Quick peek into my new tool cabinet

[GrifterGuru]

I agree with this as well as 5 S . Me , like others , are into not only machining but many other hobbies in our work space . 4 Vidmars , 4 HF 42" roll arounds , 3 Kennedy full sets + extras don't hold all my tools , and this is just machining and mechanics tools . My garage is packed , as well as 2 basements and a bedroom . My definition of " First order retrievability " is whatever I find first . I can find anything I need , it's in one of the Vidmars . ( I think )

First order retrievability is the process of

"If I want that tool, where is the first place I would look for it"? The first answer that you come to is where you put that tool.

Examples for me, personally, are:

When stored not in use, the keys for my chucks are kept with them. When the chuck is in use, the key is in a clip near the headstock of the lathe, out of the way, but within easy reach.

The spanner and bar handles for my ER32 faceplate are kept in the drawer of the cabinet, with the cabinet open when I use the lathe. When the ER32 faceplate is not in use? it goes in the same drawer as the spanner and bar handles.

 

[aliva]

Easier said than done! I guess I'm better than I thought. I use a PTouch labeler sedulously, and (to my surprise) it took me nearly a full minute to find a mis-labeled drawer. But the drawer labeled "Boring bars, indicators, setup blocks" houses a nut riveter and rivnuts, in spite of my having purchased a labeler. Perhaps it's defective and I should return it?

GsT

A friend of mine labeled his drawers with a simple one letter A,B,C etc.. Anything starting with A went into that drawer. B, boring bars, I inserts, C calipers M mics, and so on. It seemed to work for him

 

[GrifterGuru]

A friend of mine labeled his drawers with a simple one letter A,B,C etc.. Anything starting with A went into that drawer. B, boring bars, I inserts, C calipers M mics, and so on. It seemed to work for him

OThat is one way of doing things and to a certain point it makes sense until you arrive at "knife"... Because the "K" is silent, does it go in the "K" drawer or the "N" drawer??

Same with Chuck Key... Does it go in the "C" (Chuck) drawer or the "K" drawer (Key)??

LOL, I jest, but they still remain valid questions... LOL

 

[ChazzC]

The real test comes in a few years when you check back and see if the label still has any relation to what's in the drawer...

GsT

That's an issue to a degree in my Shop: drawer labelling was a Covid project.

 

[GrifterGuru]

That's an issue to a degree in my Shop: drawer labelling was a Covid project.

It is something I have always tried to do do various degrees over the years, but only recently did I invest in a dymo. So much clearer, so much faster, so much easier.

Heck, I spent a barmy 3 hours labelling a friends small drawer set that contains a LOT of small sturmey archer hub spares. That was tedious, but it did need doing. Looks good too and made life easier. So much easier to just walk in, look at the drawer label, know what is in it and get what you need.

 

[GeneT45]

First order retrievability is the process of

"If I want that tool, where is the first place I would look for it"? The first answer that you come to is where you put that tool.

Examples for me, personally, are:

When stored not in use, the keys for my chucks are kept with them. When the chuck is in use, the key is in a clip near the headstock of the lathe, out of the way, but within easy reach.

The spanner and bar handles for my ER32 faceplate are kept in the drawer of the cabinet, with the cabinet open when I use the lathe. When the ER32 faceplate is not in use? it goes in the same drawer as the spanner and bar handles.

I have, on more than one occasion, looked all over for something that I *knew* I had. It's always one of those oddball things that doesn't really fit into the larger organizational scheme in my shop. In any case, after being unable to find such, I purchase a new one. After using it I think about where to put it, and in placing it in its new home... ...find the one I knew I had!

GsT

 

[aliva]

OThat is one way of doing things and to a certain point it makes sense until you arrive at "knife"... Because the "K" is silent, does it go in the "K" drawer or the "N" drawer??

Same with Chuck Key... Does it go in the "C" (Chuck) drawer or the "K" drawer (Key)??

LOL, I jest, but they still remain valid questions... LOL

Since most have more than one knife put one in each drawer. Same goes for chuck keys or check wrench

 

[GrifterGuru]

Since most have more than one knife put one in each drawer. Same goes for chuck keys or check wrench

UK knife law is somewhat different (<<LINK)

Even forgetting that you have a stanley knife in your pocket before going out is no excuse if you are stopped by a police officer and they see you are carrying it. Almost got arrested a couple of years ago when nipping down to a car spares place because I forgot I had a stanley knife in my pocket after doing some work indoors. The only saving grace was that the blade was blunt and there were no "spare" blades in it. Still got a lot of verbal about it though!

Also had trouble once because I keep a stanley knife (amongst other supposedly "dangerous weapons") in a toolkit I carry when out on a bike. The fact it was in the toolkit meant the police could do nothing as I had a valid reason to be carrying it.

