# explain the importance of storing hand tools correctly



## adds (Oct 12, 2008)

hello there
i need some help on my carpentry course i am taking and i need to know why is it important to store handtools correctly?
thanks for the help:thumbup:


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## AtlanticWBConst. (May 12, 2006)

Is this another test, or homework question, that someone needs answered?


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## Nestor_Kelebay (Jun 17, 2008)

adds said:


> hello there
> i need some help on my carpentry course i am taking and i need to know why is it important to store handtools correctly?
> thanks for the help:thumbup:


I think the answers are the obvious ones that would occur to you if you just piled your tools into an empty 45 gallon drum at the end of every day.

To keep them sharp (and therefore safer to use), to keep them readily available for use (so you don't do something dumb by using another tool to do some job it wasn't meant to do) and to keep them from being damaged (and therefore potentially less safe to use).


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## Sammy (Mar 11, 2007)

A clean organized shop with tools in thier place is a safe shop. 

Storing your tools properly makes them easy to find when needed and helps keep them from damage. It keeps you from forcing a found tool to do what the one you cant find should be used for. 

Tools cost money and are an investment. And the dullest tool always makes the nastiest cut when it hits your finger. 

Seriously, sharpen your tools and take care of them by putting them up properly including oiling them down if they arent going to be used for awhile. 

Now I have to go clean my shop... But the Redskins are playing! :whistling2:


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## Nestor_Kelebay (Jun 17, 2008)

Sammy said:


> And the dullest tool always makes the nastiest cut when it hits your finger.


I know a girl who went to the United States to study cooking from some "cordon bleu" in New York. I don't know his name or what the name of the cooking school was.

However, they taught her that a sharp knife is safer than a dull one. The reason why is that as your knife gets duller, you find yourself applying more force to make a cut. And, as you apply more and more force, you lose more and more control over the knife. So, you're more likely to have the knife slip or do something you weren't expecting if you're applying more force, and that's more likely to happen with a dull knife than a sharp one.

And, if you've ever tried to carve wood with a dull knife, you find that you can't carve it worth a crap because the amount of force you have to apply to get the knife to cut is very hard to control. If the knife slips, you end up cutting deep into something else before you know what happened and regain control of the knife.

Obviously, storing tools properly is the first step in keeping them sharp. A chisel won't stay sharp long if you store it by throwing it in a plastic pail with wrenches, pliers, files and screwdrivers.


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