"Messy" Vs. "Organized" shop

[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?

[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!

[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! 

[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.

[WDH]

I am still looking for a child or two. 

[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.

  

[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".

[Old Greenhorn]

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 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.  

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.




 


 


 


 


 


 


 
 

[doc henderson]

looks pretty good to me!

[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 

[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.

[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?

 


Clean shops are very suspect in my book  :D.

Yep, clean shop sick mind!

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.

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!

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.

[sprucebunny]

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 !! ) 

[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. 

[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



   

[Lud]

When I need a tool,. I go to the last place I used it! 8)

[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!

[Dan_Shade]

I second the comment on the windows. 

What kind of joinery is used?   Do you have dedicated shaper bits for the window construction? Do you use sash weights? 

[Old Greenhorn]

Very Nice windows Don, I wish I had half those skills.
 OK, I need to confess. I wrote what I wrote in reply #8 above but when I walked through the shop at the end of the day yesterday, I realized I might have been a bit of a hypocrite. I looked at my shop through slightly different eyes than the ones I had in reply #8 and rather than focus on how far it has come in the last 4 years, I looked at what a new comer would see when they walked in and realized, I have a ways to go yet. You guys made me search my soul and I came up wanting. ;D
 True confession time, The (downstairs) bench:


 

Now you may look at that and say 'that's not bad, easy cleanup in 10 minutes' but I look at it and ask myself "why do you have that pristine white tool board on the wall over the bench and not a SINGLE tool is hanging on it?" Gotta get that going.

The main bay looking East:


 
That is my lawn display trailer. I had the 'great idea' to rig it up so I could park it on the front lawn on the weekends and maybe grab a few small sales. At night it goes back in the shop. I did manage to draw in a single customer for a small purchase, but nothing else. Soon after I took this photo I made storage for the left over stock and hung it in the rafters. Today I will put the other stuff away and get the trailer out of there. Tired of stepping around it.

 The central clutter zone:


 
This is my problem area, machines I have not assembled or cannot find buyers for. Some winter day I will take a machine at a time and deal with it. Right now it is as tight as I can pack it. Believe it or not, there is a drill press, a horizontal mill, a metal shaper, anvil, apron brake, sheet metal bead roller, a chink of 304SS 36" diameter x 1.25 thick, and some other stuff stacked in that little space. (That vanity is the wife's 'restoration project that I have been moving around for 3 years now, she is gonna start it 'any day now')

The machine room:


 

This is my 'back room'. I removed the front wall and a dividing wall from it about 3 years ago and moved my Bridgeport and big lathe in there along with the main compressor. I can walk in and out and it is relatively neat, but I have yet to run the wires and hook up the phase converter to get them running. Waiting for winter on that too.

 Main bay, looking SW:


 

General clutter is the feeling I get here. All of the upstairs lofts (except the original 12x12 area in the far corner of this photo) have been added in the last 4 years. Upstairs is all wood working and some storage. No photos of that. I think I have confessed enough. Nobody is perfect, I have some work to do yet. I just wanted to keep it honest.

[Don P]

I know the feeling OGH. My shop is in the barn cause my "shop" is full of wood and storage of stuff. I thought I was making headway, some stacks of oak were heading for the kiln and out... but, it now appears I'm the proud co-owner of a community gristmill that needs to get out of the weather  :D. We'll rehab it and build a building at the farm museum, uh yeah, winter project.

When they called wanting the old farmhouse resided, well, it needs new windows, there are at least 4 different styles in it now from several lifetimes of hardscrabble and most, if not all, are pretty shot. They don't heat the building or need performance out of them just something visually close to original. I leaped before looking and bought a set of shaper cutters then realized I couldn't do through tenons with them so looked a little more and found a set of matched router bits that allowed that. I've built several nice shops in the area that stay clean. For projects like this I could just make a call but am trying to lay low in this strange time. The pattern bit is in the router table on the porch of the barn and the cope cutter is in a temporary router table, that piece of ply screwed to the bench behind the window frame. It isn't ideal and they aren't factory quality but they'll work ok. I looked into balances etc, these were old sash weighted windows originally but decided to just use sash springs, which, look them up, they make great hold ins for jigs and are about $4 a pair. I'll move that window over to my partner's shop today for final sand and paint.

