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organization in the shop

Jay Knoll said:
Ah Travis, you lucky guy!

I know it is hard to consider, but there are those of us who don't have acres to expand into. I've got a garage, no cellar, corner lot, no room to expand past the set backs so my "shop" is multi use. Woodworking, home repair/improvement, house storage, hurricane shutter storage, but the only time it is a garage is when I push everything off to the side to slide one car in.

But, the point is valid, I find that the more organized I am, the more productive I become. I am even starting to adopt the "use a tool put it back where you got it" approach to working. I don't even want to think about all the time I've wasted looking for something that I just put down for a minute.

Jay
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Jay, I thought you were describing my shop! Everything up to bringing in the car. My cars have never seen the inside of the garage...er...I mean....shop.:rolleyes: Oh, yea, we don't have hurricanes in Idaho either.

I agree that the amount of time wasted looking for the tool I just had in my hands a minute ago was driving me crazy (short trip).:eek: I try really hard (really hard) to put things back when I'm done with them.

Another tip for organization - I spend the last 15 minutes in the shop doing clean up. Put tools away, vacuum, and stack or toss any cut-offs, etc. I've found that it helps me get right to work the next time I get into the shop.

DSCN0859T.jpgI try and keep all my tools in cabinets or drawers. This way I know where to find them and I keep them, reasonably, clean and ready for use.
DSCN0870T.jpgI'm really short on space for storage of lumber (corner lot, setbacks etc. keep me from adding on or building sheds) so everything has to stack in the shop. Oh, except for that 3 or 400 bf of walnut I got for free. That's only costing me $25 a month to keep at the local storage facility. Hmmm. guess there's no such thing as free.
DSCN0855T.jpgI need to keep a clean aisle open for bringing in groceries.:(
DSCN0857T.jpg DSCN0853T.jpg DSCN0865T.jpgCan we say multi-use? In my 'shop' I also have the furnace, water heater, washer and dryer, clothes rack (which I have been mandated to empty and bring inside before I even think about running a router!), a refrigerator, and misc house storage.
DSCN0847T.jpg Even so, this is my favorite room in the house.:D
 
tod evans said:
okay i give............what in the world is a "multi-table"? i guessing some kind of high tech bench?
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The "multi-table" is 1/3 to 1/2 of my first router table (which started at 4' by 8' - longer story) that is now 4' wide and 3-4' deep. It has a bench vise mounted to the front and will very soon be having a midi lathe attached to the rear (it's on wheels, so it will be moved when it is time for lathe work).

I'm in a 1 car garage space - even without the silliness of putting a car there, space is tight. Hmmm... I just put away some scraps of 3/4" plywood and have some scraps of 1/4" luan laying around - I think this will make a good fastener shelf which should free up the top of a mechanic's cabinet to which the pile of stuff on the RAS and multi-table can be moved... :huh:
 
To poorly paraphrase Gertrude Stein......

I've been organized and I've been unorganized. It's better to be organized :D :thumb:
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I'm trying to do the "Place for everything and everything in it's place, but I'm onto there 100%, not even 80%, but it used to be about 10%, so I am improving :D

Good luck!
 
todd,
sorry to confuse ya on that one, That's Mark's term for his router bench, as he mentioned. I keep suggesting he just build an ultimate tool stand and he'll be much happier. come to think of it, I should redo my bench as one too. Roof first of course. :rofl::rofl:
 
Rennie Heuer said:
Another tip for organization - I spend the last 15 minutes in the shop doing clean up. Put tools away, vacuum, and stack or toss any cut-offs, etc. I've found that it helps me get right to work the next time I get into the shop.
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That is about the only worthwhile thing that I learned in High School woodshop. When I get ready to go back to work and I see a cleaned up area I am ready to get on with it. When I see a mess I just want to forget it. Makes a big difference to me. It doesn't take that long to clean up one days mess. It does not have to be spick and span either, just picked up and swept up a little so that it is not depressing.
 
