Just a little question. How many wear their tool belt in the shop? I’ve got my Carpenter’s “rig” ( from when I worked concstrution) and it just seems “natural” to put it on while in the shop. I don’t “load it up” like I used to, just a few things that I need to work with on the “project” of the day. I know some on here swear by their aprons, others might swear at them. But a tool belt? HMMM. Once a carpenter, always a carpenter ( aka “nail-bender”), just a habit, I guess.
PS: That tool belt weighed in at over forty pounds when I worked as a Concrete-carpenter, on the light days, that is.
Replies
No belt
I do have a dandy leather tool belt, carpenter style. I used it while framing and building my shop. But even with suspenders, my hips and sholders get sore. I'll stick with my light Denim apron, if anything.
Not for me..
No apron and no tool belt for me. I see them as dust collectors, and safety hazards.
Bags and suspenders at the jobsite except when installing cabinets to avoid damaging the cabinets.
In the shop, no bags. I've tried an apron but the pockets just fill up with chips and dust. Sometimes I'll slip on a light weight jumpsuit ti try to keep my clothes cleaner which has nice big slit pockets that don't get debris in them.
Bret
belted or not
Add me to the no-belt, no-apron crowd.
Belt or no belt
I'll wear mine IF I have a lot of little things to take from "work statio to work station", such as a tape measure, a small square, a pencil (or two) and maybe a chisel or two. The pocket is a good fit for a couple of chisels, and since the pockets are leather, it keeps the edges of the chisels from getting "knicked'. If I'm just "puttering around" the tool belt stay on it's hook. Dust and dirt? The belt is used to that. After each "jobsite" departure, I'd dump the pockets out. You'd be surprised what would wind up in there.
About 20% of the time I wear a single pouch tool belt. I keep my tape measure, a small machinist square, mechanical pencil & eraser, grippy gloves, and fractional calculator. I got this smallish belt when I was working on the trim carpentry on my house, and I think it's super convenient. In the shop, if I wear it, I don't have to walk around looking for my pencil or tape.
Only during construction
If I am doing construction like framing, roofing, etc, I may wear a tool belt, but otherwise no. I tried wearing an apron, but found that the pockets just filled up with sawdust and when I leaned over, stuff would fall out (especially my precision engineer's square). On my regular belt, which I always wear, I carry a digital point-and-shoot camera. I usually carry a pen and a small tape measure in my pocket. I keep larger tape measures and pencils and squares around the shop.
Dog,
I use my regular belt to hold my Droid. YOU NEED TO KEEP YOUR PHONE CLOSE AT HAND. You can never tell when someone will call asking you to take on a $100,000 commission.
Also, I favor the BIG SUSPENDERS with the yellow and black tape measure design. Those and a plaid shirt really are the appropriate dress for a woodworker.
Mel
PS years ago, there was a thread about wearing a shop apron. A shop apron gives me something to wipe my hands on.
just turn the apron inside out and the pockets won't fill up. I don't use the pockets anyway, just wear it to to save my clothes
ron
Mel!
BIG SUSPENDERS with the yellow and black tape measure design..
My grandfather had sort of those BIG SUSPENDERS. As I recall like I found here.
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://img2.photographersdirect.com/img/19309/wm/pd1827338.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.photographersdirect.com/buyers/stockphoto.asp%3Fimageid%3D1827338&usg=__uD3jeG-lgbM5WC3QX1YiiOdvqQo=&h=500&w=334&sz=61&hl=en&start=17&itbs=1&tbnid=wtuAknUAqh-cRM:&tbnh=130&tbnw=87&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgerman%2Bsuspenders%253F%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us%26rlz%3D1I7ADRA_en%26tbs%3Disch:1
I think with the global world market we now need to wear the yellow and black tape measure design. One side US and the other Metric.
Apron - Yes
No tool belt for me in the shop - but when I have repairs outside of the shop I wear a tool belt stocked with my select collection of necessary tools. (I've made a small hopper attached to the wall to store the belt when I'm in the shop - thus all those special tools are always at-the-ready.)
A leather apron is my choice in the shop. I can reach felt pen, pencil, chalk, 6" ruler, tape measure or a 2" engineer's square without taking my eyes off the job; they're always there when I need them.)
Leather apron? Just in case I happen to be in the way of a table saw kick-back (never have) it will provide extra protection. And yes. I do get chips and sawdust in the pockets. That's what my shop vac is for.
Frosty
Your leather apron is quite dapper, Frosty. I've been thinking, though - if leather is good (for kick-backs and such), Kevlar has to be even better. ;-)
I utilize Kevlar for my jock strap. Priorities, you know.
Frosty
chuckle
You are an inspirational thinker, Frosty. ;-)
have one but not in the shop
I have one hangs in the shop. I've had it since college days of doing const. It's been used for every build i've done. I don't know why I don't use it for the small stuff, but I don't. I tend to use shorts with good size pockets and besides it would take all the fun out of trying to remember where I had my square last so I can go find it.
Different Career
By the time I reached the end of my career in construction, I had made my belt as small and as light as possible. I used a 5 gallon bucket, and never carried a tool in my belt that I wasn't using on the task at hand. The forty pounders, I left to apprentices.
(As a side note, in real estate and law, a small, slim attache case is the mark of an executive, while a large, voluminous bag is the mark of an underling. But I digress.)
There are a very few tools in the shop that I always want with me, so I wear one of those three dollar cloth aprons from Lowe's. They also help when I decide to spray glue or shellac all over the shop.
I don't worry about dust in the pockets, at three dollars each, I bought eight of them. I wear them for one day, and transfer the tools and put a clean one on the next day. When seven of them are dirty, I throw them in the washer with the shop rags and bleach the hell out of them.
Along these same lines, I replaced the Stanley 25 with a much smaller Lufkin 8, and I replaced the trisquare with a small, three inch machinist square. My standard trisquare lives right next to the bench if I need it. But smaller is lighter, and I don't carry it.
How many wear their tool belt in the shop?
I once did but not now.... I squatted down while holding a heavy timber and ran a tool like a broad head Bull Pin used by iron workers (used to align flanges on tanks) into the calf of my right leg. I had two surgeries. One for puncture wound. The other to repair nerve damage. Not a Carpenter at the time. I was in the Military.
vest apron
I have this Swedish designed nylon vest. It zips up, and has apron pockets on the bottom. Holds my remote for the TV, I mean the DC, square, tape and pencils. It does a great job of collecting sawdust as well. Turn them inside out to dump em. Light weightm mesh back, 30 years old.
Seem to be a lot of these in the UK, snickers vests. Or this one. http://toolmonger.com/2008/01/23/skillers-tool-vest/
AZMO
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