I'm about out of places to drive nails and hang stuff, I haven't shot a pic of the ceiling joists, a lifetime of construction sort of makes it a hardware store in there  :D

Edit: An OT aside, back in the day windows were the master carpenter's job. He would grab one of the boys with potential and they would hand make the windows between other duties as the house was being built, wooden pattern planes, chisels, etc. It was an old man's fussy job that didn't require humping timbers to the second floor and also broke in the kid. I've had those thoughts when doing those jobs, I've gotten there more by attrition than anything else. The trouble nowadays is with the small parts and machinery, stuff like this would eat a kid, progress :-\

[Old Greenhorn]

Yeah, I get it Don, oh boy, do I get it. I held back a little and didn't show or discuss my other 'overflow' places. I have a 12x20 shed that I had set up nice, put a power panel in it, ran wall outlets and good lights, 2 very nice work benches (one has a soapstone top), loft storage, etc. Lots of tools in there too and another (my best) drill press, 5" belt and disk sander, bench grinder (also my best) and the whole thing is turning into storage and is a total mess. I even installed a steel overhead beam with a hand cable hoist to work on the garden tractors.
 I also have a 12 x 24 Rhino shelter on a raised crushed stone pad out in 'the swamp'. It looks like a Quonset hut. After I put down the stone, I laid plastic then put salvaged T&G pine down in 2 layers for a 'floor'. This is my dry cold storage where the tractors and other stuff go in the off seasons and the snow blowers come out. It is collecting a lot of engine  and machine parts and stuff that is in 'pre-scrap' condition. I need to do another pass through it (next summer).
 The more I think about this, the more I feel like a slob. :D
 Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. (That ain't me.)

[Crusarius]

What you guys all have (and me) is a disorder I like to call FSD! Flat Space Disorder. 

Flat spaces are required to have shtuff piled on top of them until it is precariously balanced, child losing, avalanche risk. Flat spaces are evil and need to be dealt with by covering them with good tools and projects. Flat spaces are not just benches. the floors are involved in that as well.

Remember, flat spaces are evil, and must be dealt with!!!

This has been a public service announcement. Thank you, please drive through

[btulloh]

Hi.  My name is Bob and I'm and FSD-aholic.  It's been 11 seconds since my last FSD experience.  I am not in recovery and don't expect to be.  I have to leave the meeting now, as there are a couple one or two small flat spaces I need to cover with objects.

=======
FSD - yes.  I thought maybe I was the only one.  At least I know now there are others like me.  Perhaps we need to start a thread like the weight-loss thread for mutual support.  

Nah . . . some things will never change.   

[Old Greenhorn]

Hi.  My name is Bob and I'm and FSD-aholic.  

Hi Bob!

[petefrom bearswamp]

I am partially OC so my shop is relatively organized and clean  
I try to sweep and otherwise clean up once a week, but as I have aged it gets neglected.
If I dont put a tool back in its place, it often disappears for a couple of weeks until I stumble on it when looking for other stuff.
Flat surfaces accumulate crap as seems to be common this thread.

[doc henderson]

 Hi Bob  @Old Greenhorn  lets see how it looks in 15 years.  It looks great now.  After both my parents are gone, and in-laws with various divorces and moves.  we had space and became the family storage facility.  It is hard to motivate to jump into stuff that is not even yours.  I am task oriented, and often am squeezing in a coat of finish, or cutting a part, after a long day at work.  I used to say I need more space.  I think I am saying thank God I do not have any more.  My shop has a 34 x 34 area for garage and greasy stuff, welding. car parts ect.  I have a 34 x 50 foot area that is the wood shop.  with the same size basement under it. compressor boiler ad lots of wood and mechanical stuff in the basement.  two car trailers of stuff from my parents home in a corner of the basement.  lots of room, but much is spread out and needs attention.  maybe this will motivate me.  need before and after pics.   :D :D :D

[doc henderson]

I think my son and I could finish sheet rocking the garage except the 4 x 12 stack of sheetrock has to be cleaned off first.

[Roxie]

FSD will need to be added to our forum dictionary.    :D :D

[customsawyer]

Mine may not count since this post is in the general wood working. My shop is full of saw blades and sharpening equipment. There is normally a path from the door to the kiln controller and another from there to the back door so I can check inside the kiln with out walking around the building.

 

This isn't a recent picture as it is much worse now. As I have gained another 1000 blades or so and there doesn't seem to be no end in site.  

[doc henderson]

looking through the avatars to see who is wearing a white shirt with a thin black tie, and athletic framed black glasses.   8)  and the pocket protector and scientific calculator.

[Crusarius]

FSD will need to be added to our forum dictionary.    :D :D

Woohooo!!! Will I be famous?

[21incher]

Messy when I  was young and had extra  time to constantly search for tools plus I  didn't  get hurt  tripping  or slipping on stuff and falling  down. Cleaner now that I  am older,  tired of wasting  time hunting for tools and slipping or tripping on sawdust or cutoffs can send me to the er.😉.

[Ed_K]

 Wait a couple of yrs ;D, I'm constantly looking for tools an such that I just put down :(.

[JRHill]

I am still absolutely insulted with this subject. Yeah, it truly is a guilty conscience.

