Saving wasted time, working safely and having fun are probably my 3 main goals in woodworking. I love to figure out little short cuts of woodworking and evidently, so do many other people and often there are multitudes of people who submit near identical ideas. I love them all.
Here are a few that I use, some submitted and some I learned myself through trial and error ....
Keeping hinges from moving around during installations, goes a LONG way to how smoothly the door of lid opens. When a hinge is not straight during installation it tends to bind making the door or lid stiff to use.
Making your own FLAT sanding surface is easy, by attaching sticky backed sandpaper to a hard surface that can withstand a number of applications, like off cuts from laminate counters or even single or double sided melamine.
And making your own sticky back sanding paper is easy with spray adhesives.
Speaking of sticky, it seems that every fluid we use in the workshop is sticky, glue, end seal, paint removers, shellac, boiled linseed oils and more. Getting lids off these items can strain your wrist so making them easy to take off is a priority, and a strap wrench solves this for very few dollars and they are available in many hardware and automotive stores.
Picking up metal off cuts from drilling can be a pain, literally, if you get them caught in your fingers, they can be hard to get out, so make it easy on yourself, and use a magswitch inside a plastic bag, turn the magswitch on ... drill, then remove the Magwitch and off cuts, to the garbage easily.
At one time I always seemed to be looking around to where I put down the remote to my dust collector, now I hang it from the ceiling, it's portable, easy to find and I can use it anywhere in the shop ... I have saved YEARS of time just with this tip alone !!
Colin Knecht
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