What are you worst at?

[matthew]

Well, this could be a stupid thread, but as I type here at 2am while it pisses with rain and I can't sleep, I thought Hmmmmm.

I'm really bad at cleaning brushes.

I use them then leave them in a couple of inches of turps, or meths, or whatever. They litter one end of my bench, then they just stay there for weeks until the ends become a congealed mass, and only THEN do I get some clean turps and scrape and comb out the ends and curse my laziness in the first place. My glue brushes go rock hard but that's not too bad because I only use hide glue and it's easy to restore them to almost new.

When I do clean a brush I do it really well, I have a rotacota red devil and it works a treat, and I rinse and then massage the fibres under hot water with detergent and dry slowly. And I'm really good a recuperating used turps, bottling it for months and decanting the slightly less efficient tops (may dad taught me that)

But ... I'll confess ... I'm really bad at cleaning brushes

[Rod True]

I don't think this is a stupid thread Matthew. This could help us learn from other's mistakes.

Me, I'm really bad at cleaning up after working in the shop. I try (like many I think) to get as much done as possible and just let the dust, chips etc... pile up on the bench, floor and tools. Only after I'm disgusted or lack the motivation to build anymore will I clean up the shop.

A clean shop is really nice to work in, but why can't I keep it that way?

Oh and Hesh, you're abnormal

[Hesh1956]

What am I worst at?

Nothing!

Seriously making jigs. It's not that I am incapable of making jigs. What is happening with me is that I have absolutely NO interest in making a stinkin jig..... I mean I know how important they are to us and how useful they are yada, yada......

When I build a guitar I am excited and hopeful that the guitar will be a wiener, I mean winner. So this excitement keeps me going.

But with jigs it's a different story - there is nothing to look forward to. So I beg people to build jigs for me, buy them, and occasionally if nothing is good on TV I will make one....... Damn things.....

[Hesh1956]

Oh and Rod - piss off!

[WaddyT]

TAKE THAT, HESH!

I'm very bad at putting things in their place.

[matthew]

what I see there is a whole lot of useful accessible shelf space taken up by spraycans and paint and things that you probably don't use anywhere near as often as tools. I put all my paints and stains on the inaccessible high up and low down places.

I found a good trick for small tools and things is to eat lots of no-frills icecream.

Then you keep the white buckets on the shelves (no lids) and label on all four sides more by FUNCTION than by contents eg: "purfling tools", "wedges", "lil planes", "machine heads", "glues", "cork pads" and so on.

Then when you're fitting machine heads, all the drill, jigs, reamers, heads etc are in the one bucket. Grab it down and leave it on the bench. When finished with the tool just chuck it back in the bucket and when finished with the job whack the bucket back in the shelf.

[matthew]

Rod have you got a dustpan on a stick? I made my dustpan out of a "no parking" sign. Bent the metal into a shallow "U" around a foot of 3x2. Attached to stick. Can sweep up heaps of stuff without bending over. broom clips together with the pan. Now I keep my floor clear ... sort of.

[kiwigeo]

Not really bad at anything...


.......except building bldi guitars

[kiwigeo]

Great Matthew,

Now everytime I walk up my main street I find myself stopping and checking out the sign on the handicapped parking spot outside ther supermarket. Its just the right size for bodging up a nice dustpan.

I made my dustpan out of a "no parking" sign. Bent the metal into a shallow "U" around a foot of 3x2. Attached to stick. Can sweep up heaps of stuff without bending over. broom clips together with the pan. Now I keep my floor clear ... sort of.

[Hesh1956]

Oh the horror Waddy - the horror......

[sebastiaan56]

Nice Waddy,

I have a theory that gravity is the ultimate leveller (sorry couldnt resist) and eventually all stuff ends up on the floor anyway.... That said my shed is the back verandah and the boss makes me clean it up every time I use it. One day I will get a dedicated workspace.

As for me, i keep going when I should stop, eg the edges of the rosette I cut by hand, thinks to himself "I can take a poofteenth more here", followed by "dang...... a poofteenth too much". A lot of my work would be improved using power tools I know so its steady steady on the aquisitions. I built a router table yesterday that will help with a lot of little jobs.

[James Mc]

Yep same here… one more shave of the plane on tops to save a bit of sanding… just a little more off with the rasp or spoke shave on the neck for the same reason. Then I end up thinning things more than I intended trying to sand out the marks. I usually know when to clean the floor because I can’t see my shoes for shavings.

[Allen]

I use to be a bloody shocker for starting projects that got 3/4's done and then left because I lost interest, or more to the point, found something that was a bit more interesting to distract me. Now I make a point of finishing everything that I start, before I get going on another project. So far it has worked, but at times it can be tough.

I'm usually pretty good at keeping things clean. I apprenticed with my father, who has somewhat of a clean fetish similar to Hesh. He also had no problem at all in sacking anyone that didn't keep the place clean. It was amazing how motivated his employees became at sweeping up after he sacked a fellow for not taking the effort to grab a dust bin after sweeping the dirt into a pile.

[Rod True]

Allen, Does that mean that you and Hesh are long lost Brothers???

[Allen]

No, I'm not quite as ..... well how should I put this tactfully? I got it! Freaking Nuts as Hesh.

I figure you still have to live and work in the space.

[Hesh1956]

Frankly I don't see how a builder is going to produce anything but GLOs if their shop is not clean............

[WaddyT]