Jerry Thurston column
For many, there's literally no time like the present to get on with that big garage clear up.
L ike many, over the last few weeks I have been part of the great garage/workshop tidy - all part of my 'keep healthy, keep active and occupy yourself' regime. While the circumstances forcing this are far from ideal, I realise that from adversity comes a bit of positivity. As I survey a once again spacious works, I realise that I should have done this a long, long time ago.
First to come under scrutiny were all the hand tools. Having previously filled my existing tool chests with so many ' useful' things that the over-loading had actually bent the runners on the drawers, I was left with a chest that not only didn't function as it should, it also contained more ' things of purpose' than actual tools. I had gone halfway to doing something about this and 12 months ago had jumped on the opportunity by buy an excellent second-hand chest, this one to be for tools and tools only. Note the 12 months ago bit... I'm somewhat embarrassed to say it did remain empty.
As I raid the drawers one by one and dig out all the spanners, I realise they chart my history as a tinkerer, from the first ones I bought as a student with little spare money- of appalling quality but good-enough then - to some best quality stuff acquired later in life, then, finally, loads of vintage oddities, gifted by friends who would arrive with a box or carrier bag and words like: "I found these in the tool shed:'
From what I had, I sorted out the dross and unceremoniously dropped it into the recycling bin, and from the best of the rest, came up with two primary sets of metric sizes and the same for imperial. Why two sets? We all know that there are occasions where a pair of spanners the same size is the only way to get something undone.
I am pleased to report that nothing too critical had been lost, most being where they should be, just buried. There was also quite a lot of pondering about the function of some modified tools unseen for so long that I couldn't remember why on earth I made them.
In hindsight, I realise that the spanners were the easy bit. More challenging were the unlabelled boxes of fasteners, which developed into a slightly farcical sort of teddy bears' tea party, with the family sitting cross-legged on the lawn sorting them out... It was a mammoth task but, finally, nuts have been sorted into boxes, metric and imperial, with each size having its own little section. Bolts and washers have been similarly dealt with.
I'm quite good at keeping my lathe clean, so there was not much swarf to be dealt with, but I did set-to on the oddments box, turfing out those bits of metal that were in reality far too small to be turned into anything useful. This became an impromptu manufacturing session when I seized upon a bar of the correct size and suitable material for making some top hat spacers that I needed to take some wear out of the rear suspension on one of the bikes ...
Vehicle shuffle out of the way, I realise also that this is the first time I have ever managed to stand all of my motorcycles together. Previously, I have had running stuff near the door, various old go-karts and the like in the middle and the 'in progress' machines at the back, where they can be immobile without getting too much in the way.
Surveying the workshop - which I must say is looking the best it has been for 20-odd years - I realise I have managed to do all this without throwing away as much as I first thought. Granted, I have dumped loads of tag ends of bits and stuff like cans of paint that have gone hard, but, otherwise, a careful relocation and intelligent stacking of the remainder has given me the space I needed.
There has to be a learning process. For me, the first point is to be a little less impetuous - clearing a bench used to be a case of dumping the contents onto the next available surface, in order to get on with whatever was revving me up. The knock-on effect of that was continually chasing a big pile of whatever from location to location, without actually putting anything away.
Secondly, I have learned it's quite easy to put individual tools away if you have them in the proper place to start with.
Thirdly, I need to be a little more picky when offered stuff for free. The problem is, if somebody is gracious enough to offer me something, I feel obliged to thank them and take it. I reflected on this while trying to move a massive milling vice which is far too large to use and is merely half a hundredweight of dead weight that has to be stored somewhere ...
Lastly, I realise that no matter how difficult the times, there is always an opportunity to push forward and
I shall definitely appreciate my freedom to ride in the future.