Question for people that move alot (Long)

[James Carpenter]

Woodworking is not moving friendly. Being in the military and moving at least every three years does take it's toll on my equipment and supplies. The problems are numerous, like:

1. Technically the military does not allow you to move building supplies (like my rough walnut, cherry, birds eye maple that i seem to always be accumilating)
2. Tools need to be completed disassembled (like table tops and handles that could be bent)
3. As my tools get bigger the weight increases significantly (i try to avoid bench tops because of their inability to handle larger projects)
4. My shop is always dusty because i can not put in an effective dust collection (currently i own a reliant 3hp dual bag system that i drag around flexible hosing, which is an extreme pain)
5. No cabinet space (i definetly don't have room to haul these around from house to house)
6. The military also has a weight limit (mine is 12000 lbs - which i more than max out with my household items, let alone tools).
7. I have always moved myself verses letting the military move me, but i find it harder and harder to find people to help with the loading and unloading (it's one thing to ask someone to help move a long couch, and a complete differnet thing asking them to help move my 280 lb band saw)

How does anybody else with these problems handle it? Obviously i can not stop woodworking. Last time i gave away lots of wood, lots of jigs, etc. just to reduce the load and make more room for less bulky items. I surely don't want to do that again, but i will be moving again in about six months and it will be time again to make tough decisions.

[Wolf Kiessling]

Woodworking is not moving friendly. Being in the military and moving at least every three years does take it's toll on my equipment and supplies. The problems are numerous, like:

1. Technically the military does not allow you to move building supplies (like my rough walnut, cherry, birds eye maple that i seem to always be accumilating)
2. Tools need to be completed disassembled (like table tops and handles that could be bent)
3. As my tools get bigger the weight increases significantly (i try to avoid bench tops because of their inability to handle larger projects)
4. My shop is always dusty because i can not put in an effective dust collection (currently i own a reliant 3hp dual bag system that i drag around flexible hosing, which is an extreme pain)
5. No cabinet space (i definetly don't have room to haul these around from house to house)
6. The military also has a weight limit (mine is 12000 lbs - which i more than max out with my household items, let alone tools).
7. I have always moved myself verses letting the military move me, but i find it harder and harder to find people to help with the loading and unloading (it's one thing to ask someone to help move a long couch, and a complete differnet thing asking them to help move my 280 lb band saw)

How does anybody else with these problems handle it? Obviously i can not stop woodworking. Last time i gave away lots of wood, lots of jigs, etc. just to reduce the load and make more room for less bulky items. I surely don't want to do that again, but i will be moving again in about six months and it will be time again to make tough decisions.

This is not going to answer your question, James, but you have me wondering about something. :confused: I retired from the Navy in '76, so, for 20 years I put up with the same problems you are experiencing. I was not a woodworker at the time but, still, had tools and such that had to be within the weight limitations. However, what I was wondering is why you have purchased all this equipment. When I was on active duty, I can't recall any place where I was stationed that did not have a hobby shop, both wood and automotive, that was usually pretty well equipped. I used to make regular use of the automotive hobby shops, even rebuilt the engine on my old '64 Comet while in Alameda, Ca. These hobby shops used to have equipment that I could not dream of buying for myself. Do the bases, MWR or whatever, not provide hobby shops any more?

BTW, I have had construction materials moved, i.e. lumber, concrete blocks, etc, at govt expense. Of course, it went against my weight allowance.

A note of interest, I started woodworking while full time RVing and ran into the same problem you have now, lack of space for tools/materials and constantly moving around. The solution? Gave up RVing, bought another house and settled down again. Naturally, you can't do that. :(

Wolf

[Don Abele]

James, I've been in the Navy for 18 years, and like you move about every 2-3 years. I have a full 2 car garage full of equipment. Yes, I am ALWAYS way overweight on my allowances and it usually costs me about $1000 out of pocket to compensate for it (of course I make that on mileage and per diem usually, so end up breaking even on the move).

I have never had to get rid of any lumber - talk nice with the truck driver and he'll move it - he really doesn't care what makes up the weight (within reason).

The disassembly of the equipment and later reassembly is a royal PITA, as is setting up the shop again. I moved to VA from WA about 6 months ago and still don't have it organized in there. But I look at it as a great time for some really thorough cleaning and preventative maintenance on all the equipment.

