A helpful tip I've used over the years is to save the sticky adhesive that comes from various sources such as the donation request you get in the mail from 'March of Dimes' to hold the dime on the request. Our shop guys here at worked referred to it as snot.

A little bit on the head of a screw helps to keep the screw on the screw driver if you're trying to get into those hard to reach spots.

You can buy them too...cheap

http://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/c/office-supplies/stationery/wall-adhesives/sticky-dots

Instead of moving lots of stuff that's in the way, or contorting my body into an odd position in order to see (for example) a part number/serial number/model number, I hold out my iphone and snap a few photos. If I missed it the first time, I snap a few more photos until I get the info I need.

I do the same even for easy to see stuff. A photo record on my phone of the actual item is more reliable than the number I jotted down on that piece of paper I left on the workbench...

_{/Now dammit, where'd I leave my phone...}

I use my phone to record everything, it has a better memory than I do....also better eyesight...great for reading the small print and seeing in low light situations...

Yes, I've done that too. Last week I was working on our Odyssey and dropped a screwdriver down behind the engine (Between the engine and the firewall). I reached around back there with my hand, but had no idea how far down it had fallen or even which direction (left or right) it may have gone.

I was afraid to start up the van for fear of the plastic handle might be laying across the exhaust manifold or something.

Finally, I took my iphone and held it over the back of the engine, snapped a few pictures and 'Bob's your uncle', I could see where it was sitting. It only took a few minutes and a scraped knuckle to rescue it.

One from my dad's bag of tricks: If you don't have/can't afford ramps (or as is the case with my wife's car - standard ramps just won't fit), us 2 X 6s and make your own. Figure out how much lift you need (can't even get my head under the wife's car), then nail different length 2 X 6's together to make a ramp that will work.

Save those dessicant packets in a small sealed jar. You can use them when you need to dry something out - for instance if you drop an electrical device in water.

My Dad was a country veterinarian. His small animal treatment room was in the basement of our farm house. He passed away years ago, and after Mom finally passed, I got his operating table out of the basement. I took the cast iron pedestal off the bottom and replaced it with a base from McMaster Carr. The top is all stainless steel. Makes a great liquid and grease proof work bench.

I assisted in a lot of surgeries back in the day, mostly pet neuterings. I remember when Dad didn't give quite enough anesthetic to a big tomcat, and he woke up partway through the procedure. The part where the goods are removed. Ole Tabby was NOT happy.

There is a second hack in the picture - my redneck camp stoves. 4" electrical boxes are perfect to hold Sterno or Coughlin cans.

jhammond

For most of my life, the garage on our lot (when we had a garage) was just for storing vehicles and gardening supplies, and was often a dingy cluttered mess.

When my brother and I chipped in and got our own place, the garage started out like that, with the added complication that it came with a large 'work table' taking up much of the '+1/2 car' space. After I finally decided to disassemble that table into boards and plywood, I got a shelving unit that held all the crap that was on the table, in much less floorspace. A few shelves later and the place started to look almost organized.

It was at this time that I realized that the 'basement workshop' was actually a really bad idea, since sawdust from the table saw or router would get EVERYWHERE down there. So I decided to start shifting my woodworking projects to the garage, since the '2-car' door made ventilation and cleaning simple. the clutter began to build again at this point, and I realized that the idea I had of 'pegboard walls' would not work long term, from the expense of all the pegboard hooks needed, the propensity of the hooks to fall off the wall when getting something (unless using the Pricey Hooks that used screws to hold themselves in trough a second pegboard hole), and the fragility of pegboard, (I found that I couldn't hold all my tie-town strps as compactly as I wanted without the holder tearing out of the 1/4" board).

My current design is using a 'heavy duty slatwall⁽¹⁾' made from 3/4" plywood. Progress is a little slow, as my Jeep Wrangler doesn't really have the 'body' for lugging a few sheets of 4'x8' plywood around⁽²⁾, and the weather is turning too cold for working with power saws in an unheated garage. I'll try to get some photos up this weekend, If I'm not stuck in a Turkey Coma.

Notes:

1. Also known as a 'French Cleat.' I got the inspiration from one of the Woodworking shows that make the PHS schedule on Saturdays.
2. I can tie the plywood down in front by wrapping the strap through the front doorframes, but in the rear, the only good 'tiedown anchors' are the safety chain loops on the 2-inch receiver (too close together to secure anything wider than a 2x12) and the 'vehicle tiedown points' inside the rear wheel wells. (and the THOUGHT of having a tiedown ratchet come loose and foul against the rear axle while moving at even a mere 35mph is enough to trigger Operation Brown Trousers)⁽³⁾.
3. DAMMIT! I just HAD to think of it to type it out, didn't I? Good thing I keep an emergency spare in the car.
   

You can remove the stuck piston from the cylinder on a chainsaw or other two-stroke by filling the cylinder with water, replacing the spark plug and freezing it, as long as the piston is above the ports.

A folded strip of emery cloth set in a steel rod with one end bent and hammered over to contain the cloth, makes a good flap wheel or cylinder hone.

A tail shaft pilot bushing can be removed by finding a wooden dowel slightly under the ID of the bushing and filling the bore with grease, hammer blows will drive the bushing out hydraulically.

An emergency repair of a radiator core can be made with a long bolt or screw a wing nut, two large OD washers and some quick setting epoxy.

Rather than buying an expensive tool for a job, I made a pinion bearing driver out of a piece of black iron pipe and two end caps (looks like a pipe bomb with a really big fuse hole ). I used a bi-metal hole saw to cut an opening in one of the end caps just slightly larger than the pinion shaft such that the slightly rounded end of the cap only contacted the inner race of the bearing. Re-building rear ends is not a fun job but it beats the alternative ($$).