The shame of a tidy workshop

[Lons]

The benefit of having loads of duplicates is that I don't think twice about modifying a tool for a specific purpose even if a one off. I've just been gifted a load more which I didn't include in my lot and will keep a few specialist pliers and unusual screwdrivers. The kids are going to have a huge boot sale when I pop me clogs.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

There is a Douglas Adams quote that I have used whenever questioned about this sort of thing:

​

“I’m training it to like being wherever it’s put.” Arthur prided himselfon saying this. It was, he thought, exactly the sort of thing that wouldentertain and stimulate young minds.​

 

[Sideways]

The benefit of having loads of duplicates is that I don't think twice about modifying a tool for a specific purpose even if a one off. I've just been gifted a load more which I didn't include in my lot and will keep a few specialist pliers and unusual screwdrivers. The kids are going to have a huge boot sale when I pop me clogs.

The two things I have most duplicates of are allen key sets and wire cutters. Somehow on travels for work I kept finding things that needed fixing when I hadn't brought tools. Cue 5 full sets of imp and metric hex keys.
Wire cutters, well you need trad knipex and lobster for ease of use, VDE for safety, heavy duty, compound joint for piano wire, cable shears for the 20mm+ stuff, wire scissors for fun, electronics side cutters, ergonomic types to decide if they really are ...

 

[Rustic Mike]

It is a discipline keeping your shop tidy but it is great for the mind thus better workmanship, I dont often have my shop this tidy so I figured I would take a few snaps, plenty of improvement needed for sure.

My god I would be renting it out as a operating theatre, so much room unused on the walls, well done.

 

[Mark Karacsonyi]

I was on the verge of teaching woodworking with hand tools prior to the pandemic, as a part time income in the evenings. Sadly my keen students cancelled. It was a great exercise in replanning the workshop. Since then it has never looked so clean and tidy my wife thinks I’m having an affair

 

[Sporky McGuffin]

I filled five of the six storage boxes, and it's all neat and findable. Ace. No, really, this is neater. Honest.

 

[clogs]

Luie 10
I rather like those metal drawers.....expensive....?

 

[Louie10]

My god I would be renting it out as a operating theatre, so much room unused on the walls, well done.

Lots of improvements to be made Mike, I was out today only for an hour or two trying to

My god I would be renting it out as a operating theatre, so much room unused on the walls, well done.

Thanks pal, lots of improvements to be made Mike, but blessed to have the space.

 

[heimlaga]

I have found that once the oganisation in a workshop drops below a certain level productivity will suffer too. Organisation is the mother of efficiency.
Therefore my workshop is well organized.......... but there are plenty of woodchips and sawdust and shavings on the floor all the time. I cannot afford the time to keep it throughly clean.

 

[Chisteve]

I’ve only got a play workshop but I have a thing that I have have a sweep and hoover at the end of the day or couple of hours, if I don’t I always regret it - hate starting the next time in an untidy workspace

 

[paulrbarnard]

I have found that once the oganisation in a workshop drops below a certain level productivity will suffer too. Organisation is the mother of efficiency.
Therefore my workshop is well organized.......... but there are plenty of woodchips and sawdust and shavings on the floor all the time. I cannot afford the time to keep it throughly clean.

When looking at some of the ‘organised’ shops on YouTube you have to wonder at the ratio of organising vs working. There often seems to be massive effort spent on building organisation aids or new versions of benches etc. even some of the well respected YouTubers have posted multiple variations of the same MFT build for example.

 

[Hand Plane]

Many years ago, my brother (without prior notice or permission!) tidied up our father's workshop.

Thirty years later he was still complaining he couldn't find anything!

 

[Sporky McGuffin]

When looking at some of the ‘organised’ shops on YouTube you have to wonder at the ratio of organising vs working. There often seems to be massive effort spent on building organisation aids or new versions of benches etc. even some of the well respected YouTubers have posted multiple variations of the same MFT build for example.

I think there are people in and around every hobby who enjoy the "edge" bits more than the hobby itself. As a guitarist I actually preferred building pedals and guitars to playing...

