My Brain In A Box

That title makes me wanna fire up some Alice In Chains!  

Keeping my shop notes straight can be a problem. I don't mean my notes, drawings and errata for whatever project is on the bench at the moment. I have a place for all that. I mean all the side notes of things I need access to every so often that are just general shop related. The measurements for mixing new hide glue, different cuts of shellac and damar varnish, the melting temp for beeswax. That kind of stuff 

I used to just keep a notebook/sketchbook in the shop and everything went in there, but once you fill one book, then another, then another, going back to find a specific recipe you check bi-annually is a PITA. I could keep a "saucy-indexer" busy for several years working through my assorted sketchbooks. 

mmmmm......  pie....... :)   To funny to fix.

I'm not sure why I didn't think of it on my own, it seems simple now, but I was spending some time at Tom Latane's blacksmith shop learning to forge nails and he reached into one of the many cabinets of joy around his shop and pulled out an old recipe box. He pulled out a 4x6 index card organized under "Nails" where he'd recorded the measurements of stock he wanted to make different nails of useful sizes. (an 8 penny nail should start as "X" gauge iron and be cut around "X" length before heading) 

It was a forehead slapping moment for me. 

I wasted no time finding a cheap recipe box and some cards to get myself started and the things I've been able to store in there instead of hurting my head trying to remember have been a lifesaver. 

The only regret I have is I am still using the crap plastic box, I've looked around the antique stores for a nice tin one or a wooden one to replace it, but so far no luck. Sometimes I think aesthetics might be too important to me, but it doesn't seem to matter. I've been able to clear all this stuff out of my head and I still have it easy to find. That's a win!

Ratione et Passionis

Oldwolf