shop hygiene

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

You guys post pictures of immaculate shops, that I don't think I could have unless I spent more time cleaning than working in it. When i was a kid, my dad would take me to visit a turning shop where the guy made all kinds of things, but what impressed me, is he made bats for baseball players. He had an old gas engine that powered the ceiling pulleys and then belts hung down to run the lathes. When we visited, I got the job of cleaning out shavings from around a lathe that was not being used. Sometimes the shavings would be knee deep. We took a big scoop shovel and threw them out the back door, which was about six feet above the ground. Folks would stop and take the shavings for gardens and whatever. When we got down to the floor, the owner would gruffly say that it was clean enough. And then he used an air compressor to blow the rest of the dust out the back door. His shop was never as pristine as the pictures posted here. Right now I have a lathe in the pole barn with a pile of shavings under it maybe 5 inches deep. I rake them up once a week. It has a dirt floor. My new lathe in is the basement, where I am setting up a shop, and I suppose I can look forward to lots of shop vac time. I will not be working in the basement until a dust collection system is set up. Then my barn lathe will be coming over to the basement as well. For some reason, it seems simpler to switch from one lathe to another for an operation than to be switching chucks and centers etc.

[Frederick Skelly]

Seems like shop cleanliness varies by several factors, from what I've observed across SMC Forums. See what you think?
* Shops inside the main part of the house are often cleaner
* Shops in the basement seem to go either way
* Single-person commercial shops are somewhat less clean (busy just trying to make a living?)
* Shops that have employees are usually cleaner (liability?, productivity?, insurance?)
* Shops for which the owner built their own dedicated shop building, or that they rennovated space to create a shop, tend to be cleaner
* Some folks are natural neat-niks, some folks are the opposite

[Roger Chandler]

My issue is room, and I happen to like a clean shop, although my shop is way too small and a bit cluttered. I vacuum up chips/curlees after every project with both my dust collector with 4” hose and my shop vac, and usually between the final pass sanding and when the finish is applied. Too much dust can ruin a good finish.

When I get a larger shop/studio, I want it organized to the hilt, with a good place for everything, down to the smallest drill bit and screws and nails. I have too many tools and boxes of wood blanks for it to be the way I want it at present, but that larger shop is in my plans for sure.

An organized and clean shop is an efficient environment and increases productivity, where less time is spent moving/searching for things, and more on the actual making. It is also a much safer shop, as it keeps down fire and tripping hazzards.

[roger wiegand]

One possibility is that people sweep up to take pictures. I've been guilty of that.

My shop cycles, it's a mess in the middle of a big project, but I try to give it a good cleaning between projects. Putting everything away, sweeping, and dusting takes a solid hour; I don't feel like I can afford that much time on the twice-a-day basis it would take to maintain the shop relatively pristine. I sweep up shavings at the lathe every day, they seem like a possible fire hazard, but not down to clean clean. The DC saves me from a big mess at most of my other machines. I've been working on better organization and tool storage so that a lot more tools go back to their "home" every time I finish using them. That's still a work in progress.

[daryl moses]

It depends on what i'm turning. If i'm just tinkering around with spindles, practicing etc i'll clean up after every session. On the other hand if i'm in "production mode" i.e. have an order for several bowls or have a bunch of rough-outs to do I won't clean up until that job is finished or the shavings get so deep that it's a safety concern.
My shop is also small Roger, but I plan on doing a major expansion-remodel this Spring.

[Reed Gray]

"You know it is time to clean up the shop when you have to get down on your knees to turn..."

robo hippy

[William C Rogers]

I have the 80% rule. I need it to be at least 80% clean. Never have gotten to even 95% clean.

[Sid Matheny]

A clean shop? What is that! :rolleyes:

[George Troy Hurlburt]

It's a must when I clean the shop, that I wear a dust mask, for me that is the worst time and it really affects my science, causing sneezes.

[robert baccus]

I observe that true craftsmen keep a shop silly clean, true artists keep a sloppy shop--obviously a genetic thing.

[John K Jordan]

My shop sign, my first try at chip carving letters:

372633

Some people apparently keep a shop to polish. My shop is for playing.

JKJ

[Richard Dooling]

Clean to me is clean enough when it's safe. Especially trip hazards. When I worked in a specialty lumber and mill shop the lead man and I cleaned up one day. The owner came out and asked if we thought it was clean enough. "Yep!"

She ran a hand down a horizontal channel on an overhead door. Dust, "Nope!"

I still struggle with answering trick questions.

Organized is another matter but a trick I've come up with is that whenever possible, I store a tool wherever I always seem to look first!

[Leo Van Der Loo]

There was a quite long thread on the messiest shop, where lots of turners showed their shop being messy at times, goed thread with lots of pictures :D

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?167940-The-1st-Annual-Great-Messy-Shop-Smack-Down!!!!!&highlight=dirty+shop

[Robert Hayward]

I used to work on the road a lot, be gone for weeks at a time. When home I would "play" out in the garage shop making quite a mess with the lathe. Sometimes clean it up before going out on a job again and sometimes not. A neighbor would take care of my lawn using my lawn equipment located my garage shop. I had roughed a bunch of green wood bowls and abruptly had to go out on a job site. Neighbor called the next weekend from my garage and said he thought he was going to have to drag a magnet around my garage to find my lawnmower.

[Doug Rasmussen]

I always liked this from Albert Einstein : “If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an emptydesk a sign?”

[Robert Marshall]

My late brother Harry was always the neat son, and I was the slob, growing up. (He became a CPA, of course!)

My shop reflects that. I usually clean up my lathe shed every so often with a leaf blower, which works wonderfully. (I make it a point to keep lightweight items in a tool box. Heavy stuff, like my big chuck or face plates, can weather the leaf blower storm without a wobble.)

But even after a 'clean-up,' I wouldn't dare try to apply finishes in the shop. So I have a folding table that I use at home, to do that sort of thing. Usually on the screen porch or the boathouse; she doesn't like smelling solvents evaporating. Good to live in the South, for that.

Robert

[Tom Giacomo]

When I can't find tools anymore I know it's time to clean up.

[Richard Dooling]

Robert,
My favorite brother in law has been known to spring clean pretty much his whole house with a leaf blower. Put the small stuff in boxes and let-r-rip!

[Brad Barnhart]

I clean up around my lathe(s) when I'm done for the day. My tools always get put away if I'm not using them. My planer & ts is where the biggest mess is usually at. I try to keep it cleaned up around there too. If I don't, my shop foreman thinks it's great fun to roll around in the shavings & go to the dog bed where my greeter is sleepin' & shake off the shavings on him, go back & do it again!:)

Before I do any finishing, bcause I to have a small shop, I clean up the shop the best I can. Vacuum the carpet. Use the air hose & blow every thing off around the project table. Lights, ceiling, table, other equipment close to the table, & call it good. I've never had any trouble.

I've got 5 scroll saws, 2 lathes & a drill press to work around that are fairly close to my table. So dust is an issue. But cleanin' the way I do, I don't have any dust trouble in my finish. Sometimes I even cover my scroll saws & lathes bcause I use an air sprayer to do my stainin' & finish work.

[Richard Dooling]

This time of the year, with the weather getting cold, I'm more motivated to clean up under the lathe. Shavings make great rodent nests.

[robert baccus]

I used to clean the shop and the living room with a leaf blower--until my bride came home early one day!!

[Wayne Kuhn]

I enjoy cleaning my shop. Afterward I can't wait to mess it up again. Very inspirational.