My rules
I’m a pretty gregarious guy when it comes to shop sharing. But I do have a few rules.
I’m a pretty gregarious guy when it comes to shop sharing. But I do have a few rules.
Not a lot of people around here to get in my way or into my stuff. I have a great place for my stuff, but unfortunately, the few others who live here – two, counting the cat – know where that is. To that end, if you’re going to get into my stuff, please observe the following:
• Please don’t take my tools.
• When you take a tool, use it for its intended purpose. If you need a hammer, use a hammer.
• A screwdriver handle is not a hammer; a screwdriver blade is not a nail remover.
• After you’ve taken my tools, please put them back.
• When you put them back, please do so in the same place where you found them.
• My workbench is not a drop-off area for things destined for the storage room “later.”
• The drawer where I keep all my masking tape is not a craft supply center.
• Don’t open a can of stain with a can opener. Remember what happened last time.
Simple rules make for a happy woodshop, so for anyone in this house who might be reading this, please take them to heart. I won’t say who I suspect of occasionally violating any of the above, but it ain’t the cat.
A.J. Hamler is the former editor of Woodshop News and Woodcraft Magazine. He's currently a freelance woodworking writer/editor, which is another way of stating self-employed. When he's not writing or in the shop, he enjoys science fiction, gourmet cooking and Civil War reenacting, but not at the same time.