Allen Bookout said:
That is about the only worthwhile thing that I learned in High School woodshop. When I get ready to go back to work and I see a cleaned up area I am ready to get on with it. When I see a mess I just want to forget it. Makes a big difference to me. It doesn't take that long to clean up one days mess. It does not have to be spick and span either, just picked up and swept up a little so that it is not depressing.
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How right you are! Must have had the same shop teacher!:eek::rofl:
 
Mark a while back someone told me to take a piece of graph paper, mark out all my machinery and trace the pathway lumber or plywood traveled through my shop. It is called a workflow chart. If it looks like spaghetti on your paper , you are supposed to move things around so materials flow in as close to a single clean line as possible. It also helps you organize storage better.
Having said that my shop looks like someone set a bomb off in it. It always does at the end of a cabinet job. It did help me keep things flowing better and less cluttered since I wasn't putting a tool down and then moving it 5 minutes later when I needed that space for something else. I have a place for everything. Most of it's just not where it should be. I told my wife it's here fault. She cleans up after me inside the house why not the shop. She was less that happy with my remark.
 
One of the big buzz topics at manufacturing companies is 5S programs. It amounts to organize to improve your workflow, keep things clean, establish designated places for everything, and get rid of things that are not needed. Sounds like a lot of you are doing a good job with that! I am still working on it!:eek:
 
Allen Bookout said:
That is about the only worthwhile thing that I learned in High School woodshop. When I get ready to go back to work and I see a cleaned up area I am ready to get on with it. When I see a mess I just want to forget it. Makes a big difference to me. It doesn't take that long to clean up one days mess. It does not have to be spick and span either, just picked up and swept up a little so that it is not depressing.
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Yeppers, thank you Bob Henderson for beating that into me in high school shop. My shop is not neat (I call it organized clutter), but I do clean up the bigger visible debris at the end of the night. The last tool I use for the night is almost always the shop vac. If I have something ongoing, I might leave tools out, but in general there's a place for most things and many of them are in their place. :rolleyes: My shop has cabinets and drawers along two walls and cabinets plus long things leaning against the third. (The fourth wall is the overhead door.) I try to keep things stored close to where they'll be used, but sometimes I still find myself walking in circles picking things up on one side of the shop to use on the other. Part of my problem is trying to fit 100 pounds of stuff in a 50 pound box. I know I'm not unique in that regard. ;)

Of course, I also have some of the "fill every horizontal surface" affliction like Tod, and things tend to get piled up over time, usually in the areas where I'm not doing much work. I get to a certain threshold of tolerance on the piles o' stuff, and do a major shop cleaning every month or so.
 
I also have the flat surface syndrome, but I'm overcoming it, with my new workshop and machinery I'm getting into the habit of puting a tool back on its place.

Changing habits is very hard specially if one has been "misbehaving" for so many years but having only about a couple of hours per day (and not all days) to devote to woodworking, I find it is really more productive and encouraging to start with a clean and tidy workbench surface ( at least) and much better if it is the entire workshop.

What I do is try to save trips to the tool rack, for instance if I have to pick up a tool from it I'm building the habit of putting another back to its place with the same trip, in this manner the amount of tools on the bench remains rather controllable and small, and the working surface is bigger.

Another advantage of this system is that by the time one finishes, tidying the shop takes much less time, just put back the remaining tools on its place, and sweep the floor. That keeps my wife happy and spares me ugly faces and recriminations:(.

Now I have to find a system to deal with scraps, because they are piling up on a corner of the shop.:doh:
 
Jay Knoll said:
Ah Travis, you lucky guy!

I know it is hard to consider, but there are those of us who don't have acres to expand into. I've got a garage, no cellar, corner lot, no room to expand past the set backs so my "shop" is multi use. Woodworking, home repair/improvement, house storage, hurricane shutter storage, but the only time it is a garage is when I push everything off to the side to slide one car in.

