I retired at the end of April and I wanted to do some things, first off was get all my tools back into my toolbox in the garage instead of being spread out over the 2 garages and the house. I gathered what I find in tools and quickly discovered that I have so many tools that quickly overwhelmed the 27 inch wide toolbox. After talking to the wife we went toolbox hunting and since we have no Sears nearby we went to Lowe's, Home Depot and Harbor Freight. Well Lowe's and Home Depot had boxes but they were cheaply made and disappointing to me, thin metal, full of gimmicks like a built in power strip and just really felt cheap. Then we went to Harbor Freight, I was amazed at the toolboxes they had, yeah they had the el-cheapo boxes but then I found a really nice 56" box I like but the boss like the 44" box and she wanted me to have the top box, side box and closet and I liked the set up. The metal felt comparable to my old Waterloo tool box but a much larger size. Who is to argue with the boss I immediately agreed and bought the combination.
So I got the whole shebang home and got everything out of the boxes and pallets and I was amazed at the size of what I just bought. I immediately started to wax the box and then I started the process of putting all my tools in the new chest. The only things I left in my old toolbox were my old Bonney toolset which I bought when I first went aviation 37 years ago. The Bonney set is at best incomplete but I do not want anybody touching those tools as they are what earned my money for 27 years until my former employer started to provide tools.
After I got all my tools put in the new box I started cleaning, removing, and organizing my garage. For the last 19 years it was a dumping ground for me and I could hardly move around in it. I made 4 runs to the dump getting rid of junk and debris. I filled 21 garage cans full of garbage and I still bought out stuff the dump would not accept, like old lawn mowers, weed walkers, air compressor and a old steel lawn tractor trailer. I just pull it all out to the curb and posted a ad on Craigslist for free items that stuff disappeared in 2 hours. Now my shop is getting cleared out and I can see the floor again. I still have more work to do in the back of the garage as I want to store some other stuff that is still in the other garage but I still have a few runs to the dump to rid of that stuff.
But I can see the end is coming and since I am retired I can take my time to slowly move the stuff over.
I have been able to mount the new bench grinder that I bought four years ago and never got around to doing until now.
I realize that this is going to be a ongoing project and I will be getting to the point of finally having my garage arranged and the wife is happy as I stay out of her hair and she has her time. I also can take care of the yard and property when I need to and any time I feel like it.
Shop is looking good, I love the Tool boxes. I currently have 3 bench top ones and a 42" standing one. Hoping to pick up another standing one and ditch the 3 bench top ones, unfortunately for me I don't have a harbour freight in canada. Personally I have been eyeing up the Kirkland one at Costco or a Husky one from Homedepot
I saw this at Home Depot last week and it is nice and not to gimmicky and for the price is a nice home owner box, sure not for a working mechanic who needs to move his box a lot. When I went to Home Depot they had none of these just the cheaper one for for $598 that did not impress me. Had they had this one I might of gone for it but since they had none when I was buying I got the Harbor Freight one and I really like it. Has plenty of room and all the drawers are already filled. Edit I do not know what the price in Canada would be but it sure is nice.
That looks pretty Nice, My current Box is an old one from Costco. I picked it up in 2011 for around $450. After that the prices have since doubled, I saw Homedepot did have one in their last flyer for 598, I wonder if it was the same one. Its just something Ill be keeping my eye open for.
Congrats on the retirement-Michael!:tango_face_smile_bi:tango_face_smile_bi
I understand about the wife/space/and time--I'm trying to get my tools back and organized myself. You'll find,. as people told me--just as busy as when you worked--time is just spend differently....
Congrats on retirement, Michael! Impressive tool setup you have there! Always nice to have things where you know where things are.......you know, so you can find them, when you need them :tango_face_smile:
That is looking to the front of the shop. Spin 180 degrees and back still needs lots of cleaning. I just today took out a full 8' pickup truck load stacked to even with the cab roof and I still have more stuff back there. I did pull out a old and I mean old (at least 35-40 Years old) Craftsman Lawn Sweeper I did not know I had. I guess I do a Craigslist ad for half to 3/4ths what a new cost and be happy with ever money I get out of it. I get some pictures later of it.
Whats the fastest way to save money to get rid of old equipment that no longer works, run? Post a ad on Craigslist for free items. I curbed the items and threw the ad on Craigslist and 2 hours later it was all gone. My instructions were very specific that I would delete the ad when all items were gone and to come n git it. I also state I would not respond to e-mails as I put the address in the ad.
Today and yesterday I decided that the toolbox needed to be moved. I did not like the main box up at the front of the garage as my bench is pin the back and it was a bit annoying if I was working on something to go all the way to front to grab a tool. So it is now relocated. I then moved my air air compressor to where the main box used to be. Now that was done.
