Goin' Green

The retail ammo boxes the un-inlightened through out at the range. The trays get used as loading blocks, case storage, I heard they can even store your reloads. The cardboard boxes i reinforce them for bullet storage, parts boxes.
Every small flat rate Postal box i have received stuff in, has been saved for brass or bulk bullet storage.
The trouble i have. Is i save too much stuff to reuse. It causes clutter which i hate. I am going to have to save bigger cardboard boxes to store all of my smaller storage boxes in.

Everything that might conceivably be used by Dad for something in the garage/shop gets passed by me before it goes. Old clothes deemed unworthy to go to Salvation Army ( a wonderful outfit) becomes a shop rag. Strainers and colanders, ex-baking pans, boxes from the local discount food store, pretty much anything gets at least the once over.

The one gallon square ice cream buckets at Wal mart are pretty tough to beat for brass storage. They are square, have corner tab for easy opening, and a handle. Recessed lid makes them stack real well also. I use square five gallon buckets with lids for empty shot shells.

Kevin Stenberg said:

....................I am going to have to save bigger cardboard boxes to store all of my smaller storage boxes in.

Click to expand...

I had to BUY a plastic storage tub to hold all my salvaged small/medium containers in the garage.

My wife calls dibs only on any of the clear, vinyl, zippered bags that blankets, sheets or drapes come in and they get filled with skeins of yarn.

OK,this one is pretty dang...... oh,"how you say",out there....

We put the C-biscuit (6 month old dobe) in our very nice laundry room every once in awhile when she has to stay home for a cpl hours. Got custom cabmets,5" crown,yadayada. So,did a little rearrangement in there cabinet related which really improved the room not only for my baby but also just durn convenience for wifey and me.

So,got on epay and order a smaller ironing board...... comes in,really nice.

The old metal ironing board is now available as a folding table for....... a whole lot of things. Slamming paint jobs on "stuff".... hillbilly welding table.... but the best is,as a folding table for a rifle station. I wouldn't use it as a shooting bench but for cleaning chores?

Bought an old Gurney (sp?) hospital type rolling bed at an auction. Makes a great rolling work bench, although it does tend to accumulate "stuff".

I hear ya Bret,that was sorta the problem with the old ironing board. We'd have to clean it off to use it......

I've been in/owned professional shops since diapers... there is one constant. Horizontal surfaces are a catchall for "stuff". Without sounding "ranty" ,I love hearing guys yap about "if I just had a bigger shop" or.... a shop can't be too big.

Nonsense..... it's like the three bears. There's an optimum size for almost everything,not just porage bowl size. Give a typical person X amt of space,and they'll fill it with that amt of clutter. Bigger space allows more clutter...... no big news there,it's a proven theory,that I didn't make up. The prime equational # is,horizontal surface area.

Folks need to really concentrate on vertical storage. Be downright mean,and hateful twds stowing on the horizontal.

Anybody on here have a kitchen "island" that isn't a catchall for every conceivable item to enter the room?

I worked at one company that had a modest 1500 sq ft shop. They were actually a general contractor..... but there was enough millwork/fabrication that they needed the shop. Whomever designed it..... like 90% of shops.... put the big TS (table saw) right in the middle of basically, where you entered the place...

What a complete disaster..... EVERY person that came in that joint would drop whatever they had on the poor old saw. Wouldn't matter that we were running stock across it,have a box of "stuff".... they'd put it on the TS. That's when the lightbulb came on for me,and have been observing the phenom for 25 years.

There are solutions..... I have come up with quite a few "trick" stowage ideas but,it's an uphill battle.

Ken Waters had a photo of an old ironing board he was using as a shooting bench. If I remember correctly, he was shooting the 35 Remington in a bolt-action for that article. Always though that was a neat idea. Maybe not the most stable, but more so than off-hand.

I've threatened to rig air cylinders under bench tops and countertops with a timer. After so many days, automatically energize the solenoids and dump everything on the floor. After a couple times, maybe some better habits would develop. Not so much a problem at our house. My wife abhors clutter. In my shop, I'll do three emergency projects over the course of a weekend and not have time to clear the benches back off. Always becomes the first order of any future emergency project - put it all away and start over again.

