I decided to do a little tidying and re-organize things and since we have this miracle of modern technology called the digital camera, I snapped a few pics...

And when you open the drawer beneath da bench you get this which is an older shot before the computer got it's own desk...

Enough of that, back to tidying and re-organizing things...

Wow, that's a lot of pen repair stuff packed into a small space. So Keith, what exactly does the green Fisher Price little person do?

Splendid stuff! One day ...

The little green guy must have snuck in while I wasn't looking... the official mascot in the shop is "Flash" the Siamase fighting fish.

Cheers!

I'm sure one of your kids wanted to have the green guy help you out or something. But where is Flash? We have 4 Bettas here: Ephram, Kiefer, Talim and Red. Red is on steroids and will puff up at anything that comes near the tank. (steroids are the food that come in the compact ball forms, and apparently are highly addictive for fish)

Leslie - I'll try and get a snapshot of Flash the wonder Beta after I clean out his tank...

Cam - you would not believe how many tools and pens there are in here than you canna see...

Like an archeologist I have finally found the top of the computer desk, at least I have found the left side of it.

Nice shots, Keith; thanks for sharing. Sure are a lot of tools there!
Among other things, I see a big bottle of some Western Family product (next to the Tryphon pen products)....Do you shop at Save-On Foods, too? (I worked for them for 6+ years).

That big bottle would be alcohol for removing spilled shellac.

The tidy look lasted for a little while... now there's half a dozen Esterbrooks lying on the bench just waiting for the shellac to set so I can put them all together.

It's been a busy day.

Spilled Shellac - Riiiiiggggghhhht.

Nice set-up Keith. Thought the bookshelf application great. Might try it myself, although the little table I have is not as sturdy as your desk.

I guess the vacuum base vice I see there is your vice of doom - right? Do you have 'soft jaws' for use on pens? I have seen some nice tools in a Golf supply store that might help with the pen dissembly, since the club makers/repair people have to separate the metal shafts (about pen dia) from the various heads. Hmmmmm

Ideas starting to surface...

Gerry

I had a bit of sprawl happening in the workshop so with nowhere else to go, I decided to go up... i think I'll be adding a few more shelves to maximize so I can store more stuff. It's really nice to have everything prganized and rihgt at hand when you're working and the actual space one needs to work is pretty minimal.

Yep... the vice you see is the infamous "vice of doom" and in reality it's a pretty gentle tool as it has well padded jaws and has yet to injure a patient.

My other favourite tool are my "Section Pliers From Hell" ™ These are 6 inch vice grips that have had the teeth filed off and then had surgical tubing slipped over the jaws to cushion and grip pens. The locking feature of the pliers means that they can be set precisely and once set, you cannot over torque things, and it really takes a lot of stress off my somewhat arthritic hands.

Great pliers Keith. Did you find a way to prevent the tubing from slipping off the ends, or hasn't that been a problem? I don't think many adhesives would work on tubing that flexible except perhaps GOOP.

The golf tool I was referring to was a sort of modified 'soft jaws' an aluminum backed pad with a 1/2 inch radius groove that had a rubber facing on each jaw. These were held in a vice, and tightened a bit. The rubber holds the club shaft quite well, without marring the surface.

Would think it would work like a champ for pens...

Gerry

http://www.golfworks.com/item_disp.asp?pn=RSC
http://www.golfworks.com/item_disp.asp?pn=EMSC
http://www.golfworks.com/item_disp.asp?pn=DRSC
http://www.golfworks.com/item_disp.asp?pn=STSL

http://www.golfworks.com/item_disp.asp?pn=UNS
http://www.golfworks.com/item_disp.asp?pn=BW

I have used contact cement to secure the tubing although it does stick there pretty well by itself.