# bushing storage



## Scott-n-KY

Here is a method I came up with. Some of you may already have thought of this. I use the snap hooks off of a fish stringer. Works well and you can bend them easily to store bigger bushings. I also have some on 1/4" eye bolts. I number them and hang on hooks.


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## rhahnfl

I like your idea. I really need to get mine out of the little plastic bags and into a system that will keep them together in a nice neat place.


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## R2

Great idea Scott.[]
I'd like to meet mich hedberg, souunds like my kind of company.


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## Randy_

Don Ward rcommends metal shower curtain hooks.


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## pianomanpj

Nice thinking, Scott! Gotta try that!

Arthur, unfortunately, Mitch Hedberg is no longer with us.[V]


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## great12b4ever

I took a piece of 3/4" plywood about 12" x 30" and drove 40 10penny nails into the plywood, spaced about 1.5" apart.  I then clipped the nail heads off, put a full set of bushings on each one and used my label maker to print out the kit type and placed just below each nail.  This was then mounted on the wall right behind and over my lathe, allowing for instant access.  Some of my more common bushings require 2 nails side by side.  The other back-up bushings are stored  in the bags, in one of my miscellaneous pen parts and tools drawers.  Now that I am starting to turn between centers, I am not using the bushings as much as I was.


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## GoodTurns

I hung one of those tilt drawer cabinets with about 30 drawers in it.  They hold bushings in the small boxes (peel the label off of the bag when I get them, stick on front of drawer).  The medium drawers hold stopper mandrels and other mid-size stuff.  The large drawers on the bottom hold sheets of MM.  Everything in easy reach and covered from the dust.


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## GaryMadore

I keep mine in a (fishing) tackle box, along with barrel trimmers, mandrels, pen kits, etc., etc.


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## Randy_

And if you ever tip that tackle box over or drop it, you have a real mess.  There have been a number of folks who have had such accidents.  Tackle boxes are not ideal.

You can use a tackle box; but you must be sure the bushings are left in their little plastic bags or kept in pill bottles or some other container to keep them from getting messed up if you drop or tip over the box.  Just a word to the wise!!  





In Their Memory


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## its_virgil

Like this. They hang on the edge of a shelf just above the lathe. Of course, I've pushed them together for the photo.



Do a good turn daily!
Don




> _Originally posted by Randy__
> 
> Don Ward rcommends metal shower curtain hooks.


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## Aderhammer

I've got an even better suggestion, throw them out and buy a dead center, live center and dial calipers![]


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## Mather323

Great Ideas!  On your shelf, how do you tell which one are for which pen, do have so many!


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## its_virgil

I have a better solution. If you no longer use your bushings then ship them to me. I have no issues with using bushings and a mandrel. Oh, and I do use callipes...on every pen I make. Looks like you've jumped on that "between centers" bandwagon. And hey, that's fine, but those of us who haven't...are we now considered second class penturners? 

do a good turn daily!
Don


> _Originally posted by Aderhammer_
> 
> I've got an even better suggestion, throw them out and buy a dead center, live center and dial calipers![]


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## its_virgil

Look closely and you'll see labels. Each set is labeled and as soon as I finish with a set they go back on their curtain ring.
Do a good turn daily!
Don



> _Originally posted by Mather323_
> 
> Great Ideas!  On your shelf, how do you tell which one are for which pen, do have so many!


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## Aderhammer

> _Originally posted by its_virgil_
> 
> but those of us who haven't...are we now considered second class penturners?


Yar! just for that statement ye been demoted to barnacle scrubber 3rd and a half class!


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## GaryMadore

> _Originally posted by Randy__
> 
> You can use a tackle box; but you must be sure the bushings are left in their little plastic bags or kept in pill bottles... [snip]



Absolutely! I keep mine in the original bags: Not only does this help in case of a spill, but it's how I keep track of which bushings are which.

I like the tackle box because I can keep my bushings, mills, drill bits, etc., etc., all together. Then again, my collection is still quite modest: I'm likely to change my mind about this when I can make (and thus have hardware for) more than 2 kinds of pens! [)]

I LOVE your idea of pill-bottles, though: Mind if I steal it?

Cheers!

