theodoregray

The entire row of actinides is "grabbing and squeezing" tools, except at the end where I have "unsqueezing" tools (spreaders and jacks, which are spreaders to separate things from the earth). Similarly the lanthanides are measuring tools.

> But on the other hand, like, why not solder at 82 (Lead)?

Two reasons: (1) solder largely doesn't contain lead anymore. It's been completely banned from plumbing solder in most countries, and its use in electrical solder is rapidly declining. (2) As you say, I valued different things than you apparently would. Solder in that position would not connect meaningfully with other heat-related tools, which otherwise form a nice column. I did that for copper and copper alone because there are such a large and attractive variety of brass and bronze tools it was just too good of a category to pass up, and because having a skipped beat in the cutting tools seemed like a good idea. (Four sets of ten cutting tools in a row could get monotonous in the book, so each row is broken up a bit, for flow reasons).

> Also I am pretty sure even-sized wrenches (hex in particular) is a reference to 6-member carbon rings, very appropriate.

Oh My God. Believe it or not, the fact that even-sided wrenches are in the carbon space, and that the image prominently features the one wrench I have that looks most like a benzene ring, is completely accidental. I absolutely did not plan it that way. Thank you for pointing out how brilliant even my subconscious mind must be.

> You could fill halogens exclusively with welding processes.

It comes down to page counts. Choosing 118 categories isn't just to arbitrarily make it fit the periodic table, but also to very non-arbitrarily make it fit the page count my publisher aims for in all of my books (this being #6 in the same visual style). Sure, there could have been a few more or a few less, but 118 plus introduction/conclusion is a good fit, and so why not make it exactly fit the table format? Splitting up welding would have required dropping other things, and on balance I made the decision that all welding has to fit on one page.

> I don't think about it in terms of shape, count, or location even.

Here is where we get into fun vs. deep meaning. The iconic shape of the real periodic table is one of the most recognizable shapes in the world. It's like the Nike logo, the atom symbol, an apple with a bite out of it, etc. It's a shape billions of people recognize. When you take that specific shape, and none other, and repurpose it into a classification of something else, it creates the momentary dissonance that is the essence of humor. Periodic Table of Tools is of course not nearly as funny as the classic Periodic Table of Vegetables, but it's way funnier than the Well Organized and Sensible Classification Table of Tools. Fun sells.

I appreciate your appreciation of how hard this is. It is not until you start actually trying to create a real, specific arrangement of actual tools that you see all the subtle issues. Believe me, if you came up with your own periodic table of tools, you too would end up with compromises and inconsistencies that would get you sniped at on hackernews.

No, no, it's one of the most essential of all tools! If I had to recreate civilization, I would start with antibiotics and vise-grip pliers. I mean, what are you going to use if you can't find your wrench, pliers, screwdriver, hammer, or tooth extraction tool?

Judging from this thread it sounds like most people think I'm an idiot, and/or didn't even try to organize the tools.... Perhaps my organizational principles are just too subtle.

What really surprised me, and speaks to the lack of a periodic table tooling configuration community, is that the domain periodictableoftools.com was unclaimed even late last year, well over 20 years into the era when someone surely would have thought of wanting it.

The beautiful thing about art vs. science is that you get to be arbitrary if you like... The main reason there is a separate category for fancy hammers is that I needed a page in the book to rant about how stupid it is to put a titanium head on a hammer. (Every square in the poster represents a 2-page spread in my Tools book.)

Concrete tools are missing because I just don't do a lot of concrete work. Had I finished the book about a year later I might have put some in, because earlier this year I built a new studio that involved pouring a 3600sq ft slab with the help of my concrete foreman friend and his buddies. So messy! I don't like to write about categories of tools I have little or no experience with, so other things crowded out concrete and masonry tools, other than carbide drills and diamond saws (which are fascinating because of the steel/stone hardness ratio that determines which model blade you want, as described in the book).

There's a slide hammer in the book and on the website, just not in the poster. I wanted to include a bit of humor, sorry.

I wanted to include them. Believe me, I wanted to! My publisher felt strongly that I should not stretch the definition of tools into metaphor. Beds are tools: they help you sleep better. There's just too many narrow-definition tools I needed to fit in. Otherwise I would have been more than happy to including a dig about how Jupyter Notebooks are a poor imitation of my Mathematica notebook design.

I put screwdrivers bits at the top of the drivers column specifically because I think that photo is hilarious and I want to make it as prominent as possible. This is why 3D printers were invented.

See my long comment in this thread: I categorically reject the notion that there isn't any order to my arrangement of tools. It's actually quite detailed in how it follows the chemical structure, because your pet peeve is also my pet peeve. I wrote a whole book about the actual periodic table ("The Elements" by me), so it's a subject dear to my heart. Please look more closely.

(Also, I would name gauge blocks over granite flats as fundamental to precision, but in any case, all measuring tools are in the same row because they are related, just as are the lanthanides and actinides.) They are at the bottom because that's where they fit most naturally. My logic they should be the noble gasses, because they don't change anything. But there were too many I wanted to include. It was anodizing having to move them to a larger space.

For what it's worth, I had absolutely nothing to do with the post: I didn't make it or encourage anyone to make it. I just noticed a sharp uptick in sales earlier today. Which I love since I spent a lot of time and money designing the poster and getting it printed. Here's the real buy bait: Please buy my book and poster! You can find the book "Tools" on Amazon, and the poster at theodoregray.com

OK, you've made the first criticism I actually agree with! Bung hole augers do belong with reamers, not with augers. In my defense, they are called bung hole augers, and all the ones I have are antique, so they naturally gravitated to the antique augers category, but I should have known better, and for that I am sorry. Some of them don't even have augers at the front!

The criticism of saws I reject: I split them by material in columns (wood- v.s metal-cutting), and by size vertically (getting heavier/more powerful as you go down a column). Bow saws are under hacksaws kind of out of desperation, but there are at least as many metal-cutting bow saws as wood-cutting. In fact given the popularity of hacksaws, perhaps in modern times that is the more common application of this style of stretched blade.

(a) screwdriver bits come above screwdrivers for one simple reason: the mouth bit holder is hilarious and I wanted to put it at the top of the column. (b) column 2 is things you can hit with a hammer: that's why it has stamps, rivets, and nails. It follows hammers because alkali earth metals are somewhat chemically related to alkali metals (e.g. reactive with water to evolve hydrogen, which makes both columns fun to play with). Nail pullers are at the bottom of hammers instead of the bottom of column 2 because the counts worked better that way.