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"Messy" Vs. "Organized" shop

Started by Dan_Shade, August 15, 2020, 09:43:29 PM

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Dan_Shade

What is the general condition of your shop?

I have a bit of an "unorthodox" organizational system, and find unencumbered flat surfaces to be offensive.  My shop is like a huge Jenga Game.

My wife says that mine is exceptionally bad, but I say it's pretty normal.

where do the rest of you guys rate on the scale?
Woodmizer LT40HDG25 / Stihl 066 alaskan
lots of dull bands and chains

There's a fine line between turning firewood into beautiful things and beautiful things into firewood.

Ljohnsaw

Until recently, my 24x48 bench with metal vise and my 36x108 bench with wood vise had a good foot to 18" of shtuff piled on them.  I got rid of the little bench and cleared the other about 2 month back.  There is a small assortment back on it that would take a day to find homes for them.  I have all my tools on wheels as floor space is sparse.  Really have too many tools, if I dare say that.  I just can't part with any!
John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

Don P

Impeccable
This was on a particularly clean day  :D


 
As I killed the lights this evening there are parts for 18 double hung windows in progress in that little area with tools, temporary router tables, jigs and glueups going on everywhere. My wife came in yesterday I had to apologize for my fast blast "STOP!, back out, don't touch anything"

Clean shops are very suspect in my book  :D.

Dan_Shade

My wife said that your shop is clean! 
Woodmizer LT40HDG25 / Stihl 066 alaskan
lots of dull bands and chains

There's a fine line between turning firewood into beautiful things and beautiful things into firewood.

sprucebunny

It's a wreck. It wasn't All that bad until I had to move out of another house.
Everything is on wheels to make finding the small children easier. I get old/odd cabinets at the dump and screw them to dollies.

Then last winter I tried some "Move your stuff, change your life " scheme. Spent weeks condensing so I didn't have the same stuff in 3 places. And it looked better. But a month after that, it was even harder to find stuff cause it was only one place instead of 3.

There is Still no bench-top space though I have lots of bench area. There are just some things that I don't know where they "belong" so they end up anywhere and some things I use lots so I leave them lying around.
MS193, MS192 and an 026  Weeding and Thinning. Gilbert Champion sawmill

WDH

I am still looking for a child or two. 
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

YellowHammer

I clean our buildings and shops every week with a leaf blower.  If something isn't put away, it gets blown out the door never to be seen again, or either thrown away or put away.

  

YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

doc henderson

My friends are amazed.  it is rare that I cannot find what I need as this is a one man shop.  I could start and do new projects easier if it were cleaner.   still finishing the shop as I do projects for others.  I have a place for things like tape measures.  I have about 10 and they get put back eventually, but I have a row of them for when I need one, and do not see one close at hand.  maybe I will clean it soon.  Yes flat surfaces all become places to store stuff "temporarily".
Timber king 2000, 277c track loader, PJ 32 foot gooseneck, 1976 F700 state dump truck, JD 850 tractor.  2007 Chevy 3500HD dually, home built log splitter 18 horse 28 gpm with 5 inch cylinder and 32 inch split range with conveyor powered by a 12 volt tarp motor

Old Greenhorn

Quote from: YellowHammer on August 16, 2020, 07:59:26 AM
I clean our buildings and shops every week with a leaf blower.  If something isn't put away, it gets blown out the door never to be seen again, or either thrown away or put away.

 
Man I can't quite go that far, but I wish I could and I have, once or twice taken a leaf blower to it. I have been working toward cleaning up the shop for 4 or 5 years now, getting rid of excess equipment that will never be used, selling some, finding the right homes for others, junking some. Keeping the bench clean is tough, but I need a working space, so when it gets bad I just stop and get it cleaned up. I have found creating places to hang and store stuff makes life easier and faster to get things done. Being able to grab the right tool without a search is priceless, so putting it away also becomes easier. I do generate a mess, but I try not to let it go too far and when a major project is done I take the time I need to put it back in shape.
 Yesterday I went to a buddy's shop to help him look for as stake pointer he was going to let me try. (I should have known something was up when he said "sure, you can use it, come on down and help me find it".) When I got there he was helping a gal out with a new tire replacement, so he said go in the shop, it's got to be somewhere on the back bench along the wall. I wish I had taken a photo/ the bench was 4'x30' and I could not even get up to it for all the stuff on the floor in front of it, had to make a path or two. The bench was piled high with chainsaw parts, skidder parts, bearings old and new, exhaust pipes, tools, you name it.  When he came in to lend me a hand he was getting hotter and hotter the more we looked. Apparently he lets a friend work on his machines in there and the guy is a slob. I think he is just about ready to throw him out. We never did find that pointer. I could never work like that. I get it that tools and parts are left laying all over when the project is in work, but when it's finished, it needs to be cleaned up.
Tom Lindtveit, Woodsman Forest Products
Oscar 328 Band Mill, Husky 350, 450, 562, & 372 (Clone), Mule 3010, and too many hand tools. :) Retired and trying to make a living to stay that way. NYLT Certified.
OK, maybe I'm the woodcutter now.
I work with wood, There is a rumor I might be a woodworker.

