There is something to be said for having a wide and varied selection of tools readily available when you start a project. Just like careful planning, having everything you need makes the work go smoothly. But, also like planning, that seems to be something near insurmountable for me. While I do have the right tools for most jobs I undertake, I seem to have a problem locating them.

I have, on many occasions, stopped what I was doing to try to find something. I’m sure everyone has had that experience, whether it’s just a certain screwdriver or a particular type of blade for your jigsaw, a screw or a nailset, a clamp or a #20 biscuit. The end result is always the same: you just wasted a lot of time and you never did find what you wanted.

Plus, my workshop suffers from a real lack or organization. I have attempted many times to arrange the things I need to be easily accessible. I have built cabinets and drawers and shelves and stands all dedicated to particular things. All of my router bits and my router, for example, are supposed to be in one cabinet opposite my workbench. Right now, however, the router is under the workbench and the bits are … somewhere else.

I’m also certain most people have resolved the situation in much the same way I normally do. If I need my caulking gun, but can’t see it after a quick look at where it supposedly belongs, I go buy a new one. They’re inexpensive and, really, what if I accidentally left mine on a jobsite somewhere? I could be looking for something I’d never find. Better not to waste time.

I currently have five or six caulking guns. I know where none of them are.

Often, it occurs to me to try to use the wrong tool for the job. Results vary, of course. Sometimes, in a pinch, a screwdriver can be a chisel or a punch or a tiny prybar. If you’re desperate enough, it can even stir small cans of paint – after it opens the can, of course. Use of a circular saw can take the place of a jigsaw – or it seemed clever at the time. If you take apart your hand plane, you get a handy thing that can be used as a knife for sharpening pencils or as a wide chisel or as a scraper. Then you will undoubtedly never find the remaining parts of the plane. (Actually, in my case, I have the other parts of the plane, but not the iron.)

Ingenious use of a hammer can replace screwdrivers and chisels and even a measuring tape (if you know how long your hammer is). And the back end of a drill is a perfectly acceptable replacement for a hammer if you need to knock a tenon into a mortise.

A few years ago, I had a neighbour who had a garage workshop. It was beautifully laid out, with rolling storage, wall-mounted cabinets with doors, a long bench that could also pull out away from the wall, a fine collection of hand-tools, a small but workable tablesaw, and so on. All of this stuff could be shoved against the wall and he could actually get his car in there, too.

I, however, didn’t know any of that was there until one day, instead of taking my regular jaunt to the hardware store, I decided to ask him if he had a caulking gun I could borrow. He brought me in to this cathedral of organization, this veritable shrine to cleanliness. He didn’t hesitate in the slightest but walked directly to the cabinet which held the caulking gun (which itself was also immaculately clean), took it, and held it out to me.

I don’t know where that one is, either.

It took some time for me to get over the jealousy I felt at how he had no need to dig through piles of scrap wood (that may end up being useful), tools (that were quickly set aside to be less of a distraction), and parts of half-finished projects (that will eventually get done). But I soon realized that the reason his shop was so clean and organized was the same reason I never knew about it: he never did anything there.

So I continue on in my disorganized way. In spite of the time I waste shuffling stuff from one part of my shop to another, digging through the archaeology of my work, I do manage to get things done. Even if I have to use a block of wood shoved in the end of the tube instead of a missing caulking gun.

Original Publish Date: December 8 / 2013