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How organized is your shop?


Shran

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Stole this topic from another forum. How organized is your garage/shop? Not at your work, at home.

Clean- tools put away after use, projects in an orderly fashion, swept up and brushed off work area
Cluttered- Tools out, multiple projects stuff a little mixed up, shavings and sawdust around the place for a bit
Messy- looks like a bomb went off, more time looking for something than working

I think I'm somewhere between clean and cluttered in the main shop. I can't stand working in a mess... I will often start my day/evening of work on a project by picking up or sweeping. Some stuff just has to stay out though for a project to be worked on.

The shed where I do my woodworking, small engine repair and storing outdoor equipment is usually pretty bad. Tools and parts often get pushed into piles and it's pretty cluttered. It's kind of a catch all for smaller projects and stuff like stacks of wood so that doesn't help.
 
endless cycle of organizing, using, pushing aside, muttering, re-organizing.
of course re-organizing means putting stuff away in a different place every time.
that reverses the cycle to: re-organizing, muttering, pushing aside, then finally using.

it's perfect for retired guys :icon_thumby:
 
10lbs of shit in a 2lb sack.
 
Mine is "clean" but I'm probably adult OCD.

As a teenager, my job was to clean up my Dad's radiator repair and mechanic shop after school and on Saturdays. Guess I never got over it.

'Course my Dad and uncle who worked with him would cuss "where's my **** wrench which I had cleaned and put away.
 
A variable state of cluttered swaying between semi-clean and semi-messy. It's another "20lbs of shit in a 10lb sack" kind of place.
 
Cluttered leaning toward messy. I can get a car in the garage anyways... but sometimes finding tools and stuff on the workbench is a hit or miss on finding them.

AJ
 
My shop is a disaster. There's about 2 wheel barrel loads of misc metal chips in the corner from the lathe and mill. There's tools scattered all over, unfinished projects and beer cans everywhere. Hell, there's a cannon and a small Civil war mortar in there taking up space.
 
So, my shop is a near disaster currently. I’m not happy about it. It WILL be clean and neat. My problem is that I’ve stuffed about 20# of stuff into a 1# box and more is waiting to go there. I knew this as I started to fill the shop. There is a 4’ extension already outlined, I just need some more pavers, some time to work on it all, and some metal roofing. Shed is going to gain another roughly foot in height (about 7’ high side walls will be the final rendition) and it’s going to become an 8’x12’ when completed. Fricking tiny, but it’s much bigger than what I had which was nothing. Captain Cavepig sitting on the ground to work on stuff.

That all said, despite the near disaster conditions of my shop, I can usually find what I’m after now because I know most of what I’m usually looking for is in there… somewhere… which is way better than searching through 3 gang boxes, 4 sheds, 3 trucks, a “garage”, a 2 stall horse barn, my parents garage and basement, and two or three tarp covered piles. I’m fairly certain that my new shop, once extended and I get some more shelving in there, will be able to be organized and neat. I just flat out don’t have enough room in there right now for everything that needs to live in there.
 
Between cluttered and messy currently but I'm stretched pretty thin... my tool box is pretty put together and organized but some things are out currently working on stuff... once the boat that's like 24' long on the trailer is out then it'll be less bad but that'll be a couple weeks at best... Once I can breathe between projects I need to put up the 2 post lift I have so it'll be out of my way, that 12'x2' floor space is in my way...
 
I think I take the prize for "clean" right now... as I mentioned way way early on (in my seats thread - first mod/repair I did to mine), I am 900 miles from all my tools... so borrowing / sharing... if you only count mine, every single tool is clean, wiped down with WD40 (ultra light coat), and packed away in a box..... not exactly useful I know.

The exception to that is a 1/2" breaker bar (new purchase since the 92 yr old can't find the one I saw in the shop all last fall when I was painting) under the seat of the truck, and a single tiny set of pocket wrenches (combo metric $6 advanced auto "glovebox" set) - in the glovebox, where else.... and if you count hand cleaner (for junkyards with no water or soap), a tube of gemplers waterless in the trunk of my GM, and a tub of purple power under the seat of the Ranger.
 
With multiple projects in various states of completion, the normally cluttered, but organized garage is an organized mess. I won't bore everyone with the project laundry list and their current state of completion, but I suspect the garage is going to remain like that for most of the summer.
 
I have a 30x50 or 60 pole barn so packed full you trip over stuff. I have part of it partioned off to work on stuff...but currently my engineless LTD lives there so im still working on shit in the yard...

2 boats/trailers, 3 or 4 snowblowers, a woodchipper, a 73 honda CB350, numerous bicycles and truck/car parts, 2 or 3 rototillers, a old single bottom plow, 2 351W engines on stands, 2 tractors, 4 riding mowers, numerous other odds, ends, and junk...

As far as tools and things go....shits scattered everywhere...i know where most everything is though, im just bad about putting it away.

Its a miracle really i get done what i do....i guess i just function better in a mess? No idea.


EDIT....

Make that 5 riding mowers. Forgot about the gravely 18h thats been sitting waiting for 5 years to get fixed
 
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My shop...?
1749137777610.jpeg
 

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