Tom King

My shop buildings have doors on opposite ends, for more than one reason.  One reason is that when the wind is blowing strong, in the right direction, it's cleaning day.  Both a leaf blower, and 4' wand on an air hose do most of the work.

I do so many different things, and have so many tools, that if I wasn't organized, it would take most of the time just getting stuff together.

I have, at last count, over 140 waterproof toolboxes, in individual cubbies so they can be drug out without unstacking.  

All parts that go together, imagine Dremel, jigsaw, 4-1/2" angle grinder, etc., etc., with everything in the box that you need right there together.  The heavy ones are on the bottom row, like "Pulling", "Stonework 1", 2 and so on, and have wheels and pull out handles so they can just be rolled right out.

I wouldn't be worth what I charge, if I had to spend half the time looking for stuff.

RussMaGuss

I have 2 main surfaces for tools, etc during projects: the top of my 6' wide tool chest and my table saw/outfeed table which is 6'x8'. Clean up the shop when you have an hour free. sweep/hit it with a leaf blower once a week. Now, pencils and tape measures---I have about 100 mechanical pencils floating around the shop, so no matter where you are, there's probably one within an arm's reach. Same principal for tapes, but not as many. I try to keep it "mostly" clean. If my outfeed table only has a few tools on it, I'm doing a good job lol

DR_Buck

I have seen Dan's shop.  :o

But I am probably as guilty as him with organization.  As best I know, there are no lost children in my shop.   However, when ever I plan on doing something in the shop I include "searching" and "finding" time as part of the plan.   I lack both organization and storage space.   Since moving and building the new shop almost everything I do in it has to do with remodeling the house and not organizing the shop.  Every once in a while I will add some sort of storage thingy.   Yesterday I put a nail in the wall to hang my new Festool guide tracks.  ;D

I have three 24"x96"  &  one 34x48" work surfaces that are completely unusable most of the time.    Yesterday I moved stuff off of one of them to make room for assembling craftsman style window casings.   I also swept the open visible floor space clear of sawdust that had accumulated .  Sometime today I need to start cleaning up cut off boards and strips ripped off the edges of the boards I am using.  Its to the point I am having difficulty walking around and becoming unsafe.    

Speaking of cutoffs.   How much is to much for saving pieces of wood?    I find I burn better wood that I use to use for my projects before I got the sawmill and kiln.    That said, I still keep and have way to much wood cluttering the shop.  

Here are a few pictures of the current state of my shop.

This first one is my current project.    Craftsman style window and door casings.  These are for the wide opening between interior rooms on the first floor.  Made from various wood as they get painted anyway.



 



The rest of these are various angles of the mess in the shop.




 


 


 


 


 


 


 
 
Been there, done that.   Never got caught [/b]
Retired and not doing much anymore and still not getting caught

doc henderson

Timber king 2000, 277c track loader, PJ 32 foot gooseneck, 1976 F700 state dump truck, JD 850 tractor.  2007 Chevy 3500HD dually, home built log splitter 18 horse 28 gpm with 5 inch cylinder and 32 inch split range with conveyor powered by a 12 volt tarp motor

Bruno of NH

Mine is usually good.
It's way to small .
This year I have cleaned it a bunch only to be a mess in a week 
Lt 40 wide with 38hp gas and command controls , F350 4x4 dump and lot of contracting tools

doc henderson

I do always know where a pencil is.  when i pick up, about 30 of them go in a cup on my desk.  re-sharpen them all as needed.  during a project one goes in my back pocket.  have to be careful if I jump in the truck to get parts.
Timber king 2000, 277c track loader, PJ 32 foot gooseneck, 1976 F700 state dump truck, JD 850 tractor.  2007 Chevy 3500HD dually, home built log splitter 18 horse 28 gpm with 5 inch cylinder and 32 inch split range with conveyor powered by a 12 volt tarp motor

trimguy

 

