Using Task Labels

I’m working so many projects simultaneously it is easy to lose track of why I cut a particular piece of stock or what I was going to forge it into.  It is especially a problem when some time elapses between when the work is laid out and when it is actually worked.  Even shorter interruptions can make me lose track of my plan.

I have now pretty well developed the discipline to label work pieces with a presto pen correction marker.  I write labels on the porter bars welded to work pieces I’m going to forge.  I designed a flat bar clip that fits on the edge of tin paint pails and 5 gallon buckets in which I group parts to be forged.  The angled bend in the clip give it a wedge-like capability so it fits the thin wall of the pails and the thicker wall of the plastic or steel buckets.  And I write instructions on the plastic boxes containing elements.

The correction pen markings are easy to erase with lacquer thinner and that what I use in the case of the plastic boxes.  The clip type labels and porter bars can be thrown into the tumbler and erased.

The labeling helps me communicate tasks to Ken when he come to get the coal fire started and looks over the planned work.  We have developed some work vocabulary so if he sees “standard taper” written on a piece he knows exactly what to do without me having to explain anything.