No cad systems were harmed in this presentation.....

OK,would snap a pic of this in my shop but it's nasty. First off,it has wheels under. 2nd,mine is sized for 1 g.... acetone, lacquer thinner,mineral spirit cans on the three bttm shelves,top shelf holds mixing cups.

It utilizes the depth of your bttm bench. We put them in kitchens as a trouble spot "killer".... the top of pullout is recessed. I use it with a solid top in shop for mixing paint(which is why its nasty).

There's a whole nuther aspect of this however.

It's a nested unit..... the top is self cleaning. Simply can't close it without clearing it first.

The same nesting idea can be used to your advantage almost anywhere on base units.... a small roll around mechanics chest for instance. The self cleaning forces you to clear it,which means you'll always have at least that amt of bench space?

I like it and have done similar. If you put it where the bench meets the wall, it also prevents leaning too much crap up in that corner (stray guns, trim boards, broom, fishing poles) and makes the bench accessible all the way to the end.

If you build two.... like bookends.

They're great for glue ups.

They also look and work bad$$ as part of machine tools bases. Shapers,sliding TS's....

The notion here is saving space and a dead serious look back on fire proofing efforts. The rope burns through, then the door which is mounted on a sloped track system, closes.

"Pocket" doors get a bad rep..... it isn't the idea or notion.Think about the swing radius of ANY door vs a sliding version.... nope, it's because the track/hdwre sucks. No cad systems were harmed in this post. Flat lock seamed sheet metal covering a wood door.

OK,couldn't find my.... "user" bar of this. You peel back the outer tube to expose the VERY stiff,baby poop colored stickem stuff inside. The one pictured is new except someone who didn't know wth it was,probably just flicked the top. It and my user are 1935-38. I reckon you could use it for it's obvious labeled mission? But all we ever used it for requires a full description cause of the complexity.

On big steel disc sanders, whilst running with a clean,bare disc..... hold the hard goop stick to the disc face ond turn the motor off. It deposits a super thin coating. As soon as the machine comes to rest,slap the none coated abrasive paper on.... pressing to help the "stick". Voila,you now can wear discs out for at least a week at a 3shift industry pace. At worst you take a torch and warm it?

I've been working on a stick for 40 years,and haven't used a 1/4"... not even close.

More info....

I did this in the kitchen for my wife, put them in every single lower cabinet. Probably should make them
for my shop, too. These are only pulled out part way. Easy to get to stuff in the back.


On 75 lb ball bearing slides.

There was this odd, deep, narrow cabinet next to the refrigerator. Just about useless with shelves, 24" deep, any
stuff in the back would be just GONE, lost pretty much forever.
I got some steel, and some nice birch plywood, and put the ball bearing slides (100 lb this time) on the side,
one at top, one at bottom. Open on door, pull out one side, or do both.
The upper one is the same problem, compounded by height for two short people. I have smaller steel
square tube and will make smaller versions of this for the top.



But in my shop....piles on shelves. I really need to start doing some of this stuff out there. I like the
drawers with the bottom extended to make the slides that intheshop showed. Good idea.

As to the original concept from Jeff.....LOTS and LOTS of coffee "cans" which are of course plastic now,
for brass. I need to do what Brad did and just buy a bunch of medium and small corrugated cardboard
commercial boxes for all the bullets that are cast up in every kind of oddball container.....and almost just
lost in the mess in my reloading room.

Bill

Think there's a "letter disorder" describing this?..... my boys just call me Martha(Stewart)

But it's OK...... say it again,I'm OK.....

Heck man,it's a freeby,why shouldn't it match? Gatorade lid in the Martha shade of Lyman orange on my ancient Accumeasure,need one more though.

My reloading room is a total disaster, needs MASSIVE rework.

Bill

This is gonna be tough to explain the back story without sounding,self promoting. While I try to get the words in a somewhat coherent fashion, look at this pic and think DC(dust collection)