[YellowHammer]

looking through the avatars to see who is wearing a white shirt with a thin black tie, and athletic framed black glasses.   8)  and the pocket protector and scientific calculator.

Somebody's wife works for NASA and has equipment in space that was assembled in a true clean room.  So the workshop looks almost the same except for the people wearing bunny suits.  

[Old Greenhorn]

I am still absolutely insulted with this subject. Yeah, it truly is a guilty conscience.

It's just a question of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it don't matter. :D

[gspren]

  Does anyone else have too many buildings, not too much space, just too many separate buildings? I don't do any fancy woodwork but in my barn I do have a radial arm saw and drill press that are stationary but also 100 ft away in my first pole building I keep most of my power hand tools and mechanic tools but 200 yards away in my newer pole building where I keep the RV and lawn mower I sometimes need the disc grinder or some wrenches and things seem to be where I used them last which isn't where I need them now and I don't always remember where I used them last.  

[WDH]

My sawmill operation is 3/4 mile from my house and workshop so I ended up with two of a lot of things.  One for here and one for there. 

[DR Buck]

 Does anyone else have too many buildings, not too much space, just too many separate buildings? I don't do any fancy woodwork but in my barn I do have a radial arm saw and drill press that are stationary but also 100 ft away in my first pole building I keep most of my power hand tools and mechanic tools but 200 yards away in my newer pole building where I keep the RV and lawn mower I sometimes need the disc grinder or some wrenches and things seem to be where I used them last which isn't where I need them now and I don't always remember where I used them last.  

When we had our farm I had 3 different shops.   Never could find what I was looking for and had 3 of many tools.
Now in retirement I have one location and still can't find anything.    I also still have all of the 3 of tools but will be thinning those out in the near future. 
 

[Ljohnsaw]

My sawmill operation is 3/4 mile from my house and workshop so I ended up with two of a lot of things.  One for here and one for there.

My cabin project is 60 miles from home.  I was getting tired of hauling my toolbox back and forth so I've started building up a second tool box.  At home, my shop is below the house (see above) so I tend to work up in the driveway where there is room.  Sooo, need another set of tools so I can stop going back and forth.  Working on a 3rd set...

[Banjo picker]

No doubt, I'm in the Messy, but I know where everything is.  You let my wife organize an area, and I spend the rest of my time looking for where something is.  Maybe if I can get the other building put up I can go to the organized side....probably not.  I'll just get more stuff.  Tim

[Stephen1]

 Does anyone else have too many buildings, not too much space, just too many separate buildings? I don't do any fancy woodwork but in my barn I do have a radial arm saw and drill press that are stationary but also 100 ft away in my first pole building I keep most of my power hand tools and mechanic tools but 200 yards away in my newer pole building where I keep the RV and lawn mower I sometimes need the disc grinder or some wrenches and things seem to be where I used them last which isn't where I need them now and I don't always remember where I used them last.  

Think of the exercise you are getting.
Where my cabin, and soon to be new home, everything is in a different shed on 2 pieces of property, my son calls this the The Land of Walking, because everytime you want to do something you have to walk to a different shed to find it, maybe.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Mine is kind of like the old saying "If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind what is an empty desk a sign of?"

[sawguy21]

I no longer have a shop DanG it but it was a challenge when I did. I tried to keep it reasonably neat, I really did, but 'projects' kept showing up. "You have a shop and tools! Cool!! I have a whatzit that don't run" and floor space vanished. Or I would find something at a yard sale or auction, chainsaws were the worst addiction. When I packed it up for the movee I found 6 tape measures, an assortment of screwdrivers and ignition wrenches and a partridge in a pear tree.

[YellowHammer]

  Mine is kind of like the old saying "If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind what is an empty desk a sign of?"

An empty desk, or mind, is organized.  As long as the drawers are full, it's all good.   :D

[Ljohnsaw]

I have been working on putting things were they belong as soon as I'm done with a tool or material.  A tough habit to form!  My biggest problem is I keep collecting tools and stuff.  I "upgraded" my old Craftsman 8" saw to a 10" a short while back.  The biggest benefit was the old Powermatic table I was gifted was the same depth as the "new" saw table.  Butted up to one wing extension and the main table, I have about a 4 foot wide top.  But the fence could only be locked in position to give a maximum width cut of about 19 inches to the right of the blade.  Kind of a pain to cut plywood panels.  My latest vice of bidding on stuff on BidRL paid off.  I got a Delta 36 T30 fence for 1/4 the Amazon price.  I installed it this afternoon (not made to fit my setup!) and I'm pretty happy with it so far.  I now have 41.5" between the blade and the fence!

You can see some of my messy shop in the background.