 

[Lons]

When looking at some of the ‘organised’ shops on YouTube you have to wonder at the ratio of organising vs working. There often seems to be massive effort spent on building organisation aids or new versions of benches etc. even some of the well respected YouTubers have posted multiple variations of the same MFT build for example.

Agreed but some of them can earn a fair bit from the videos so in effect are perhaps doing it for a different reason.

 

[heimlaga]

I think the youtubers are pulling the general public's perception askew.

Many of those youtubers pour enormous resurces into gadgets and jigs and organisation aids and workshop furniture and everything is matching and perfect. In a way that no hobbyist can afford. Nothing reused nothing repurposed everything just perfect.
All while the main machines on which productivity and accuracy depends are bog standard hobbyist grade that is neither accurate nor productive.

From the productivity wiewpoint of a part timer a significant part of the time/money spent on gadgets and workshop furniture and such had better been spent on a good planer/thicknesser and a good spindle moulder and a good mortiser and a good bandsaw and a good sliding table saw. The machines that do the brunt of the work and make money.

From a hobbyists point of wiew less time/money should have been spent on gadgets and workshop furniture and on jigs becaure realistically speaking no hobbyist can afford to spend that much.

It becomes some sort of I do not know what.

 

[Spindrift]

There is a solution to the untidy workshop. Just send a Whatsapp message to a Tory peer of your choice stating that your space is a "still a bit of a tip", then sit back and wait for the money (and top-notch designer) to roll in. Works for the prime minister, after all.

 

[Westwood]

Nice workshop Lons. Looks like a SIP 1332 ten inch in the foreground ? Kitchen drawers or did you make those along the two sides >

 

[mikej460]

 

[Lons]

Nice workshop Lons. Looks like a SIP 1332 ten inch in the foreground ? Kitchen drawers or did you make those along the two sides >

Yeah it is a Sip which I bought new quite a few years ago and works well for me, I attached a fold down router table to save space.
All the wall cupboards and some floor cupboards are made or adapted but the majority are reclaimed when they were thrown out in the rain by a college, I managed to get only around a third of what was available before they were scrapped which is a crying shame as they are blockboard carcases and solid oak fronted drawers / veneered doors. I sanded some of them but never got the rest done and it is after all just a workshop so not a priority. They were ex laboratory and some of the drawers still had glass bottles, pipettes and Bunsen burners etc. What a waste those responsible should be shot IMO.

 

[mikej460]

I am notoriously untidy, mostly due to a lack of shelf and cupboard space combined with my penchant for not tidying up on a regular basis, so every square inch of machine, bench tops even my thicknesser is covered in tools and various other detritus and I spend far too much of my time searching for stuff. It frustrates the hell out of me.

I have a 45m2 garage that is soon to be sold ready for my new workshop build this year. The workshop will be reduced to 30m2 so I will have to be better organised. I am currently building, or planning ways to improve the organisation of the new shop; so far I have built a wheeled organiser rack for screws, nuts and bolts, electrical bits etc. and a sanding station for all things sanding. I will be building a french cleat system, wood store, etc etc and I will be dedicating the whole of 2022 to the workshop build and fitting out. I am really looking forward to it.

Here's the organiser cabinet currently stored in our junk room, it replaces dozens of glass jars. I hunted around for deals on the organisers and it now has a full compliment; I just have to label them now .

and this is the sanding station built from an idea on YouTube. It holds my 2 sanders, hand sanders, sanding belts, bench sander discs, ROS sanding discs, drill bobbin sanders and sandpaper sheets.; oh and a very useful and simple ROS sanding disk loader. I'm very pleased with it except two of the ROS sanding disk drawer fronts have the grain going 90 degrees the wrong way so need replacing (I know, I know borderline ocd..)

It will ultimately go on a french cleat wall but for now it will be joining the organiser cabinet in the junk room as it's getting mould whilst sat in the garage. I'm currently preparing a much drier 10m2 outbuilding as a temporary workshop so it will go in there in a few weeks. My apologies if this doesn't gel with some of you, but I need to move away from my current, dis-organised way of working (and I do enjoy building such stuff ).