Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Yet Another Diversion....

A couple of weeks have passed since I last had anything new or post-worthy to present here.  The reason is that I have embarked on yet another project that has put an abrupt hold on any rocket building.

Workshop renovation.....

Yep, once again the BlastFromThePast basement workshop is undergoing yet another phase of its ongoing evolution.  This time it's a major facelift.

Up to this point, the shop has been operating using a hodge-podge of benches, desks, cabinets, and makeshift shelves. Nothing matches, it's aesthetically unpleasing, and adequate storage area is sorely needed.

To add to the chaos, the same shop space is used for my other hobbies:  hand-tool woodworking, and my ever growing LEGO collection (Yep, I'm an AFOL - Adult Fan Of LEGO).

Not to mention that the shop is also the place where I engage in the usual household utility stuff  -general repairs, electrical, small painting projects, and the like.

So, last week I was wandering around the local Wal-Mart, when I happened to notice some items I had never encountered there before - some heavy duty metal storage cabinets and matching heavy duty workbenches.  I could tell just by looking at the display samples that they were well designed and very good quality - definitely not the typical plastic or particle board junk one is usually accustomed to seeing.

"Made In The U.S.A." said the box.    Hmmmm.....

A quick online search of the particular manufacturer and its shop furniture products revealed a consistent customer review rating of 4 and a half stars, with a lot of very positive comments to go along.

I was sold.   I later brought Mrs. BlastFromThePast back to Wal-Mart to see the items, and floated the idea of perhaps getting one or two of the cabinets for the basement shop. She was thrilled at the idea that I wanted to take steps toward cleaning up the chaos there.

After doing a little comparison shopping of similar shop furniture at other stores, I was still drawn to those at Wally World. I just liked the overall look and features they included.

We ended up purchasing three of the storage cabinets and two of the workbenches.

The past few evenings have been spent assembling some of the new all-steel shop furniture.  As I suspected, the items are extremely well-engineered, easy to assemble, and packed with a lot of great features I have not seen with other commercially-made shop fixtures.  And the price point is not too shabby either.

Here are a few pics of this new adventure.....

A table loaded with displaced wood-shop tools and hardware.



Hey - there's those scissors!   I've been looking all over for those.

The first storage cabinet- assembled and in place.



And, more future fun with a wrench and screwdriver.......



I am totally stoked about getting my new shop space organized and start using this new stuff. 

Maybe even get a few rockets built!

More to come.