As I picked up the spool of trimmer line I got to thinking how much of a hassle it was unwind it as it would go all over the place. So off to the scrap wood pile and I got a 2 X 4 that was about 20" long and a 2 X 6 about the same length as the 2 X 4, I cut each in half with saw and screwed the 2 X 4's on to edge to the 2 X 6 and drilled a 3/4" hole in the 2 X 4's equally space from the end. Grabbed a broken 1/2" plastic broom handle and cut it down to a foot long, then I simply screwed the arrangement onto a purloin inside the door to my shop, using a screw left half way into next to arrangement and hung a side cutter on the screw. Not I have dispenser for the line. Total cost for this was zero dollars as I had all the material for the whole arrangement.
Yesterday I had to run to town on a errand and the wife and I stopped in a 2nd hand store and they had this really nice Air Force Reserve plaque, I really liked it as I am a retired Reservist. For $3.00 it now is on my wall next to the Philippine broom I hung.
Well I did more rearrangement and bought a couple more items. I went to Lowe's the other day and saw this power station tool holder and I really like it and for $100.00 I bought it and set it up on the table in the back. I did not like the bench grinder in the location I put it and thinking a little I went to Harbor Freight and got a small work bench for $100.00 less the 25% off coupon and came home set up the bench and then drilled it for the bench grinder. The bench grinder is now close to the front of the shop where I can easily clean up my messes as all I have to do is use my air blower and blow out the debris outside and a quick vacuum. On the same trip to Harbor Freight I also picked up a hose reel for the air line and filter/dryer (el cheapo) and a couple short whip hoses to connect everything.
John it will no problem, there is a 6' cement approach to garage and gravel the rest of the way. I do want to put a metal guard behind the grinder to prevent the sparks from grinding from doing anything funny.
Well this is becoming my retirement thread more then anything else. for a while we had a real safety concern about the speeding on the private dead end street that I live on. Well after much discussion and several mailings and getting no responds my next door neighbor I finally got tired of the speeders, mainly the younger members in our neighbor hood, so we ordered some 2.5" plastic speed bumps and I installed 2 of them two days ago. Just about everyone agreed that it was needed and appreciated. I only went with 2 of the bumps that are 4 and half feet wide. It has really slowed down the Indianapolis speedway in front of my place. The road in front of my place is about 8 city blocks long and straight and the speeds were creeping up to over 40 MPH by some residents as measured by a county policeman who lives in behind my place, the speed limit in this area is 20 MPH and now the folks are now staying closer to the limit.
If you look at the picture I posted at the curve will be another set of speed bumps as there is a blind driveway on the curve along with the road going to a 5% grade for the hill we on.
Nice cleaning job, and nice tool box!! I can use a few dumpsters myself... more then a few trips to the curb also. Im lucky.. I am on a local main road.. I don't need the crags list add, just toss it out front, and its gone!
I am on a private dead end road so Craigslist it is. A lot of the clean up is done and I have a small area in the back of the steel pole building garage that I still have to clean out but it is mainly wood cutoffs that I have. I also have my scrap steel and aluminum that I have to take to steel recycler and I will be done. It is now totally manageable by me. My garage looked like a total junk yard before but now it is really nice and quick and I can find the stuff I need in a moment. Makes life easy for me to do projects and I put away my tools when I am finished. Everything has a place and I LIKE it that way.
Michael, the speed bumps will slow folks down, but they are probably illegal. Don't be surprised if the local municipality removes them. There is a certain amount of liability associated with you placing them there, and if someone crashes while attempting to avoid them, or if they hit them while going too fast and break something on their vehicle, both you and the municipality could be sued.
This is a private road and maintained by our association, Since this is not maintained by the county but by the association we are responsible for the road. The county also gave us the specifications we had to meet along with the local fire department that these are allowed. Actually we had speed bumps before but when the road was repaved 4 years ago they were not installed immediately after and the old speed bumps were the rocky mountains compared to the new ones. Since the road is not the responsibility of the county we also do not have law enforcement of the speed limit. Hence the county also allows each association to install speed bumps to regulate the speeds on the roads entering the various properties.
Well I been busy and I have finally slowed down again to get back to my projects. Now up for working is a John Deere 403 brush cutter. Works great and ugly as sin. I took care of the under side of the deck and forgot pictures so now for the upper side and I have wire brushed, sanded and used rust converter primer one section at a time. Let it set for a day then applied a final coat on each section and again let it set for a day. So far I have got 2 of the 6 sections on the top and then I work the sides and then order new John Deere decals. This is in way going to perfect as it is in a rattle can and I just want it to appear nicer then what it looked like when I began.
