses stuff might break while I am using it then I will check with them first.

 

[vavet]

I've worked on cars for several of my wife's friends. Usually it's simple stuff requiring less than 2 hours work. I also helped out several fellow graduate students when I was in grad school. My rules were pretty simple.
I don't negotiate prices. I might give you options regarding new or used parts, but the price I give you is the price you pay. You either agree or your don't.
Please let me source the parts. I'll eat the labor of redoing the job if I get the wrong part, but I take your car apart and have to put it back together because you got the wrong part, I'm charging you twice. I didn't mark up the parts, but I padded my labor time to account for my time to run around to get them.
Respect my time. If we agree you're coming over at a certain time, be there at that time. I even made a few house calls to help people avoid tows.

I gladly gave away some work because I wasn't confident the root problem was fixed, even if it was working at the moment. I told one young lady who was a single mother to go spend some money and time with her daughter doing something fun instead of paying me. I even had one guy who wanted a new Miata top installed. I told him I would help him, but I couldn't charge him because I wasn't confident I could do a 100% perfect job, even though I was pretty sure it would look great.

As for my shop now - not many people know much about what happens in my shop. I get more requests to borrow my utility trailer than to use my shop.

 

[bczygan]

you don't even let your buddies in your shop to bs with you while you are in the shop?

The only buddies I have (If I have any at all) are here on GJ.

So if any of you want to stop by and help me organize, PM me.

Bill

 

[BuffettFan]

View media item 105613

 

[Metallitubby]

I treat other peoples stuff better than I treat my stuff.

I am OCD when it comes to my own tools/equipment, which is why I said that. I've heard the owner of the shop tell other people "To treat my shop like Andy does".

It doesn't take much to do a final walk-through, sweep and mop if needed. It's the least I can do for a guy that lets me use his equipment.

I'm not sure that when my shop is 100% if I will let anyone else (outside of the aforementioned co-worker) work in my garage. Working in a shop with someone else is like a relationship... You find out very quickly if that person bugs you or not.

 

[Robbie B]

Lol my dad nor me has ever broken a bone luckily. My dad is just impatient when it comes to doing things especially on cars or trucks and he tells me how to do the things and I’m the mechanic he is the truck driver and I can’t stand people standing over me telling me what to do like he does. My mom and him both said he used to be a big car person but only on European cars like he had at the time. And when they needed fixed he would fix them it’s like the time he tried to put spark plugs in our Jeep Cherokee and couldn’t get the spark plug socket to come off of the plug when in the cylinder so he got mad and threw them away and crushed them with a sledge hammer to make sure I wouldn’t try to fix it then took it to the mechanic and had them do it. He has serious anger problems about things. Lol as you could tell.


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My dad tried that one time. I was putting a radiator in my moms 98 Camry. Simplest radiator ever. 2 bolts, 2 hoses, 2 transmission lines. I was standing there about to start. He said hang on let me get my drink. He went in and came back out a few mins later and I had it done. He was kinda befuddled that I did it that quick. He didn’t think I knew what to do. I’d been wrenching professionally for 3 years at that point. My mom just kinda walked off laughing at him.

 

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

My dad tried that one time. I was putting a radiator in my moms 98 Camry. Simplest radiator ever. 2 bolts, 2 hoses, 2 transmission lines. I was standing there about to start. He said hang on let me get my drink. He went in and came back out a few mins later and I had it done. He was kinda befuddled that I did it that quick. He didn’t think I knew what to do. I’d been wrenching professionally for 3 years at that point. My mom just kinda walked off laughing at him.

Lol [emoji23] my parents had a 94 corolla that my dad put a radiator in after my mom wrecked it he said it was simple I don’t remember him doing it since I was little at the time he probably destroyed it somehow then made it work lol


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[CoogarXR]

Almost all my friends have their own shops, most are better than mine, lol.

I'm better set up for electronics work in my shop, which is basically bench work. I'll help my friends out if they wanna learn something, but most of the time they just pay me to do their dirty work.

As far as "rules" in my shop, it's just my regular unwritten rules of being my friend- don't smoke around me, don't subject me to country music, and don't be a ****.

 

[Robbie B]

Lol [emoji23] my parents had a 94 corolla that my dad put a radiator in after my mom wrecked it he said it was simple I don’t remember him doing it since I was little at the time he probably destroyed it somehow then made it work lol


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[emoji1787][emoji1787][emoji1787] I honestly don’t ever remember my dad working on anything. I helped my brother work on stuff. Either one of them was pretty much a constant stream of obscenities when they tried to do anything. My dad had several small hand boxes of tools. I was always in to them working on my various bicycles after I had destroyed them jumping off of stupid stuff.

 

[Gummi Bear]

If I consider them friends, there aren't any rules. Smoke, drink, cuss, borrow my stuff....that's what makes friends friends.

Indeed

The only ones that I let use it are the ones that I don't need any rules with.

Same here



My shop, is at the family farm, 120 miles away. It’s available to anyone in the family, but everyone knows that I’m the one that does most of the tinkering out there. 90% of the tools are mine, and I keep them in good order. My tool chest is labeled, just clean and put everything away. It’s worked for years. I get out there about every other weekend.



Sometimes my buddies come out. We can monkey with any project - anything from working on a hotrod or 4x4, fabricating, or even sighting in a rifle. I have a 200 yard lane out the back door of the shop, and a pistol range there as well. Some days we just smoke cigars, tell stories and plink. We’ll stay up late at night visiting and laughing. I don’t drink, but I don’t mind if anyone else does. I sweep the shop at least once a day when I’m out there


I’m saving up for a place where I can have a shop at home. As much as I love the Farm, it’s a bit of a commitment whenever I take on a long project. Anything comes up short, and it’s a week before I can get back and complete a task. We’re looking for a few acres, so I can have my shop, and Mrs can have a barn with all her critters and a big garden.



I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately...

Henry David Thoreau

 

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

[emoji1787][emoji1787][emoji1787] I honestly don’t ever remember my dad working on anything. I helped my brother work on stuff. Either one of them was pretty much a constant stream of obscenities when they tried to do anything. My dad had several small hand boxes of tools. I was always in to them working on my various bicycles after I had destroyed them jumping off of stupid stuff.

Lol sounds fun my dad has an old Stack-on toolbox he bought in the 80s he said along with a bunch of old Craftsman tools he has 3 handheld boxes also I got my first set of tools at a young age so I never did hardly used his but he used mine a lot and lost all the 10mm lol


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