Around the Shop

It's hard to find the ideal plug for an open tube of caulking. Try this easy solution. Insert the end of a golf tee into the open caulk tube.

Gloria Schroeder Michigan

This is an easy and inexpensive tip for creating a convenient place to hang patterns, notes, and plans when working in your shop. Simply glue a block of plastic foam to the back of your workbench.

Marjorie Babbitt Michigan

Do you want a quick and easy way to find the right nut, nail, or screw? First, store these items in a small multi-drawer workshop chest. Then, place a small mass of clay-like hanging compound, such as FunTak, on the outside of each drawer. Embed one of the objects from each drawer in the compound.

Karen Schindler New York

Do you ever need to pick up small nails, brads, pins, and other metal objects from your workbench? Put a large magnet inside a glass jar. The magnet's force will penetrate the jar and pick up these items. When you want to drop them, just remove the magnet.

Bob Kasiski New Jersey

Help keep your workshop organized by using a magnetic-strip knife holder for hand chisels, punches, and other metal tools.

Darrel Stucky Wyoming

If you need a rubber-tipped mallet but all you have is a regular hammer, put a chair leg rubber tip on the hammer head. It won't scar the wood you're pounding.

Maria F. Lowrey Louisiana

A piece of sticky tape -- face up -- is a convenient landing spot for nuts, bolts, brads, and other small parts when working on project that require disassembly. During reassembly, each piece is readily available and laid out in proper sequence.

Barbara Russell North Carolina