September 26, 201213 yr Ever think about building a tool cabinet and then realize that you just don't have a place to put it?  Like this one. It looks great yes? Lots of storage space you can customize it galore but then the thing is so high that the midget needs a ladder so you'd have to build a roll out or fold out stool in the bench just to get the things off the upper shelves, And then the doors would sweep the work off the bench if it were too near the work bench (DAMHIHT~!!). Actually a sliding slab of wood in between a couple of bench drawers that is thick enough to stand on might be a good idea to access a high cabinet.  Anyway, when I get to lusting after something like that I have to ask myself where I'd put it. Invariably I'd have to move a bunch of other stuff around and then I'd have to make the thing fit the space. In my shop the space in question might reasonably be a wrap around cabinet that would envelope a concrete block column I placed to hold a 19 KiPs wideflange beam that spans the center of my shop roof like a spine and supports my 40'x20' recreational deck above. I don't have a high ceiling. I've always admired those highly organized shops that some people have. I could never figure out how to get one. Mine just sort of fell together as I acquired things and I never really gave much though to any of it.  I pay a price for not having organization. My shop is impossible to clean much of the time and I am always losing things. I try to keep those tools that tend to be used in one place near that place. But still I'm mostly a wreck. WHo has organized their shop from a wreck to a finely tuned machine? How'd ya do it? How'd ya get from there to where ya are?
September 26, 201213 yr "Organized Shop"Now that's an oxymoron!Allen WorshamCorona, CAallenworsham@earthlink.net'Graze in every man's field, but always give your own milk' J. Vernon McGee
September 26, 201213 yr A few years back we had a pipe burst in the ceiling over the laundry room ( no one was home at the time) and spilled over into our family room, kitchen, hallway and my garage. The garage was a total gut. While the garage was gutted the wife and I ran a sub panel and a 220 volt circuit for my table saw and another one for a 220 volt shop heater, 3 independent circuits for 9 outlets around the shop, and 2 circuits for 4  8' fluorescent light fixtures, a dedicated circuit for landscape lighting and water feature, ran cable for SAT/cable TV. Then we insulated walls and ceiling, drywalled & painted. We built base cabinets with counter tops and a cabinet on one wall with sliding doors for tools, glues, paint & finishes with Acro bin storage under the wall cabinet with 2 light fixtures for lighting on the counter top. Installed wood racks along on wall and over the garage door. We also installed a deep sink in the garage.All in all a very comfortable shop to work in but I could still use a shop thats double the space we have in the 2 bay garage. Notice I didn't call it a 2 car garage because cars don't go in the garage. This last summer we built a garden shed to house all the yard equipment.  www.thepatriotwoodworker.com Proud Supporter of Homes For Our Troops
September 26, 201213 yr "WHo has organized their shop from a wreck to a finely tuned machine?" You got to be kidding.  Finely tuned machine?  Mine might be a "mess" but I know exactly where everything is.  When my wife suggests that she can come down to the shop and help me "clean up", I always thank here very much but "not now, darlin". Great looking cabinet - in my shop I would have to move a bunch of stuff and hang it on cleats I have around the walls.Fredaka Pop's Shopwww.pops-shop.comEX-21 (Presently on the floor. Using my 6-year old 788 ! ! ! ! !'Soooooo many patterns - sooooo little time'
September 26, 201213 yr I'm like you Cliff, I would love to find a way to have a nice, dust free, no clutter and nothing laying around except a few tools for the pictures. I wonder some times as I see the shops in those magazines if they really ever get used! I'm like Fred, most of the time I know where everything is, it is in the shop. Now where in the shop is another story. Once in a while I will stop and do some clean up and find at least a dozen pencils I have lost. I keep thinking the lost socks will show up out there on one of these occasions.I look at what is in there and decided it is just too much work to get it organized. I'd have to stop woodworking for six months to get the shop like it needs to be!John MoodySite AdministratorJohn Moody Woodworkshttp://www.johnmoodywoodworks.com