 

The whole system is supposed to be a bit farther to the left so the scale is useless at this point.  I need to buy a new set of stick on scales.  The little outfeed table has two rollers on it and it folds up and stores hanging from the ceiling.  I now need to make another for the extended width I can cut now.


The fence has this flip over thing that is supposed to make it easier and safer to rip smaller items.  I don't see how that is supposed to be any better.  Can anyone comment?

 

[aigheadish]

While the shop isn't big enough to lose a kid in (not to mention my kids are noisy!) and it being a work in progress it's still a mess, but I'm trying to get better with it. My first real project in the shop had cords and dust collection hoses running all over, with a cord that was stretched about a foot and a half in the air. Well, I hopped over it a bunch of times, successfully, then one time, last weekend, I tripped over it and fractured (barely) my kneecap as it slammed into the concrete floor. My wife was out straightening up within about 10 minutes. 



 

My shop space, prior to building this new one, was about 8 feet wide and 10 feet long before, so it was a lot of moving this to get to that and stayed very cluttered and messy. The picture below was mid-move into the new shop.



 

I've since acquired some shelving and reorganized things a couple times (all within the past month!), it's getting better and I'm getting more disciplined to put things away. I find it much easier on my soul to look at the place where the thing should be and it's there, than to dig through all kinds of junk to maybe find something. 

I will say that so far I do a pretty fair job of vacuuming sawdust. 

[Tom King]

 Does anyone else have too many buildings, not too much space, just too many separate buildings? I don't do any fancy woodwork but in my barn I do have a radial arm saw and drill press that are stationary but also 100 ft away in my first pole building I keep most of my power hand tools and mechanic tools but 200 yards away in my newer pole building where I keep the RV and lawn mower I sometimes need the disc grinder or some wrenches and things seem to be where I used them last which isn't where I need them now and I don't always remember where I used them last.  

Raises hand.

[btulloh]

Count me in for too many buildings. And then some. Spend a lot of time going back and forth to get stuff even though I've tried to set them up with their own tools. Just can't duplicate everything. Gonna consolidate with new big multi purpose building in a year or so. 

[51cub]

When I moved I lost a 24 x 24 garage, an attic, and a cellar. Now all of that is in a shipping container and an old deer camp. I have to keep collecting because my hobbies are all about things they don't make anymore, so if I don't get something, the odds get even higher against ever finding one. I don't lose kids, but only because I issue tool checks, just like in the coal mine. When you go in, hang a check on the board, and pick it up again on your way out

[51cub]

Woohooo!!! Will I be famous?

Cmon, you know the deal. A years supply of Cfarm brand grits

[doc henderson]

The fence has this flip over thing that is supposed to make it easier and safer to rip smaller items.  I don't see how that is supposed to be any better.  Can anyone comment?

Yes, you now have room for your hand and fingers between the fence and the blade.  I have a 2 position fence. one tall, and one about 1/4 inch.  i use the short one for most everything. and for sure for narrow cuts on thin pieces.  your hand (or push stick) has room on top of the flip over piece to push the work piece.  be safe! 

[aigheadish]

Thanks doc, I was wondering too! 

[dougtrr2]

Doc,
I bought a Unisaw with the Unifence back in the late 80's.  The Unifence sounds like the fence you described.  I rarely flipped it to use the low portion.  But your post gave me one of those forehead slapping "Doh" revelations.  I will definitely be flipping my fence more often now.  

Doug in SW IA

[terrifictimbersllc]

Somebody's got a picture of the low fence?

[doc henderson]

 

 

not the best pic, but I am at work.  you see a ink pen in the top.  groove and that is how it would fasten to the base to have the tall side up.  the tall side is flat against the table saw.  the short side is against the wood, that is being cut and is 3/4 inch thick.  there is lots of room to the right of the wood.  it allow my push stick to move to the right, and not be trapped between a tall fence and the blade.  I will post better pics later.  this one was in my gallary.

[doc henderson]

it is a unifence, and there are blade tooth marks on the tall side when a "friend" slid it into the moving blade making an adjustment.  



 

 

couple more pics I found, it is always in the low fence position, unless needed to be taller.  You can see the blade set to cut 3/4 stock into 1/4 inch strips.  chewed up a wood push stick.  had to cut a new bottom on it.  all my fingers are intact.



 

the 1/4 inch thick dividers in the front and sides.  Helping my barber Frank make jewelry boxes 

[Lostinmn]

Albert Einstein said "If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?"

Same goes for shops? :D

[Texas Ranger]

Doc Henderson, I could walk into your shop and think I was home, except for the stair way.  I save a lot of useless wood for "future projects" that probably should go in the Franklyn.

[doc henderson]

they can always go in the stove later, but cannot use them if they are burned up.  I tell folks, if Einstein was a genius and had a messy desk, than at least I am pretty smart!