I remember when I was looking for a house the first thing I told my real estate agent was that I wanted a house with a sweet garage. So we looked and looked and finally I found a house that didn't have a backyard, but it had a garage setup that was definitely worth sacrificing a yard. To me, a garage is the best place there is. It is the only place that I really feel like I own. Some people call it a man-cave, a shop, a tool room, a ranch. Some call it a messy, some call it a place that is filled with junk, some call it a storage area. It is up to you to rhetorically filter who would call it what.
The thing that sets mankind apart from animals is that they have developed tools. These tools are the gateways to creativity. Sure monkeys use sticks to lure termites out of their nests and otters use rocks to open crabs and oysters. My tools are better because they have nothing to do with food. They are only utensils to fulfill my appetite for creativity. By creativity, I mean creating things, not what some liberal psycho would call creativity. Let’s not get into the details.
You could come into my garage and probably get a long tour of my tools and a story about each one and how I went into some distressed girl’s house looking for a home invader with this hammer and how I fixed this and that on this car and this bike etc, etc.
So I am going to give you a photo tour of my garage.
After all the major mechanical work was done, this is the mess that was left in the path of my fury, some of my precious tools.
Here is where the magic begins, a stereo left by my friend Joe. Joe, much thanks for the great metal, postrock, esoteric electronic, and jazz that this machine brings to life. I wouldn't worry about the empty rocks glasses if I were you.
Look at what is playing, so fast, so rich, so epic!
Here is where the drill press hangs out. It is used for punching holes into stuff. I am pretty afraid of it.
This is the beloved chemical shelf. The bottom shelf loosely contains "lubricants," the second "cleaners," and the top paint stuff. Note there is a bottle of black velvet on the left side of the second shelf, a great all-around cleaner for cleaning up your parts, your inner parts, and your problems, be they mechanical or mental. In the top right drawer is stuff like silicone, jb weld, putties, epoxies, glues, adhesives and other stuff for gluing people to the toilet seat. Cleaners are from mild to wild--car wash to aerosol MEK. Yes, I have baby powder on the lubricant shelf. It is kinda the secret to not getting pinch flats on a bicycle or motocross bike with tubes. I have stuff on the cleaner shelf called "BBQ cleaner" let's just say that is the only chemical there that I have ever had to immediately take a safety shower over. I think it is sprayable NaOH.
Here are the tool chests, I'll go drawer by drawer.
We'll start with this one:
So here we have ratchets
Allen keys, I have more elsewhere, but this is the main working set.
Ratchet accessories, extensions, adapters, and u joints.
This is the standard socket drawer 1/2"drive on left 3/8" in center tray, 1/4" in upper right tray. The trays are subdivided into deep well, 6 point, and 12 point categories.
This is the top tray of the chest it contains metric sockets. Same deal as the standard sockets, except 1/2" drives are on the right and top. I also have a selection of torque wrenches (ones for small stuff like bikes and motorcycles), an impact driver on the left, and a 3/8" hand driver.
If you haven't figured it out already, green is metric and red is SAE
See why it is important? My set of assorted wrenches #1
Wrenches #2. All of my good tools are Husky pro tools with bronze laser etching. They are very stylish and very durable. Although my 3/8" ratchet is starting to show signs of wear. I want to replace it because I love the feel of it, it is a great well-balanced ratchet.
Pliers: Needlenose on left, dykes in the middle, slip-joints on the right. In the front are freakishly-huge slip-joints, snap ring pliers, and electrical pliers. I also keep tweezers and forceps in this drawer, after-all they are just very small needle nose which are great for working on small things.
This drawer has some automotive electrical equipment in it. And some misc dremel bits.
Power tools drawer no #1. This drawer has a 3/8" drill, random orbit sander, jogsaw, dremel, hand saws, too much to list.
Next tool chest has cutting tools, like razor blades and some die grinder bits.
Welding stuff (I have a more comprehensive welding drawer in my main work bench).
Pullers, pullers, pullers, 2-jaw, and seal puller
The far left has torx drivers and the left has nut drivers, metric and SAE.
Some specialty tools, mostly for dirtbikes.
This drawer is for making holes in stuff.
This drawer has hammers, punches, pry bars, chisels, and an A-Z alphabet for stamping steel.
Air tools: Sanders, die grinders, 3 impact wrenches, 3 air ratchets, blow guns and other air stuff.
Safety drawer protection for hands, eyes, ears, and lungs. There is also a 3" ball hone in this drawer. Funny the drawer had cobwebs on it.
Every garage needs lighting, I added extra. If that isn't enough I have about 4 more halogens to bust out to light a work area.
This jet is so cool. C'mon don't be hatin' on the F-22 all Obama style.
Coltrane usually rocks out the garage. Coltrane or dimmu borgir, but I don't know if it is legal to put up a dimmu borgir poster.
Conan the barbarian. Sweet movie.
When I say back to the drawing board. I mean literally go back to the drawing board. Michael Savage's phone number is on it.
Well that is barely scratching the surface of the man cave, but that should be a good start. Thanks for coming along and not touching anything.
