Tools!

This post will be almost entirely about tools, unfortunately I haven't had a chance to do much work on the Jetta recently.

I picked up a few things for my work toolbox.  I'm at the point where I'm basically self-sufficient with any type of assembly, repair, maintenance, or construction task I get involved with.

Starrett 156M thread pitch gauge.  This is a really nice piece.

eBay and Classified ad hunting.  I usually stay away from used tools with engravings... unless they're engraved with my initials already!

Wilde prybars.  These are US-made and they're a great value.

So I went a little nutty with sanders and grinders recently.  When I'm busy with life and school, I can't stop thinking about tools and they're too easy to buy.  I got an awesome deal on the Matco 1.0 hp grinder on eBay, the 3M is new from Amazon and appears to be really well designed, and the straight grinders are junkers from Harbor Freight to replace the ones I've burned up in the last few years.  For $8, I consider them disposable.

Dynabrade with the old Harbor Freight unit it's replacing.  This is a gearless 0.4hp angle sander, it's so much more powerful, smooth, and quiet than the Harbor Freight!

I gathered everyone up for a family photo.

Now that my grinders aren't disposable junk, I bought some proper grease.

With the recent influx of tools from my Grandpap Bernard's collection, I'm struggling with tool storage.  I now have a full set (4" through 12") of adjustable wrenches in my work toolbox, and decided to build an organizer for them.

Fast forward a few cuts and welds...

New wrench drawer in my work toolbox.

Next I decided to build an organizer for the bottom drawer of my work toolbox.  I started cutting a form for the plasma cutter

Not the cleanest cut, but it was wicked fast.

This will all make sense in a minute I promise.

Hemmed edges - 45º out of the brake in the foreground, and smashed flat in the background.

Well that only took a few days!

And here is why.  The bottom drawer of my work toolbox has been crowded and unorganized, but I do actually use a lot of this stuff frequently.

After. It's still not the cleanest drawer, but at least everything is accessible and visible.

And here is a little preview of some furniture I've been working on.  I will be providing more details in coming posts, but this has been consuming a lot of my time and I decided not to document everything until I'm a bit further along.