How do you guys do it??

[Ed in Tampa]

I fine a clean shop is a necessity to me. I'm forever dropping something on the floor or misplacing something. If the shop is a mess I will never find it.

Through the years I have learned a few secrets of a clean shop.
First no shelving, all shelving does is gives dust a place to land. I have found cabinets, roll around tool chests(Sears) to be the best way to store tools and supplies.

Second every tool has a place and every tool is in that place at the end of the day. This was learned after I have to repeatedly replace tools that got lost or thrown way. Now at the end of the day every tools is automatically accounted by a really quick scan of the cabinets and tool storage locations.

Third I'm to old to do calisthencis in the shop. I have found with a clean shop I'm not tripping over things and trying to do hand stands to keep from laying my head open. I have worked in dirty shops and I will never do that again. The pulled muscles from trying to catch myself and twisted ankles are not worth it to me.

Fourth my shop is also my garage I never figured out the economy of letting a $25,000 car sit in weather while I protect some tools and junk in garage.
My car goes into the garage every night unless I have a finishing project and the finish isn't dry or huge layout that is not worth the bother to pick up and put way. However I haven't left my cars out for longer than a week. Well that is not true I did a boat rebuild project that took about 6 weeks and every one knows a fishing boat trumps momma's car everytime.

Fifth I like to make people wonder about a clean shop. Some where the idea that you have to have a dirty shop to really be doing anything is in our heads. Yet I know productions shops that every night are cleaned and reset (tools put back where they belong so others can find them). And they turn out hundred times more projects that what most home hobbiest do.

Sixth I have pride I like to think I'm not a pig (this of course is hotly contested by wife after I whip up a hearty breakfast or the condition of the bathroom after I take a shower after an exhausting day in the shop or garden) Yes dear the seat is down!

[ryanbp01]

Francis,
Liked your clean desk comment. Before retiring I always had a small sign on my desk "A CLEAN DESK IS THE SIGN OF A SICK MIND"

A corollary is "If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, what is an empty desk a sign of?";)

While I do keep the shop relatively clean, what needs to be done is to rehang my hand tools in the shop so I can get to them easily. I would also help if I would get rid of the junk (electric appliance cords, reflectors, and the like) for more wall space. While I do have a separate shop room in the garage, it is too small to do any large scale cutting in.

BPR

[ryanbp01]

I am always so amazed at the beautiful and neat shops I see on here. Some of you guys have shops that you could eat off the floor! How the heck do you do it? I admit, I used to say negative stuff like,"Yeah, it's cause they don't do anything in it!" But now, I am admitting, it's just envey. I know you guys and gals are true craftsmen/women, and you have a system for your shops. I just never could get a handle on it like you guys. I clean and vacume, and try to organize, but the first job that hits the shop, causes a malay of messes, that takes me days to clean up. Am I trying to work too fast? ...

Jim-

Welcome to the club!:D

BPR

[JPG]

Francis,
Liked your clean desk comment. Before retiring I always had a small sign on my desk "A CLEAN DESK IS THE SIGN OF A SICK MIND"

The desk sign I always 'related to' was:

IF A 'CLUTTERED' DESKTOP IS AN INDICATION OF A CLUTTERED MIND, - ONE CAN NOT HELP BUT PONDER WHAT IS INDICATED BY AN 'EMPTY' DESKTOP.

Management of my long term 'clean desk philosophy' employer did not particularly care for it however!;)


Dropped a 1/4" c-clip last night. Yep the sawdust gobbled it up!:eek:

While sucking up the sawdust looking fer it, I discovered the set screw I dropped last year!:rolleyes:


Seriously it is getting more and more time consuming trying to recall where I last used something so as to determine where to look for it. A long long time ago I did not have that problem. I always remembered immediately where I had left it. Tain't so any more! While I am not in any rush anymore, the lack of significant remaining years causes me to lament the wasting of what I do have left by constantly trying to remember and searching for stuff.

Old Dog - New Tricks - Sadly true!!! :>}}

[kalynzoo]

I used to have a sign on my desk, but I can't find the sign, and I don't remember what it said.

[shipwright]

I'm the guy that often made others angry by insisting on "a place for everything and everything in its place"....

So you're the guy!!!!

I clean up my shop between projects and when I can't walk around anymore, which ever comes first. I've always operated that way at home and I always remember where everything was left but when I had my shipyard and there was more just me using things, everything had to be put away every night and a cleanup done.

Paul M

[wh500special]

...and every one knows a fishing boat trumps momma's car everytime. ...

That's quite possibly the best line I've ever read on a forum!

I do my best to clean as I go, but it seems like I'm always hurried at the end of a work period since I can't seem to discipline myself to quit screwing around at a reasonable time. Invariably, I skip sweeping up the sawdust since it's not as fun of a task as making the mess was. It's a time management thing for me.

I'm in the process of setting up a new shop in the basement of my new house. Prior to moving, I was out in the garage and a lingering mess wasn't as big of a deal since it didn't leak as easily into the living area. I know for family harmony I'm going to have to force myself to be more clean and tidy.

One of my other big problems is the inability to throw any scrap of wood away regardless of how small or odd shapen. It's even worse now since they're still building new houses in my neighborhood and I am making "dumpster diving" my newest hobby. In 5 month's I've salvaged about 100' of baseboard and casing as well as tons of oak, cherry, and other scraps from flooring, cabinets, and stairways. Absolutely amazing what gets pitched...by others.

Kudos to those who can control themselves!

Steve

[JPG]

So you're the guy!!!!

I clean up my shop between projects and when I can't walk around anymore, which ever comes first. I've always operated that way at home and I always remember where everything was left but when I had my shipyard and there was more just me using things, everything had to be put away every night and a cleanup done.

Paul M

Ah! But then you were 'getting paid' to do it!:D

[fjimp]

What a great read. I thought of claiming I only clean the shop when a picture is taken. Truth is I am a neat nick. Some twenty years ago I was working with a client on an insurance sale offering the potential to earn the biggest single commission of my career. My office was so disorganized I lost a key "single sheet of paper," I lost the sale and began digging out from under the clutter. I promised myself to never go back. Most of the time having a place for everything and only dealing with every piece of mail one time, work great. In the shop that is not so easy. Still the frustration of losing a key ingredient to any project sends me into a tizzy. If I were to take a picture of the shop today, there is sawdust on the floor in two different work areas. Projects from both areas are completed and in use. I am in the midst of cleaning and polishing all tools. The floor is to be cleaned just prior to starting two new cabinet projects. This of course is all hinging on my arm recovering and the rain stopping long enough to cure the river threatening to enter the shop. fjimp

[dlbristol]

I was raised by a mom who was very neat and a dad who, well, was not!:p
I took after dad, until I got to 9th grade Algebra and Mrs. Shank! I turned in some work, a test probably, and it was a mess. She politely, returned it with the statement, " When I can read this , I will grade it". I decided to challenge this and returned a equally messy retest. She wrote "F" and then wrote the same message about the next test. I was in trouble at that point, and when dad saw it my battle with Mrs. Shank was over. I got a lot neater! One thing I have learned, I think, is that it is important to know when clutter gets in the way of the task at hand. I once worked with a guy who surveyed for the USGS. He had the biggest mess in the truck and office you ever saw, but he could put his hands on what ever he needed at any time! I still don't know how he did it! I tend to clean up between projects, and I follow an ' evolutionary" system for putting things up. They seem to have a spot where they want to be and eventually I figure out where that is and leave them there. Another thing I have learned is not to post pictures of the SHOP!!!!