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Got to thinking about this today while working at shoe-horning (pun) my western boot shop into one corner of the new woodshop.
I have about 6 of these cast iron revolving nail trays in the boot shop stuff (good cobblers keep a "lot" of different kinds of nails and tacks) and I wish I had a half dozen more for the woodshop... These are about a foot across and very heavy. I used to be able to buy these for about $12 back about 1978 but I suspect that they are about 6 to 8 times that now. Home decorators have discovered them now and the used ones have been snapped up for that. I recently saw one used as a candy dish.

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If you want to see some neat work-stations from another craft do a Google Image search on
jewelers bench

The result should jump start your woodworkers imagination.


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Nice stuff....

I recall a woodworking article on turning a Candy Dish a couple years back. There's an art to the height of the walls -- which helps the 'consumer' roll a good amount of candy into his 'paw'.

nuhobby wrote:Nice stuff....

I recall a woodworking article on turning a Candy Dish a couple years back. There's an art to the height of the walls -- which helps the 'consumer' roll a good amount of candy into his 'paw'.

Those nail trays are easy to get the nails out when quantities get down low. They also get a certain amount of dirt in them over time but when empty the rounded cups are easy to clean out with a simple cloth one at a time.

Then you could also use them to bake cornbread...


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And don't leave the machinists out either. These guys are famed for neat and orderly, not to mention precision.

terrydowning wrote:And don't leave the machinists out either. These guys are famed for neat and orderly, not to mention precision.

Guess I do not qualify for that occupation!:D

Since all their 'tools' must fit in that teeny tiny chest, they gotta be neat freaks.


Ever tried to pick one up that was 'loaded'?:eek:




Then there is that piano maker's tool chest! RIP

I must say that now that I've taken up machining as a hobby the cross use of tools is endless. If I get stuck on a woodworking need I can now make my own. I've even taken this to repairing cars. I had a vw at the house (very poorly made). A plastic housing for the radiator broke. Simply chucked up a piece of brass, made up a press fit part .001 over the housing and locktited them together. Fixed, and in minutes for pennies. The milling machine then makes even more possible. Add in the welder and oxy torch and there's little that can't be made for one hobby or another.

This is a real good thread to attract attention to craft parts that may be helpful to woodworkers.

I love to go with my wife when she goes to JoAnn's. There are some pretty good plastic boxes and chest that could be useful for us.

I store all of my shaper cutters, arbors and rub collars in a plastic box from JoAnn's Fabrics. Each cutter has it's own compartment. I could even label the purpose of the cutters with a Sharpie on the lid.

Francis, here's one I did a long time ago.

Was rebuilding a 360 CI Dodge engine, for my (at the time) Dodge van. The crank needed it's main and rod journals cleaned up. (Not machined, just cleaned up a bit.)

Chucked the crank, between the drive and tailstock lathe spurs, so I could move it by hand, and polished the journals with a strip of fine emery cloth.

Didn't use the ER for any more than a fixture to hold the crank, but it speeded my project up quite a bit.

Oh, if you want to find a replacement for that nail holder, look at Lodge's 6 (or 8?) compartment cornbread pan. It makes pie-shaped pieces of cornbread, and may fit your bill. It has a handle on it, like the frying pan it is, leave on, or cut it off. They've also got a pan, with 7 (there's one in the center) hemispherical sections. Lodge cast iron, out of Tennessee.

steve