I've been working in and out of my garage all summer pounding away on these timbers and it dawns on me to increase my efficiency. I spend way too much time walking back and forth to get tools from a wagon or at the other end of the timber. I remember a while back I saw a cool cart on guys website that was set up for timber frame tools. Does anyone use a cart to carry tools around the timber? Better yet how do you guys work efficiently, in order to prevent walking back and forth finding tools?
Rusty
You need to have your tools "within arm's reach". That way you're not walking back and forth to get them.
I have all my tools in a "tool box" and I have created a small table to set the tool box on. If I move from one end of the timber to another location on the timber, I move the table and tool box down with me.
In production mode, you want to do as many things as you can before you "change" something. For example if you have your skil saw set for a 2" shoulder cut then make as many as you can before you reset it to another depth. I have one skil saw set for 2" shoulder cuts and another set for full depth cuts. And sometimes I have my battery powered trim saw set for 1/2" housings cuts.
Another thing I do is bore all my holes with the depth gauge set on my boring machine to that depth before I reset my depth gauge.
Again try and do as many things as you can before you "change settings".....
Jim Rogers
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10095/tool_box_table.JPG)
Jim,
I just had to comment... I read your reply before I looked at your picture. I envisioned a three-legged table so that it would always be steady on uneven ground. Do you ever have trouble with your pictured table?
Although, it looks like your tool box might just fit in your table when inverted to save space on your truck - does it?
For the table I just used what I had on hand. A piece of 1x12 cut into three pieces. One for the top and two for the legs. Then I added the side pieces as 1x8, I think.
I never turned it upside down so I don't know.
Jim Rogers
Thanks Jim
That's a great idea. That project just it to the top of the list.
I recognize those holes in that 1x8. When the timbers were delivered I went around with a small wire grabbing the grubs and giving them to the chickens.
Rusty
In my current collection of Wood-Mizer sawn lumber I have two stacks of eastern white pine boards. One is of sound boards, from a log sawn when it was fresh and green, the other from a log that had been lying on the ground for several months before I got around to sawing it. The second stack of boards had grub holes like your picture shows. Lesson learned: Saw boards from recently felled pine trees, and saw the log into boards soon after the tree is felled. I think I'm talking about two forms of promptness, am I not?
David L.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/32809/IMG_0001~1.JPG)
Here's a tool cart i made a few years ago. It holds everything I need including a brace and slick. Chisel slots are handy for keeping the edges away from damage or fingers.
It rolls around the shop nicely.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/32809/IMG_0002~1.JPG)
A better shot
I envision reaching for that rasp and coming up with a bloody arm in need of fifty stitches. :o
This isn't the best shot, but I used this rolling bench when I was working on the Dutch barns. I could lay everything out on the bench and see right where it was, or wasn't. ;) The only problem with it was it had six caster wheels, so it went wherever it wanted when you tried to push it. The two middle casters had been damaged, so in the end I just moved it with the pallet jack and set it on 6"x6" dunnage, which also helped keep it from moving around when planing against a stop.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/14240/DSC_0754.JPG)
Ha Ha ya Dave that's a possibility for sure. Always reach in by the front!
Check out The Toolbox Book
by www.jimtolpin.com/books
I keep a regular old wooden toolbox, but have since hijacked my wife's garden cart. Has nice pneumatic tires (since I don't have what one might call a "flat" floor). I just pull it around the barn to wherever I'm working. I can set my toolbox, 2 circular saws, Ryobi beam saw, and a myriad of other tools in it.
Hi Folks,
Pics of my tool cart.
Its fir and spruce with a drawer with hd sliders.
Thanks for looking Jim/Bruno of NH
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/36349/IMG_0288.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/36349/IMG_0287.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/36349/IMG_0286.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/36349/IMG_0285.jpg)
This was a used A/V cart I got for $50. Still sorting out how I want to divide up the top tray, and thinking of adding a couple of drawers.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/68826/C04B95D6-A4E9-4029-98F5-D76422E0859B.jpeg?easyrotate_cache=1662044769)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/68826/EE49AE6A-6A49-43A5-AF68-A4B80A5DB53A.jpeg?easyrotate_cache=1662044688)
If you want to use your cart inside and outside on uneven ground you will probably want bigger wheels on it. I have thought of buying/building a upright tool box but without a cement pad to roll it on I am thinking of using bike tires for the wheels. Depending on how rough and how long of a distance I plan to move it would determine the size of the wheels. If I only plan to use it around the smooth yard then 10 inch kids bike tires would be enough. If I think of moving it out in the field I would use 26 inch tires and make the entire tool chest as bottom heavy as possible to prevent tipping.
Quote from: Joe Hillmann on September 01, 2022, 12:37:42 PM
If you want to use your cart inside and outside on uneven ground you will probably want bigger wheels on it.
Yeah this one is definitely not going to leave the shop. Originally I laid my eyes on our off-road garden wagon, but Lindsey caught wind of it and put a stop to that before I could start remodeling it.🙄
My tool cart is our Kawasaki Mule. I leave my tractor at my remote build site most days unless I'm out of logs to build with. The Mule is the back & forth vehicle on woods roads to the site. I pull up beside my weatherproof storage bins and load the Mule bed with tools, then back it up to my 4 sawhorses where I prep logs and cut the joints. I can build w/o the Mule but not the tractor, however I'd sure hate to lose my back in the woods tool cart I work from everyday. It also totes many items as the needs come up such as re-supply of materials or today a taller ladder and some log foam tape.
In my woodshop I don't use tool carts as my handtools & power tools are close to my wood work bench and my steel wrenching bench.
I'm with the commentor toward those wood chisels hanging out there a bit too much. Too many times we have to bend over and pick stuff up and hit our head. A hole in my head I can do without. My wood lathes are both against/facing walls and chisels are racked in front of the lathes. One man shop maybe you can get by with that OK.
I wish I could post some pics but just can't. I recently bought 3 "cigar trucks" from a local cigar factory that moved production to the Dominican Republic after 5 generations of running it here >:(. The trucks are about 30" wide, 20" deep, 60" tall with front side open. Very sturdy floor with 4 steel casters, the corners are 2x2 and screwed to the inside of the 3 sides are 1"x3" about every 5" so easy to slide in shelves. I altered one to hold my Dewalt miter saw and have a mini fridge on a shelf of another, haven't decided yet what to do with the third. At $15. each I'm happy and like the history.