Gary


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## Rob

Gary, I use the clear plastic pen display tubes.  They come in two sizes and packs of ten and pretty cheap and I haven't found any bushings, with the exception of the Panache, that won't fit in one or the other.  I label (same sort of labels Don uses) the tubes with the type of bushing and they lay flat in a drawer in a tool box next to my bench.  No muss, no fuss for me, but your mileage may vary.


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## jwoodwright

I <s>stole</s> borrowed Don's shower hook idea. [:0][:I]


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## sbell111

We keep ours in something like this:




The top fits snugly enough that the bushings don't migrate if it's dropped (with the top clicked closed).


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## Splinter

I use 35MM film canisters and use a sharpie to label the lids. But with the advance of digital camera they are a little hard to find now.


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## beck3906

For 35mm film canisters, go by Wal-Mart, CVS Drugs or Walgreens and ask the photo processing place to hold you some.  If they don't have a sack full, they'll usually keep them until you tell them you'll come back by.

Rick


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## Texatdurango

> _Originally posted by its_virgil_
> 
> I have a better solution. If you no longer use your bushings then ship them to me. I have no issues with using bushings and a mandrel. Oh, and I do use callipes...on every pen I make. Looks like you've jumped on that "between centers" bandwagon. And hey, that's fine, but those of us who haven't...are we now considered second class penturners?
> 
> do a good turn daily!
> Don
> 
> 
> 
> _Originally posted by Aderhammer_
> 
> I've got an even better suggestion, throw them out and buy a dead center, live center and dial calipers![]
Click to expand...

One great thing about this forum is that so many are willing to share their ideas, some great, some small, some just down right neat.  To me, Don's shower curtain holders are in the "just down right neat" category!  I started using them last year when I first heard about them and still do.  Now that I mainly use center to center bushings when I turn kit pens I simply hang the bushing bag on the ring right next to the other bushings for a particular kit.

I have a mini fridge on the edge of my work table (cubby hole) and the side was kinda bare so I took care of that wasted space!  The bushings are happy to be stored next to each other and get along just fine so it doesn't have to be an "either or" situation.

A comment made earlier in this thread prompted me to say this... Just a side note to some of you younger turners out there, many of these old guys turn better pens with their mandrels than you ever will with center to center bushings.  It's not always the tool!


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## nava1uni

I picked up a plastic parts box from Home Depot that lets me adjust the little spaces to the size I need. Put a drop of Silicone on the little slats to keep them in place.  Each bin is large enough to hold more then one set of the same kind.  The labels are gently removed of the bag the bushing comes in and attached to the lid above the bin.  Easy to get them out, and when I have dropped the box they all stay in place. I do like the idea of the curtain hooks for other items.


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## MDWine

I have a small plastic box for each of my kit types.
I keep the appropriate bushings in the kit boxes.


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## opfoto

I borrowed the shower ring idea as well.

Now the shower curtain falls down.....

Go figure


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## rccrazybill

That is an excellent idea , must go find some old shower rings and organize my bushings


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## rjwolfe3

I haven't found any of the metal shower curtain rings yet around here so for now, thanks to my wife's suggestion, I am using pill bottles with labels on them.  Quick question, is there anyway of knowing which bushing kits will work with which pen kits?  And do some bushing kits cross over between brands of pen kits?  

Sorry to hijack this thread, but this crossed my mind while posting, lol.


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## TellicoTurning

I use the pen organizer box that CSUSA sells.. This picture is from the catalog.. not mine.. I have the boxes set up with the little dividers and each bushing set labled.. 

And having hear all the horror stories about dropping and mixing the bushings... I am very very very VERY careful handling the box so I don't EVER have that disaster.. I make sure it sits solidly on my work bench, open it carefully and take out only one set of bushing at a time... after I use them, I make sure to put them back..


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## desertyellow

Thanks for expanding my horizons
and answering one of life's persistent questions; 
"how to keep track of all those little trappings?"

Tony ,
Las vegas


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## arioux

> _Originally posted by ozmandus_
> 
> I use the pen organizer box that CSUSA sells.. This picture is from the catalog.. not mine.. I have the boxes set up with the little dividers and each bushing set labled..
> 
> And having hear all the horror stories about dropping and mixing the bushings... I am very very very VERY careful handling the box so I don't EVER have that disaster.. I make sure it sits solidly on my work bench, open it carefully and take out only one set of bushing at a time... after I use them, I make sure to put them back..



