Behold the Humble Clothespin Redux

Some time last year I wrote an honorific on behalf of the clothespin, an integral tool in my workshop.

I’ve overlooked another vital function of this remarkable tool — if you get better-quality pins, as I do, they can be used as wonderful little shimming wedges for leveling something as heavy as a work bench or as a clamping wedge for something as delicate as carved tortoiseshell.  I recently moved my workbench a foot or so and it wobbled just the slightest bit.  I probably could have worked with it, but alas a wobbly workbench is one of my craziness-inducing hot buttons.  So I just grabbed a maple clothespin, took one half as the quick and high-performing wedge shim, and tossed the other half back into the container with its mates for the next time I need another tapered shim.