But, the point is valid, I find that the more organized I am, the more productive I become. I am even starting to adopt the "use a tool put it back where you got it" approach to working. I don't even want to think about all the time I've wasted looking for something that I just put down for a minute.

Jay
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I understand Jay, I really do, and not to thumb my nose at anyone here in that situation, but I would think that situation would just make all the more reason to stay organized. What a challenge though.."okay here we have a shelf for my denatured alcohol, my shellac flakes and a jug of oil for the 2 stroke lawnmower." Yeah then to have to move everything so you can get a car in, that would certainly be challenging.

I would think keeping on top of stuff, and keeping them in their respective places would be even more paramount though. Myself since I do have a small shop, at some point I have to move stuff to do stuff. When I reach that point...or when I can't instantly put my hand on a tool I want (let's say is a machinst square that is sitting on the bandsaw and not on the shelf) that is when I stop...put everything away...and start over. Since I do this every 30 minutes or so, I never have to look for anything. Its always put away and since the number of dislodged tools is small, it only takes a minute. It also keeps me working, and very productive in the little shop time I do have.

Interestingly enough, I found working on my house is the shop organized killer. Instead of working in my shop, I go to my shop, do a task and then scoot back to the house to install whatever I was working on. What happens is, I never take the time to clean up since its a five minute task, so at the end of the day my shop is in sad shape. Its embarrassing because people will often show up and there my shop is all disorganized. I'm pretty well known for having an immaculate shop, probably comes from being married to a elementary teacher :)
 
another methode

when i was working in the shop i too have the flat surface fill afflicktion and like vaughn said after awhile i get tired of seein it and take care of the stuff but have recently come upon another way to clean the shop let someone else do it,, leave your doors open while transfering stuff from one sho to the opther and let all the good folk driving by see what your offering and be sure to leave plenty of refreshments for them as they will be thirsty from all thee labor of helping you out.... see cant still laugh alittel bt part of what isaid is true:rolleyes: somewhere i heard a saying of putaway ten things each day and it wount get cluttered.. i try that and usually have it somewhat under control.. now for the sweepin thats last on the list but in the new shop will chnage in order of importance..
 
Organization in the shop

This topic is the same topic I was alluding to when I posted about my shop
always evolving. I realize now that what I meant by that was that I am
always trying to stay organized so that the work flows smoothly for me. This
means that every so often I become dissatisfied with the way my shop is
arranged because I feel that there has to be a better way to organize my
tools. I begin by moving everything around to a different place in the shop in
the hopes that I can work more efficiently. Compounding my problem is the
fact that I buy new tools and then have no place to store them, and, I don't
like to throw any scraps of lumber away if it is one foot or longer, regardless
of it's thickness or type. I'm always afraid that as soon as I burn up that
lumber in my firepile, within twenty-four hours something will come along that
calls for that particular piece of wood. I used to sit in my shop for hours just
looking all around trying to visualize how best to organize it. Finally, just as
Glenn advised, I began to make some hard decisions regarding what really
needed to be thrown out to the garbage and what pieces of wood would
have to sacrificed to the fire. By doing this it really helped me to better
visualize how I wanted my shop to look. BTW, my shop is a 16 x 20. It was
a case of not being able to see the forest for the trees- so I removed some
of the trees.
 
As a neophite to woodworking I find it easier to keep things clean also. If I have to waste 10min's looking for a tape or something else, especially a pencil, that's 10min's I can't get back. As old as I am I need all those 10min's I can get my hands on.:)
 
I keep a package of pencils on a high up, but just withing reach, seldom used shelf. If it takes me more than a few seconds to find / remember where I put the pencil, a new one comes out. So far I only have 3 floating around the shop somewhere... :huh:

I my thread in shop tours, I posted (with pics) that I made a shop shelf today. Hopefully over the coming week I'll be able to find some horizontal surfaces.
 
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