 

[SouthernChap]

UK knife law is somewhat different (<<LINK)

Even forgetting that you have a stanley knife in your pocket before going out is no excuse if you are stopped by a police officer and they see you are carrying it. Almost got arrested a couple of years ago when nipping down to a car spares place because I forgot I had a stanley knife in my pocket after doing some work indoors. The only saving grace was that the blade was blunt and there were no "spare" blades in it. Still got a lot of verbal about it though!

Also had trouble once because I keep a stanley knife (amongst other supposedly "dangerous weapons") in a toolkit I carry when out on a bike. The fact it was in the toolkit meant the police could do nothing as I had a valid reason to be carrying it.

Honestly, I don't have a particular problem with the general requirement to have a 'good reason' to be carrying a lockable folding/fixed blade knife of any length or a penknife of greater than 3".

The length specs are a bit arbitrary and if I were the one setting them, I'd have gone with a more usable 4" rather than the 3" it is. Also, of course, there are designs that provide the (to me) biggest practical advantage of a locked blade, notably one handed opening (annoys me, recognising the need for a knife but having only one hand free, and not being able to open the knife), that makes a mockery of the implementation of a law designed to prevent people pulling a knife and having it ready to stick in someone else in a fast single movement.

But eh...the law is almost always a blunt instrument and implementations are often written by civil servants in a hurry, without subject matter expertiese. They are also often given a brief by their political masters which is less about the best way of solving the problem, but rather more a way that is most likely to look like it solves the problem to people of limited logical and analytic faculties (AKA most of the voting population ).

As for the police, I've always taken a pragmatic approach of 'catching more flies with honey than vinegar'.

On the two occasions I've had to explain my possession of a potentially 'offensive weapon' in a public place (one on the way back from a bit of rabbit control on a mate's smallholding, where I had a 4" scandi style sheath knife and one where I had a 3-1/2" locking knife that I'd forgotten was in my backpack), the first was easy to explain and the second just required a quick explanation of the mistake that lead to the knife being where it was, an embarassed apology, and a promise to head straight home after I'd been where I was going.

If the copper is a basically sensible, decent one, then they appreciate the courtesy and will react accordingly, and if not, the gentle 'ass-kissing' often can attenuate the fact that the copper is a bell-end.

That said, I'm not a person of colour, or particularly 'known' to the police (and if you're doing nothing illegal at that point, being generally a 'person of interest' to the police ought to be irrelevant) I'd be interacting with, so results may vary.

If one isn't a die-hard libertarian, and thus of the option that things like this are the thin end of the wedge (a perspective, I should add, I have some sympathy for if not actual agreeement), the knife laws in the UK can be a minor inconvenience, in some respects a bit silly, and of course, not particularly effective in preventing knife crime (then again, very little law is particularly good at preventing criminal acts by habitual criminals), but rarely a significant problem.

 

[ChazzC]

Honestly, I don't have a particular problem with the general requirement to have a 'good reason' to be carrying a lockable folding/fixed blade knife of any length or a penknife of greater than 3".

The length specs are a bit arbitrary and if I were the one setting them, I'd have gone with a more usable 4" rather than the 3" it is. Also, of course, there are designs that provide the (to me) biggest practical advantage of a locked blade, notably one handed opening (annoys me, recognising the need for a knife but having only one hand free, and not being able to open the knife), that makes a mockery of the implementation of a law designed to prevent people pulling a knife and having it ready to stick in someone else in a fast single movement.

But eh...the law is almost always a blunt instrument and implementations are often written by civil servants in a hurry, without subject matter expertiese. They are also often given a brief by their political masters which is less about the best way of solving the problem, but rather more a way that is most likely to look like it solves the problem to people of limited logical and analytic faculties (AKA most of the voting population ).

As for the police, I've always taken a pragmatic approach of 'catching more flies with honey than vinegar'.

On the two occasions I've had to explain my possession of a potentially 'offensive weapon' in a public place (one on the way back from a bit of rabbit control on a mate's smallholding, where I had a 4" scandi style sheath knife and one where I had a 3-1/2" locking knife that I'd forgotten was in my backpack), the first was easy to explain and the second just required a quick explanation of the mistake that lead to the knife being where it was, an embarassed apology, and a promise to head straight home after I'd been where I was going.

If the copper is a basically sensible, decent one, then they appreciate the courtesy and will react accordingly, and if not, the gentle 'ass-kissing' often can attenuate the fact that the copper is a bell-end.

That said, I'm not a person of colour, or particularly 'known' to the police (and if you're doing nothing illegal at that point, being generally a 'person of interest' to the police ought to be irrelevant) I'd be interacting with, so results may vary.

If one isn't a die-hard libertarian, and thus of the option that things like this are the thin end of the wedge (a perspective, I should add, I have some sympathy for if not actual agreeement), the knife laws in the UK can be a minor inconvenience, in some respects a bit silly, and of course, not particularly effective in preventing knife crime (then again, very little law is particularly good at preventing criminal acts by habitual criminals), but rarely a significant problem.

Always check on the local laws before traveling to another country (or state in the U.S. in some cases): you can easily be arrested for something that isn’t a problem at home.