One of the things that helped me very much wondering what to do with all my
pliers. Then watching my wife in the kitchen and having a spice rack that
was a round rubbermaid on a turn table with three legs above the turn
table. So actually there were two shelves that held spices. I drilled
1/2" holes in the top table around the outside edge. And there you have it
a sturdy revolving plier holder. Even though the rest of the bench is a
mess I know where my pliers are. Bob Goll
I have a rack for my pliers that I drilled into the top drawer of my
bench… This works out great to keep the pliers and things out of the
way… HOWEVER… both of my benches can be considered a disaster area…
most of the time… then I look at it and say… Marc you are messy and I
clean it up… this happens once every 2 months… LOL… I don’t have time
to sit around and clean my bench… I would rather be working at it, than
cleaning it off… Which is more productive… ??? then I work for
somebody 3 days a week I help them out… And Yup my bench has the markings
of a real jeweler… nice and messy… My boss hates it… but then
again… He isn’t my favorite either… LOL
Here is to a messy bench… Marc
There’s one in every crowd. I’ve been sitting back reading all
these posts about your benches being messy. You guys would kill
me! My cooworkers often try, but by alternate means, usually by
trying to drive me crazy. My bench is 90% of the time a “textbook
photo”. They try to get to me by borrowing my tools then
"accidentally" leave them on the bench top. So far it hasn’t
worked. I make up for the time spent organizing the bench at the
start and finish of each day by not having to hunt for MY tools.
(I still have to search around for the ring mandrel every time I
want to use it, because someone’s always hording it.) My secret?
I don’t know, I’ve gotten in the habit of "subconciously"
dropping each tool back in it’s place. I know this because if
someone uses their tools at my bench, they automaticly end up
where they should have gone if they were my tools. (It’s not
uncommon to have three pairs of the same kind of plier) I’m kind
of like a squirrel in that way. The other thing I habitually do,
is take all my work for that day, and work on it all at once, so
I typically use my flex shaft on everything that needs it, then
clean the bench, and set up for soldering, solder, and so on.
When I first started I was having trouble with dirty/bad solder
joints. When an older, and Wiser jeweler said “clean your bench,
how can you possibly work in that mess?” I took on a whole new
strategy, and I must admit, although I do get teased an awfull
lot, it has cut my production time in half. To Each his/her own.
Tim Goodwin @tmn8tr