Gye Greene's Thoughts: Tidier and better

For the past twenty or so years, I kept all of my soldering gear in a shoebox. When I soldered things -- which isn't often -- but I do -- I had to rummage around to find the things I needed.

So, about a year ago I dumped all of my soldering gear into a spare toolbox -- black, with green latches. (I kind of collect toolboxes: I like toolboxes; and when I need a tool box, I can choose among a range of sizes.) That was a bit better -- but things were crammed in based on where they physically fit, rather than being arranged by task.

So, this last weekend when I was working on the electronics on my P-90 guitar mod, I decided to tidy up. And after I packed up for the night -- I did!

First toolbox, top tray: spare wire, wire cutters, and wire strippers.

First toolbox, bottom tray: various shrink-tubing (for insulating exposed joins), and the heat gun to make the shrink-tubing contract.

Second toolbox, closed. It was marketed as an artist's box for paints -- but I just think of it as a nice little wooden toolbox.

Second toolbox, top tray: actual soldering gear, including the piece of ceramic tile (the carrot; originally a hot plate for casserole dishes) for soldering on, the soldering iron itself (hidden under the carrot), the holder for the **hot** soldering iron, and the grey rag (to the left of the carrot; when it's wet, I use it instead of a damp sponge for wiping the tip of the soldering iron).

Second toolbox, bottom: many different colors of electrical tape (most of them are green, of course), a roll of solder, and three alligator clip "holding devices" (not very clear in the picture).

Here's a better shot of two of the "holding devices". The one with the black-painted metal base is better, because it's heavier (I've circled the electronic switch that it's holding). The purple disk with the single alligator clip isn't as good, because it's not as stable as the metal-base one -- but it's nice to have as a spare.