That's what i use to do until the cat jumb on the bench, on the open cover, tipping the box like  catapult, throwing the bushing all over the shop floor.  I'm still finding bushing part after a year !!!

Alfred


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## Buzz

I use those plastic parts boxes for all of my Slimline and Streamline parts, of which I make a lot, but bushings are stored separately.  I simply leave them in a plastic bag labeled with the kit to which they apply, and have two drawers in a cheap plastic storage unit reserved for them.  One for CSUSA bushings and one for the Berea ones.


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## intillzah

My wife is on a lot of meds (don't ask) so I have plenty of old medicine bottles to use for bushing storage and other small parts too...


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## sbell111

I bought a couple of these boxes from HF.  It is a clear plastic storage box (9"x6") that holds 24 little clear plastic boxes.

They work great.  I use a sharpie to write the name of the pens that the bushings are for on the little boxes so I can spot it before cracking open the larger box.


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## redfishsc

great12b4ever said:


> I took a piece of 3/4" plywood about 12" x 30" and drove 40 10penny nails into the plywood, spaced about 1.5" apart.  I then clipped the nail heads off, put a full set of bushings on each one and used my label maker to print out the kit type and placed just below each nail.  This was then mounted on the wall right behind and over my lathe, allowing for instant access.  Some of my more common bushings require 2 nails side by side.  The other back-up bushings are stored  in the bags, in one of my miscellaneous pen parts and tools drawers.  Now that I am starting to turn between centers, I am not using the bushings as much as I was.




I think I learned this trick from you a month or two ago. I did exactly the same thing and it works great!!! I LOVE IT. Saves me so much time and hassle. (BTW I cheated and used a framing nail gun to shoot them in).


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## great12b4ever

Glad you liked that idea.  It works for me.


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## navycop

sbell111 said:


> I bought a couple of these boxes from HF. It is a clear plastic storage box (9"x6") that holds 24 little clear plastic boxes.
> 
> They work great. I use a sharpie to write the name of the pens that the bushings are for on the little boxes so I can spot it before cracking open the larger box.


 What names are you writing on the box? Are you just writing a generic name (ie jr gents, slimline, eruo,  etc) or is more involved than that?


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## nava1uni

Since the last time I posted I have gone to using Don's shower curtain hooks idea.  It works well and I have built a dowel holder that they all hang on when not in use.


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## patsikes

I use the same HF boxes that Steve uses above.  Works out quite well...


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## Lenny

its_virgil said:


> Like this. They hang on the edge of a shelf just above the lathe. Of course, I've pushed them together for the photo.
> 
> 
> 
> Do a good turn daily!
> Don
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _Originally posted by Randy__
> 
> Don Ward rcommends metal shower curtain hooks.
Click to expand...

 
I thought this was a GREAT idea! Not too surprising coming from Don. 

Unfortunately my wife came home and told me I had to take them down and put the shower curtain back up!  :frown:


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## rkimery

Cool ideas guys!


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## jaeger

I came across a metal, machinist toolbox at a yard sale. The lady really wanted  me to buy it. I didn't need it at the time but with all the drawers, I have plenty of room for the bushings in the labeled bags. I have a lot of other misc pen tools and parts in this box and one of the spare mandrels holds my most common bushings.
I just stacked it on top of my other 2 level toolbox and it's the perfect size and so handy!

My machinist toolbox is like this link, scroll down....

http://cgi.ebay.com/KENNEDY-LOCKABL...941?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cb52fbefd


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## ctubbs

Lenny said:


> its_virgil said:
> 
> 
> 
> Like this. They hang on the edge of a shelf just above the lathe. Of course, I've pushed them together for the photo.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do a good turn daily!
> Don
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _Originally posted by Randy__
> 
> Don Ward rcommends metal shower curtain hooks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I thought this was a GREAT idea! Not too surprising coming from Don.
> 
> Unfortunately my wife came home and told me I had to take them down and put the shower curtain back up!  :frown:
Click to expand...


Ain't that the truth!  About the time we get something all figured out, along comes the wife and just blows it right out of the water!  Dog Durn It!:tongue::biggrin:
Charles


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