clean shops

logman 219 · January 10, 2014, 08:39:48 AM

have seen post with pictures of wood shops here and other sites. my question is were do you get the elfs, or leprechauns that keep the shops so spotless??? no sawdust to be seen on anything , no wood scraps on floor, nothing on work bench not even a pencil!!! hoe do they do that??? i dont have that many hours in the day!!!

LeeB · January 10, 2014, 09:05:29 AM

Not my shop. It looks like downtown Damascus.

DR Buck · January 10, 2014, 02:30:39 PM

My pictures were taken when the shop was new. :D

Andy White · January 10, 2014, 03:19:17 PM

logman219
My shop is by no means "clean" . The tablesaw infeed and outfeed tables I keep clear for safety reasons, but every flat surface has tools, materials, and all kinds of misc. parts and pieces of the current project that I may be working on at the time. If I would make myself put the corded tools up as I finish with them, it would be much neater. The dust collector remote is always somewhere that I am not! Just little changes of habit would make my shop a lot easier to work in. About once a month, I have a massive "cleanup" and everything gets saved because "I might need that"!! It's a full time battle, but is a battle that I love fighting. Andy

davidlarson · January 10, 2014, 06:43:41 PM

My wife hired (with my approval) a woman whose work is to help people bring some order to the chaos of their house or shop. The woman says she won't work for hoarders, but she took on the project of my shop, which was, I admit, pretty chaotic. Now it is tidy, and I can always quickly find any tool or item I need. This makes me much more efficient, and I can quickly finish most minor jobs that previously were hard to do, or even not possible, because I couldn't find the tool I needed. Unfortunately, now I have in an orderly row on hooks about 12 utility knives, 8 pliers, 5 wire cutters, 10 loppers, etc. because in the past when I couldn't find the wire cutter, or whatever, after a lengthy, fruitless and frustrating search I would buy another. That row of utility knives stares at me critically, and helps to remind me to keep things tidy. Now my shop is in good shape, projects go smoothly, and the shop is almost as comfortable a place as a man cave. I'm very grateful to that woman!
David L.

thecfarm · January 10, 2014, 06:52:20 PM

I bet I have more tape measures than you have utility knives. ;D

davidlarson · January 10, 2014, 07:00:31 PM

You might have, but if you do, you have a bunch. :D

thecfarm · January 10, 2014, 07:05:05 PM

I have a bunch. :D About 10

Phorester · January 10, 2014, 07:58:07 PM

One advantage I've found with my small workshop is that I can turn from my tool storage to my workbench and back with at most two steps if I'm at one end of the woodworking bench. If I'm in the middle, no steps needed. Just turn around, get the tool I need, turn back around to the bench. So I will sometimes grab a tool, use it, then turn around and immediately put it back in its place during the job so I know where it is for the next use. (But that's about the only advantage to my small shop. Otherwise it's difficult to bring in and store lumber, much worse with plywood, not much room around the saws, crowded with another person, etc.)

Also, after several years of just walking away from the clutter of a finished job and not being able to find tools later, I got into the habit of putting everything away and brushing off the bench, vacuuming or sweeping the floor, etc. right when I get done with a job. So everything is neat, in place, and ready for the next job. Can't believe I started doing that, I'm not usually that organized. (You should see my desk at work). Pretty satisfying though.

red oaks lumber · January 10, 2014, 08:01:03 PM

a clean shop is a safe shop, espesially if you have employees.

WDH · January 10, 2014, 08:23:42 PM

You can never have enough tape measures

.

Brad_bb · January 10, 2014, 09:19:45 PM

I try to keep mine picked up, but there's always something out. I try to do one full, complete cleaning per year of the whole shop. Most stuff in my shop is on wheels and I have a bunch of movers 4 wheel carpeted dollies on hand to move stuff. I'll move everything outside one summer or spring day, blow it all off with air hose, do the same inside, sweep, and clean as needed.

