I saw a trick for the work bench.

[Spade Cooley]

I'll bet most of you have heard of this trick, but I saw it for the first time at my buddies home last night. We were taking apart a 1911 in 45 for a trigger job. On his bench he had a magnetic stick on sign from the side of a truck turned upside down. All the parts removed were set on the magnitized side of the sign and they stayed put. The days of parts rolling off the bench are over.

 

[James K]

I saw that used years ago for small parts, but the magnetic plastic was tacked to the wall above the bench where the parts were out of the way until the smith took them down.

I never tried it, which may be why I wore out the knees of my pants crawling around looking for parts.

Jim

 

[4V50 Gary]

I always used a small tray or even an Altoid tin to hold small parts. My problem is parts going airborne and then sweeping the floor, scanning it with a flashlight and then running a magnet over it to find the part. Gunsmithing teaches one to grovel.

 

[357 Python]

You can also get magnetic trays from an auto parts store. They usually come in 4-5 inch round and 4x6 rectangle.

 

[Slopemeno]

..until you use a carbide cutter and the tiny, nearly invisible shards of metal are right at, or should I say, IN your fingertips.

I found something as simple as the plastic meal trays from a McDonalds are great for keeping all the parts in one place. Also, think about carpeting your bench with a freebie remnant from the carpet store.

 

[Spade Cooley]

I like the carpet on the bench idea as well as the magnetic sign on the wall behind it. That is what I'm going to do. Now if someone could just show me how to get this thing back together.

 

[hivel37]

Spade Cooley - I like the name. Makes me want to break out my pearl snap shirts.