As for dust control, I have a 1.5 HP Jet that I replaced the bag on with a cartridge filter. For the longest time I used 4" flex hose everywhere (I can see everyone cringing at that). It worked better than nothing. :D Since getting to VA though, I swapped all that out for 6" S&D pipe slip fit together and taped. It was pretty easy going up and will actually be easier to move than that flex hose (longest pipe is 10'). But again, setting the DC back up (and electrical drops) is a PITA.

Wolf, first of all - thank you for serving your country for 20 years. To answer your question, when I was young and in the military I used the hobby shops all the time (both woodworking and automotive) too. But as time went on, it became more of a hassle to go to the shops to work. Once I got married, and the honey-do list was created, the logical step was to bring the shop to me. I live 45 minutes from the Norfolk Naval Base which has an excellent hobby shop. I use them on occassion (like when I needed to plane 500 bf of hard maple - even though I have my own planer). Though I have been in places where there was no hobby shop (like my tour in Maine where James is).

Be well,

Doc

[Mike Leonard]

James,

You must be on Recruiter duty as I do not know of an Army base in Maine. If you are PCSing to a stateside assignment you could move your shop yourself. In the long run it might be cheaper than giving things away and movers have a habit of breaking and losing things. If you are moving overseas I'm afraid you might be between a rock and hard spot. If your PCS is a short tour you could always rent a storage unit and preserve your equipment and store it for a year. Earlier in my career when I had to make an overseas move and couldn't take certain things, i.e. firearms, I would leave them with my brother or someone else I knew I could trust. I realize that none of this probably helps but I feel your pain.

Wolf,

With the downsizing of the military and budget cuts the first things that take the hit are MWR. I know of a couple installations that had decent wood shops and they were one of the first things to go. The ones that are still open have very limited hours. The auto hobby shops are still operational but then again everyone drives a car and not everyone is a woodworker.

Mike

[Mike Leonard]

Doc,

Where did you find the 6" S&D pipe? I am in Newport News and need to pick some up. Did you run a ground? Right now I am just dragging 4" flex hose around. I've been too busy globe trotting to get my dust collection system put in. Hopefully when I get back from a short trip next month I can work on it.

Mike

[James Carpenter]

Wolf,
Actually my woodworking started at the MWR woodshop, but as Don and Mike both stated MWR was hit hard with budget cuts. There are still some shops, but only at very large installations. Also, like Don, once marriage came around my time at the woodshop diminshed. Back then i solved that by requesting housing to allow me a very large shed. This allowed me to do most work at the woodshop and then all the finish work at my quarters. When i left Ft. Cambell I realized that all i had for woodworking was a couple sanders, so i started geeting my own tools. I wouldn't change it for the world though, even with the pain of moving. Obviously, moving is a concern though. I had seen a shelving system that was made up entirely of boxes that you could pick up and move individually, but have not seen this in any magazine since. When i made this post, i guess one thing that i was looking for, someone that had some innovative storage system, yet easly taken with you. I can make anything with a set of plans, but ask me to design something and i'll promise you it won't work. We all have our faults :)

[John Preston]

The company I work for moves us around in a fashion similar to the military, though maybe not quite as often.

I have all of my tool chests on wheels. I inherited some of those craftsman steel chests with wood tops. I screwed a 2x4 under them, and stuck wheels on the bottoms. I prefer a high tabletop, so I like them higher than usual.

If you scratch your head, I would bet you could come up with some rolling cabinets made of MDF (unfortunately heavy) or ply that hold all of the smaller items, then you need to address the larger items.

You mentioned that you already move yourself, so if your stuff rolls, friends shouldn't disappear so quickly when moving time comes. I actually know a guy that would call his friends up, ask them for help, then give whoever showed up a toolbox he made. He didn't actually need help, he just wanted to know who his friends were.

There were some wall cabinets in FWW that had french cleats on the backs to hang on the wall. I've used the same drawer system they did for drawers, and it works like a champ.

I'm looking at moving overseas myself by summer, but they're going to probably stick me in an apartment. Looks like my stuff'll be in storage till I get back. I feel your pain on the wood. I dunno what I'm going to do with mine, but I don't have any high class stuff like bird's eye maple.

Want any cherry ply? maybe a little cedar or cypress?