thecfarm · January 10, 2014, 09:27:06 PM

I use to work in a factory. The machines would get behind that was doing the cutting and there would be a bunch of work on the floor. I always kept it neat and organized so the guys running the machines knew how much work they had with just a glance, I would also organized the racks for the cutting fixtures. A,B,C,1,2,3,would be kept that way. Left on the left and rights on the rights. very easy to find what a person wanted. I had many guys say your garage must look perfect. I would say,it's a mess. No one pays me to keep it clean. ;D

isawlogs · January 10, 2014, 10:20:08 PM

I saw those clean shops also, sure aint my case. I have at times four different projects laying around in different stage of finish and then I may start another just to mess things up further. I have a wood furnace heating the shop, it gets well fead when clean up time comes around.
I have as many tapes as you guys and I have to look hard to find two... Pencils are worst, I buy them by the dozen and yet they run away on me. :-\

WDH · January 10, 2014, 10:23:10 PM

Pencil? if you reach up, you will find one behind your ear (Avatar Pic :D).

thecfarm · January 10, 2014, 10:24:55 PM

That picture always reminds me of my Father when he was building our house.

isawlogs · January 10, 2014, 10:27:28 PM

Ray, I really hope that that (Tom) is a good memory. If so I am honored.

Danny , that there pencil is so far away now... many , many have been sharpened and have gone to pencil land.

thecfarm · January 10, 2014, 10:30:25 PM

isawlogs,yes it is.

very happy. I was probably close by sleeping. The sound of the skil saw and the hammer would put me to sleep. I was not even a year old when the house was going up.

chet · January 10, 2014, 10:39:57 PM

I try to keep mine cleaned up between projects. I guess I'm just an orderly kinda guy. :D Dat and it makes it lots easier ta find
da tools when I need um, and not hafta always worry about tripping over stuff.

isawlogs · January 10, 2014, 10:46:58 PM

I could of said that too. ;D :D

hardtailjohn · January 11, 2014, 12:08:18 AM

Well....this is timely! I am in the midst of rearranging my shops... My building is 60x80 including the 60x20 "woodshop" on the one side, with a wall and roll up door separating it from the main "hangar". I'd been doing a restoration on an airplane in the "woodshop" as well as the sleighs and stuff, but the guy lost his job, so the airplane went away. So I've decided to dedicate the small wood shop to wood and moved all the sheet metal working tools (shears, brakes, rolls, radius brakes, wheels, etc.) out into the hangar, and stuffed all my woodworking tools in the small shop where they belong, along with setting up a dust control, and a few more cabinets. The only other tools in there now are my 2 antique leather sewing machines.... I figure that the harness repair goes along well enough with the sleighs that it can live together.
In all of this, it's time to clean! In the summer, we're so busy that we don't get time to tidy up much after we finish a project...that's winter work. So I'm finding all sorts of goodies that I'd thought disappeared in the 2 separate shops... like the 2" combination wrench... or my dividers.... a whole herd of tape measures and sharpies!
I'm glad to hear others aren't perfect when it comes to keeping it all picked up. My airplane shop used to be spotless... but that just doesn't happen anymore...nor is it just the airplane shop...there's crushers, loaders, trucks, pickups, lathes, etc......
My Grandpa used to say that when he wanted a tool, he should be able to look down and find it! ;D I do try to do better than that, but dust and scraps are just part of the "ambiance" in a shop to me!
John

Texas Ranger · January 11, 2014, 09:32:33 AM

Clean shop? WE don' need no stinkin clean shop!

Phorester · January 11, 2014, 11:22:55 AM

Long as you can find stuff, TR. ;D

ET · January 11, 2014, 12:35:33 PM

My current shop is 900 sq ft with no windows so id have lots of wall space. I also have my forge in there which takes up about 25% of it. I have 7 workbenches in there with all the saws and cabinets including a drafting table. Im lucky to have paths. Cant wait to get my new barn built as im going to build a new 20x30 woodworking (only) shop. Then maybe i can find my dozen yo yos too!

mmartone · January 11, 2014, 02:32:18 PM

I love this thread! My shop is 26x48 and a complete disaster, 2 cars, outboard engines, wood, steel, welders, table saw, radial arm saw, drill presses, planer, tool box, power tools, tanning bed, 10 chainsaws, paint cabinet, wire, hoses, piles of parts and pieces. There are some paths and I can usually move some stuff to get some usable bench space, I HATE it. Wish I had one of those clean up ladies to come help me organize.