September 27, 201213 yr HA!Gene'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.' G. K. Chesterton
September 27, 201213 yr I'm glad I'm not the only one who looses socks in the shop  Fredaka Pop's Shopwww.pops-shop.comEX-21 (Presently on the floor. Using my 6-year old 788 ! ! ! ! !'Soooooo many patterns - sooooo little time'
September 30, 201213 yr Author OK I got it.We need to pitch a new Reality TV show like that stupid BAR RESCUE one where this loudmouth know it all barrels into god awful bacterial laden holes of pestilence calling themselves bars and straightens them out.We'd need some highly organized woodworker type of person with R, Lee Ermy's Gunnery Sergeant communication skills. Then all we need is to have this guy go and bully hapless innocent woodworkers into cleaning up after themselves and creating order from the chaos.Â
October 2, 201213 yr Cliff, we haven't seen pix of your shop, yet ! ! !Fredaka Pop's Shopwww.pops-shop.comEX-21 (Presently on the floor. Using my 6-year old 788 ! ! ! ! !'Soooooo many patterns - sooooo little time'
October 2, 201213 yr LOL that looks about like my shop area, except mine has less tools and more wood lol dragon1 said: Just a pic of my last workshop....
October 2, 201213 yr You guys would hate me.My shop is not finished because I have yet to add doors and other finishing touches to my shop, but organized...oh yes! In fact I am obsessive compulsive about organization. EVERYTHING has a spot, and I typically clean my shop many times during a session in there.What happens is, as I work on a project, tools get taken out, used and then put on the bench, and that is all well and fine, but I am so used to just reaching for a particular tool in its spot that when it is not there, it is annoying to me. If it is right at hands reach that is fine, but if I have to look around for where I last placed it, I get annoyed. So what I do is every 30 minutes or so, take a few moments and put all my tools back and then start in again. That little bit of time used to put my tools back is not wasted because I NEVER have to search for a tool. And when I wrap up for the evening...yep everything is put back, and my shop gets swept, cleaned up and is basically ready to go the next morning. I do not want to step in my shop and have clutter...I want to be able to go to work unstressed.About twice a year I go through my shop and do a COMPLETE organizing...that is going through all the screw and nail bins and other storage containers and making sure say a 1-1/2 inch drywall screw did not somehow migrate into the 2 inch drywall screw bin, or that a nut and washer did not migrate into the bolt only bin. I was going to post a few weeks ago about how handy it would be to have a labeler so that all my bins, drawers, and cabinets would be labeled for contents, but I thought you guys might make fun of me for being "over-the-top" with organization. In some ways I think I am because I have two drawers that would have to be labeled "empty" just waiting for something to be categorized in there.My biggest issue right now is, I do not have a garage so non-woodworking stuff gets placed there, like things for the car such as oils, cleaners and automotive tooling. That stuff has a dedicated spot, but it is not woodworking so it does not belong there, the same thing goes for my sheep stuff like a medicine cabinet and fence building tools and material. The last spot is semi-woodworking...my logging tools, but when I get a garage I want a dedicated bench for my chainsaws, and for the automotive stuff. Of course the sheep equipment will go in the new barn I plan to build next year...yes complete with office. The garage won't happen for awhile because you know farmers, priorities...barns before silly garages! :-)I know, you guys must think I am crazy..and yes I clean my house a lot too. Probably more then the wife does, but I just like chaos minimized.
