When I make service calls to farmers’ shops, I’m exposed to simple yet clever ideas. For example:
1. Chunks of railroad ties or 8”x 8” wooden blocks are clumsy to lug around. Lag-bolting a barn door handle on the end of each block makes them easy to carry. When a job is finished and it’s time to retrieve those blocks from beneath a machine, the handles make it easy to snag them with a hooked rod and drag them out versus crawling on your hands and knees.
2. When deep cleaning your shop, use a long-handled compressed air “wand” to blow accumulated shop rags, corn shucks and candy wrappers toward the middle of the building. That’s a lot easier than moving drill presses, grinder stands and other obstacles lining the walls so you can sweep those areas with a broom.
3. Annoyed by late-season “bumble flies” that beat themselves against shop windows and leave black spots all over the glass? Get one of those old-fashioned super-sticky fly strips and lay it along the bottom of the window’s glass. The first time they bumble their way to the bottom of the glass is their last.
4. Small portable blower fans, such as a “Blue Blower” model, are great when working inside a combine, under a truck or anywhere on a hot summer day. Big shop fans are good, but a small portable fan that you can take into combine grain tanks or inside a tractor cab moves air where big floor-type fans can’t reach.
5. Maximize wall space, minimize bench space. In the words of an old farmer: “The only thing you gain from having more workbenches is more places to store junk. You’re always going to have to clear a space in order to work on a workbench, no matter how many you have. Just have one good workbench and quit fooling yourself.”
6. Rather than monopolize shop floor space with a cast-off La-Z-Boy from the house, consider a folding gravity-type lawn lounger. They’re darned comfortable for watching football games or taking naps, and they fold up for easy storage when it’s time to go back to work.