 On

 MMine is a mess. Part of the reason is it never got "set up" when I built it, stuff just piled in it. I don't like it like this. Have to clean out a spot to do any projects , no where to walk, it gets aggravating. I have to many projects going and when I say I'm going to organize it, i spend to much time trying to figure out how I want it, instead of doing it. Hopefully in the not to distant future.


samandothers

There is a magic flying adjustable wrench in the pic... does it do work at night?

Quote from: Don P on August 15, 2020, 10:14:47 PM


 


Clean shops are very suspect in my book  :D.
Yep, clean shop sick mind!


Quote from: sprucebunny on August 16, 2020, 06:16:52 AMSpent weeks condensing so I didn't have the same stuff in 3 places. And it looked better. But a month after that, it was even harder to find stuff cause it was only one place instead of 3.

I did same and while it looks better and easier to move around I think I'll end up down the road buying something I already have and forgot where I consolidated it too!


Quote from: WDH on August 16, 2020, 07:06:49 AM
I am still looking for a child or two.  
Well, the up side is they will grow and become easier to find!


Dr Buck,
I have similar looking cut off piles all around.  Why is it so hard to let go of cut off pieces, even the small ones?

BTW, I like to look of your trim you are working on!

Trim Guy
Just build a bigger shop!  :D


My shop is in the lose children category.  Table saws have to be cleaned each time they are used.  If there is a flat surface it has something on it.






trimguy

Ok, apparently I don't have this picture thing down as good as I thought. Maybe I just need to post more pictures.


WV Sawmiller

   I think it would just be easier to have another child or two than find the lost children in my shop.

  Actually mine is all open air. I have 2-2X4's nailed to one of the uprights on my pole barn on the outside with about a 2'X3' shelf built on top of them. I did run install an outlet on the back side that I plug in whatever power tool(s) I am using at the time. I have a vise bolted a few inches above it that I use to clamp bench legs on when I am using my tenon cutter on them. I have a RAS on the other end of the shed adjacent to my old hay barn. It is boxed/framed in with level surface son both sides for sawing. I have assorted fasteners in one end and a rack of tools underneath and on the shelf at the end. Right now the area underneath is a disaster area with cut-off pieces that I need to remove or stack neatly somewhere (?) for future use.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

sprucebunny

Quote from: trimguy on August 16, 2020, 10:35:15 AM
Ok, apparently I don't have this picture thing down as good as I thought. Maybe I just need to post more pictures.


I got one of those yellow rolling things and turned it into shelves !!
Made some other storage things out of good wooden desk drawers from the dump ( mahogany !! ) 
MS193, MS192 and an 026  Weeding and Thinning. Gilbert Champion sawmill

Stephen1

Mine is organised enough that I pull my mill in and out when sawing. 
I have a 14 year old that comes every saturday morning from 9-11 to sweep the shop, rake the yard and burn scrap in the burn barrel. I pay him $10 hr. It is the best $20 I spend. He also puts tools away, hangs up blades to be sharpened ( i am slowly teaching him to sharpen blades ;D)
I needed more tape measures this week as I couldn't find any in the truck , so I bought 6 new ones as they were on sale. 
IDRY Vacum Kiln, LT40HDWide, BMS250 sharpener/setter 742b Bobcat, TCM forklift, Sthil 026,038, 461. 1952 TEA Fergusan Tractor

DR_Buck

This thread has inspired me.  8) 8) 8)     


I cleaned my floor ......  :D :D :D       


Well at least I picked up the big chunks.  ;D ;D ;D



   
Been there, done that.   Never got caught [/b]
Retired and not doing much anymore and still not getting caught

Lud

When I need a tool,. I go to the last place I used it! 8)
Simplicity mill, Ford 1957 Golden Jubilee 841 Powermaster, 40x60 bankbarn, left-handed

Don P

I'm jealous of y'all's, every time I make space it ends up full of wood or getting a machine out of the weather.
End of today, at least they're getting closer to heading out


 

JRWoodchuck

Man Don those windows are real nice looking! I'll take a messy shop any day of the week if I could make windows like that!
Home built bandsaw mill still trying find the owners manual!

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