October 2, 201213 yr I actually NEED to do what you are doing as far as tool placement. I am constantly misplacing tools. sure it doesn't take long to find them, but that was time wasted looking for it. I am learning though. I have a pretty large box that a lot of my wood stock is in, I usually put my chisels in that box now, handle up so that it is within easy reach.I clean up sawdust a least 2 to 4 times a day depending on how much i do, I don't have an actual air cleaner or dust collector, so I just use my regular 12 amp vacuum cleaner to get the dirt up. and it works very well I might add, but of course it doesn't get it all like I want. Maybe some day Santa will bring me a dust collector that wont wake the dead.Travis Johnson said:You guys would hate me.My shop is not finished because I have yet to add doors and other finishing touches to my shop, but organized...oh yes! In fact I am obsessive compulsive about organization. EVERYTHING has a spot, and I typically clean my shop many times during a session in there.What happens is, as I work on a project, tools get taken out, used and then put on the bench, and that is all well and fine, but I am so used to just reaching for a particular tool in its spot that when it is not there, it is annoying to me. If it is right at hands reach that is fine, but if I have to look around for where I last placed it, I get annoyed. So what I do is every 30 minutes or so, take a few moments and put all my tools back and then start in again. That little bit of time used to put my tools back is not wasted because I NEVER have to search for a tool. And when I wrap up for the evening...yep everything is put back, and my shop gets swept, cleaned up and is basically ready to go the next morning. I do not want to step in my shop and have clutter...I want to be able to go to work unstressed.About twice a year I go through my shop and do a COMPLETE organizing...that is going through all the screw and nail bins and other storage containers and making sure say a 1-1/2 inch drywall screw did not somehow migrate into the 2 inch drywall screw bin, or that a nut and washer did not migrate into the bolt only bin. I was going to post a few weeks ago about how handy it would be to have a labeler so that all my bins, drawers, and cabinets would be labeled for contents, but I thought you guys might make fun of me for being "over-the-top" with organization. In some ways I think I am because I have two drawers that would have to be labeled "empty" just waiting for something to be categorized in there.My biggest issue right now is, I do not have a garage so non-woodworking stuff gets placed there, like things for the car such as oils, cleaners and automotive tooling. That stuff has a dedicated spot, but it is not woodworking so it does not belong there, the same thing goes for my sheep stuff like a medicine cabinet and fence building tools and material. The last spot is semi-woodworking...my logging tools, but when I get a garage I want a dedicated bench for my chainsaws, and for the automotive stuff. Of course the sheep equipment will go in the new barn I plan to build next year...yes complete with office. The garage won't happen for awhile because you know farmers, priorities...barns before silly garages! :-)I know, you guys must think I am crazy..and yes I clean my house a lot too. Probably more then the wife does, but I just like chaos minimized.
October 3, 201213 yr I've found that organization shifts. When I built my woodshop/barn I vowed to build it with organization in mind and I've done a pretty good job keeping it straightened. My garage on the other hand is a different story. Its organized like a cyclone went through it. Alas, there's no winning.
October 3, 201213 yr Author I know that I have to stop and clean and organize when (out of two large benches and a 4 x 7 torsion box flat table) the only space available in my shop for glue ups and any other work that requires a flat surface is my table saw and even that is crowded.
October 3, 201213 yr IT is so easy for every flat surface to gather loose objects. I am constantly moving things from one flat surface to another to get a job done. Of course it doesn't help with you are trying to work on to or three different projects at the same time.I thought I was starting out getting it all organized, but I lost the path somewhere in the sawdust on the floor. I need one of those "START" lines to come through like in the car commercial and just follow it till everything is put away as it should be.Or better yet, maybe is just need an "Easy Button" !Or Maybe I need someone with good organizational skills to come visit for a while and put everything away for me. Yea, I like that one better.John MoodySite AdministratorJohn Moody Woodworkshttp://www.johnmoodywoodworks.com
October 3, 201213 yr An "EASY BUTTON" ? ? ? ? Why didn't I think of that. Â Guess that's why you are a site administrator. Â Fredaka Pop's Shopwww.pops-shop.comEX-21 (Presently on the floor. Using my 6-year old 788 ! ! ! ! !'Soooooo many patterns - sooooo little time'
October 5, 201213 yr Nice one Allen! I would have to agree. It is an oxymoron. Doable yes, but almost impossible. LOL. To know but not to do is not yet to know.WWW.SAWBLADE.COM
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