[Wolf Kiessling]

Wolf,
Actually my woodworking started at the MWR woodshop, but as Don and Mike both stated MWR was hit hard with budget cuts. There are still some shops, but only at very large installations. Also, like Don, once marriage came around my time at the woodshop diminshed. Back then i solved that by requesting housing to allow me a very large shed. This allowed me to do most work at the woodshop and then all the finish work at my quarters. When i left Ft. Cambell I realized that all i had for woodworking was a couple sanders, so i started geeting my own tools. I wouldn't change it for the world though, even with the pain of moving. Obviously, moving is a concern though. I had seen a shelving system that was made up entirely of boxes that you could pick up and move individually, but have not seen this in any magazine since. When i made this post, i guess one thing that i was looking for, someone that had some innovative storage system, yet easly taken with you. I can make anything with a set of plans, but ask me to design something and i'll promise you it won't work. We all have our faults :)

I really don't know why I didn't think about the budget cuts myself, James. Actually, MWR (then called Special Services) went to hell when congress removed the Exchange subsidies and made them become self supporting plus supporting MWR. (I may still have been on active duty when that was done)

Anyhow, I digress. I've been thinking about your problem and have come up with a possible idea for you. I participate in a few woodcarving shows every year and there are always a few vendors present that sell tools, supplies, wood, etc. These folks have moving down to a fine science. As noted by John, these vendors have everything stored in wheeled cabinets that kind of fold up, collapse and so on. They carry them in trailers and when they get to a show they just wheel them into the hall and it takes them no time to set up. Same thing after the show is over and they leave. What I am thinking is that someone may have plans for these cabinets that you might be able to obtain and build your own.

I'm not sure that this is exactly what you are thinking of, but if it is, I am including a couple of email addresses of the vendors that I happen to have handy. If you were so inclined, you could contact them and question them about their methods of moving this stuff around and also see if they have any plans to build these things or can possibly point you in the right direction for them. These cabinets look pretty heavy to me and may not be suitable for you but you can determine that for yourself.

The Tool Box
George Vaughn
gcvaughn@peoplepc.com

Rossiter Ruff-outs
Ivan and Trudy Rossiter
rossiter@wichita.infi.net

I hope this helps a little

Wolf

[Lee Schierer]

Moving is a pretty integral part of military life. Here's a few tricks we learned from our Navy years and from living as an AF brat before that.

1. Lumber is not lumber it is shelving. They won't pay to move lumber, but they will move sotrage shelving.

2. Base hobby shops are always looking for good people to work there. My dad used to help out part time (spent most of it making things) and he kept their equipment in top working order too. You can always bring your own blades.

3. Pay the overweight amount, their weight allowances are pretty fair for most households. Make sure you have a good inventory of your tools and make sure the shipper knows you have a good inventory and that a sticker gets placed on every box as it leaves the house before it goes on the truck. Marking the boxes as "shop stuff" or "garage stuff" instead of tools will insure they complete the trip, but make sure the inventory sheet says tools and what kind. Demonstrate that all tools are working.

Capt. USNR (ret)

[Dan Bussiere]

Many people don't realize the sacrifices that our fine men and women in the military make. I hear some make the half hearted remark about "supporting the troops" while complaining about the money spent on our military. After 23 years in the finest military in the history of the world, I have learned some things. The silent majority appreciate the sacrifices that you make, although they don't really know what the sacrifices are! The loud minority complains about anything and everything that isn't saving the spotted owl. While the G.I. gets up everyday, shaves his face, kisses the spouse goodbye, for what he/she hopes is just the day, and presses on. They are prepared to not only give their life on a moments notice for our great land, but on a daily basis, have to worry about many out of pocket expenses that are not covered. I understand your pain as a woodworker and a military member. Don't have any answers, but I know you will do as we always have, Salute Smartly and Press On! Thanks for your service and I hope I haven't broken any rules here, but if I did red flag me.
Dan

[James Carpenter]

Its ironic you talk about out of pocket expenses. First, after 17 years (so far) the money for moving has gotten better, but most don't realize how expensive it is to move so often and occasionally raise two households. I have enough curtains in boxes to setup the Biltmore Estate. It seems like every move i have to buy new curtains because no house has the same size windows, and curtains and curtain rods every two to three years can be expensive. I forget where i heard this but it seems quite true, "every three moves equates to one house fire".