I also have half the wheel painted. I ended up going to bare metal with stripper and then wire wheel it and then prime and final paint.
Well the latest project is to replace the steel on the bottom of the front porch with cedar boards I hated the look but it was just to keep the critters out from under the porch and it served it purpose. I wanted it gone. So a trip to Home Depot was in order and I got 40 Cedar 6' long fence boards. Trimmed to length and having some 1 X 3 12 foot long boards in my hoard I fashioned fresh new skirting for the porch. I absolutely hate lattice and will not be bothered having it. Now I have to wait a couple weeks for the cedar to dry out as some of the boards are really wet and once the boards do dry out I stain it to match the front deck.
Just a better picture of the new cedar skirting on the front porch. After a long discussion with the wife she wants the new skirting to be painted green, since it is a losing battle I will be painting the skirting the same color as the trim on the house.
Yeah it is best not to step in the hornet nest and I agree that it would probably look better stained but I will just go along with the wife and paint it. I still have numerous summer projects to do and I will be moving along into those soon so I just do the paint later on this summer.
Well the next project for me is a post that is the leaning tower of field fence. I got 42" of field fence around my yard to keep my dogs inside and to keep critters out. When I installed the fence ten years ago I got tired when I hand dug for this post and did not go deep enough. I have a steel post that was used for our satellite dish and I have since removed it and it is sitting on the ground next to my garage. I figure a couple bags of cement on top of the hunk of cement it has on the bottom of it and it will make for a good post....:tango_face_surprise. Of course I will not be hand digging but my JD 2305 with backhoe should easily be able to put it in.
Well I finally had time today to fix the fence post. I had this old pole that was put in years ago for the satellite TV. I popped it out of the ground a couple years ago after the carport was built as the satellite company had relocated the dish onto the wood post for the carport. So I am sitting and thinking what am going to do with the steel pole with a ball of cement on the bottom. I looked at for a couple days recently and then looked at the cheap wood corner post that was leaning badly as I had not buried it deep enough. So I go over and remove the fencing from the old wood post and give it a shove it topples right over. I grab the 2305 and the backhoe digs a nice deep hole and I run over to hardware store and pick up five 50 # bags of quick setting cement. This morning I mixed the cement in the Harbor Freight cement mixer (best money I ever spent) and I do the pour. Now the dish network satellite receiver pole is a fence post. I never even bothered straighten the pole as it is straight from the ground to the top. Repurpose and use it as it is. I did discover I am a little wide at the bottom and so I just cut the top off the old wood pole and plant it next to the steel to fill in the gap. My wife is happy and so that makes it for me for a $20.00 buck project
I too retired and the lovely bride wants some gardening shelving space back to her demention. I didn't measure her area so it's up for interpretation/negotiation, you understand. I have taken back some of my shop space and shelves are on garage side now, I was amazed to get all the and my air compressor under the bottom shelve. Bride is not impressed yet. Have many projects, and a freind or 5 that keep pulling on my time. Need a day timer calander to scd. Priority list. Seams I have more going on now and was called back to work twice so far, I can say No but it gives me play fund money.
You do what you want it is your time now. I was a union member and as such I will not be called back in to work but my retirement pension is a good one so at this time really do not need any fun money. My wife and I just enjoy our time. Tonight we went for a drive with no place in particular and hit a few yard sales. My wife found a few items. I did not but that is fun with yard sales. Meet nice folks and enjoy our time.
New day, new days project. Today I was in the garage and garage door #2 has had a issue that I wanted to take care of. When I installed the new garage door opener on this door I put the push button to open/close the garage door next to the garage door. Big mistake as I hated the location as it was not at the man door. As I was digging around my hoard of stuff the other day I found a old open/close switch for the door and extra wiring for it. HUMM I got a idea and I put the extra open/close switch over the other switch next to man door and then threaded the wires for it up the wall to the electric garage door head, connected everything up and I now have the switch where it should have been in the first place and I now can close and open the doors from the man door like it should have been in the first place.
That is a little pricey for my blood. Yeah a hundred dollars not bad bad but shipping is $57.00. I pass on that. Also my set is from the 1980 full polish not the satin finish that was used in the 1930's
I think that the pricing is based on distance from your home. I am in Washington state and all the way across the country.
So on to the next project or the continuation of the skirting. I painted the skirting as I knew I lose any argument on whether to stain it or paint it and I just wanted the skirting to look OK and of course is the case. So 4 hours and I used up all the trim paint I had and I got the skirting painted except the top boards. I am going to try and sneak some stain for contrasting color and see if the CFO approves of it.
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