The 1st Annual Great Messy Shop Smack Down!!!!!

[Jeff Nicol]

Matt, I seem to remember all the mess from last year at this time! I thought you were going to get it all cleaned up so you could use the rest of your tools buried in the mess!

Lots of curls!

Jeff

Okay okay, I'll bite. Here's my shop as it is this morning. This is as about as cluttered as it gets, as I have been feverishly finishing pieces with no regard for the areas outside of the lathes' work areas. That said, I have certainly had greater volumes of shavings, especially under the big lathe. And just you wait until I start roughing the 1200 lbs of cherry you see in the last photo. I might even start to rival Mike Mahoney.

Hutch

P.S. A couple years ago I let the shavings pile in my driveway build up to a point where it took 3 pick-up truck loads to the yard waste dump to get rid of it. Never again.

[Dick Wilson]

After having viewed all the pics from different turners so far..............the very issue that makes me try to avoid this situation in the first place, comes so vividly to mind...........

Is anyone here, besides me concerned about fire? Sparks off a grinder, or a myriad of other causes, and this kind of thing just makes a total loss of one's shop almost a certainty.

I am not at all trying to be critical..........but having experienced the devastation of a house fire when I was young, that has always informed my cautionary propensities about keeping the dust and shavings at least somewhat under control in the wood shop. I was also injured [3rd degree burns] on my right hand as a youngster, so now you may understand my thinking as well.

Grinder sparks Oh yeh, I have one somewhere. Let me move a pile

[Jeff Nicol]

Ok, I finally got some time to get on the forum and do some serious posting! These are some pics after 5 hours of cleaning to be able to walk through the shop last Saturday when a friend and fellow turner from South Milwaukee was stopping in on his way for a week of fishing in northern WI. So here goes the mess, I may not have as many curls, but I hate standing on them so I keep them cleaned up most of the time unless I am doing a lot of roughing out. But I think I have the most stuff piled everywhere on everything!

Check these out! Pic 1 is grinder bench, 2 welding bench, 3 buried 46-460, 4 cut offs by chop saw (pen and stopper blanks) 5 exotic and bowling ball storage area, 6 Attic room with who knows! 7 entrance and bandsaw attached file is tool rack and another buried lathe, with small sluice box!

Jeff



Messy shop (2).jpg Messy shop (4).jpg Messy shop (14).jpgMessy shop (12).jpg Messy shop (3).jpg Messy shop (13).jpg Messy shop (6).jpg

[Rick Markham]

I can help you with that clutter Jeff... just assemble one of those rings into a steady rest and I will gladly take it off your hands for ya, and put some change in your pocket!

(never hurts to ask)

[John Keeton]

Jeff, now I understand why you bought the Delta 46-460 - so you would have a place to store tools and turning blanks!!! Good plan!

[Matt Hutchinson]

Matt, I seem to remember all the mess from last year at this time! I thought you were going to get it all cleaned up so you could use the rest of your tools buried in the mess!

Hehe, yup that was the plan. Mission failed, but there's still hope.

[David DeCristoforo]

"These are some pics after 5 hours of cleaning..."

Now that's what I'm talkin' about!

[Jeff Fagen]

Whenever I see a pile of shavings like that it reminds me of the movie"The Bad Seed"where the handyman burned to death in the sellar full of wood shavings.Not for me ,I clean up after every turning.

[Norm Zax]

Seeing all of you greedily competing for the golden cup, its time for defining categories:
1. Dusty = shavings left at location
2. Woody = too much wood and no where to put it
3. Tool tip = tools seldom put in place/have no designated place
I think all three should deserve special attention. The holy grail goes to the master who unwittingly combines all three specialities!

[David DeCristoforo]

"...its time for defining categories..."

Jeff's shop is going to be hard to beat in any category (except for "clean"!) Look closely and you will find things that one might never expect to find in a wood shop. Like a rack of bowling balls (don't ask what those are for...) And just try opening that roll up door. We could have a "Where's Waldo" contest in that shop. This is like one of those pug dogs that is so ugly it transcends ugliness and becomes almost cute. "Exuberant" is the word that comes to mind.

[Dick Wilson]

Ok, I finally got some time to get on the forum and do some serious posting! These are some pics after 5 hours of cleaning to be able to walk through the shop last Saturday when a friend and fellow turner from South Milwaukee was stopping in on his way for a week of fishing in northern WI. So here goes the mess, I may not have as many curls, but I hate standing on them so I keep them cleaned up most of the time unless I am doing a lot of roughing out. But I think I have the most stuff piled everywhere on everything!

Check these out! Pic 1 is grinder bench, 2 welding bench, 3 buried 46-460, 4 cut offs by chop saw (pen and stopper blanks) 5 exotic and bowling ball storage area, 6 Attic room with who knows! 7 entrance and bandsaw attached file is tool rack and another buried lathe, with small sluice box!

Jeff



Messy shop (2).jpg Messy shop (4).jpg Messy shop (14).jpgMessy shop (12).jpg Messy shop (3).jpg Messy shop (13).jpg Messy shop (6).jpg

Hi Jeff, I think it was David who pronounced that once you showed up you would put us all to shame Now I can see why. Dang. I don't see piles of shavings but everything else more than makes up for it. That is an impressive array of years of hoarding. I will bet that every single item in the pics is absolutely crucial to your turning. Yup, from my prospective you take the lead......sorry Kathy. In your case I don't think a dust pan and broom is the appropriate prize. A hoarding interventionist would be more suited.

[Jim Underwood]

I could probably rival Jeff's mess if I posted pix. My shop is still in a state of "planning" to put in dust collection and air lines, as well as finishing the wiring, and adding on a room for the DC and air compressor. So there are unfinished cabinets (no tops) along the unwired wall with plans for RAS and Miter saw fences. On top of all that, there's about as much stuff/junk/wood piled up everywhere that you can just about walk through the aisle from the front to the back without losing touch with it at fingertip height.

But I am saving up money for the addition, and the plan is to finish the wife's nightstands, then tackle the shop organization again...

I should post pix, but I think they're all at home...

[Lori Kleinberg]

I am sooo jealous. I can't let things get too bad because I would never find my shop dog :
IMG_1387.jpg
Although it is alot more cramped now then when that picture was taken.
Oh yeah, also because I have an anal retentive husband that would have a hissey fit if I let it go too far.

[Dick Wilson]

I am sooo jealous. I can't let things get too bad because I would never find my shop dog :
IMG_1387.jpg
Although it is alot more cramped now then when that picture was taken.
Oh yeah, also because I have an anal retentive husband that would have a hissey fit if I let it go too far.

Lori, Fortunately my dog is much bigger and refuses to go down the stairs into my shop.....that is a good thing. She would be a 50 pound dust magnet. I bet John K. is beaming with pride.

[Jeff Nicol]

I figure since the shop was built around 1940 it could definitely be enlarged in case of a fire, but that being said I have lots of stuff and it changes weekly depending on the project that is in the forefront of my masteful ways! I think I did not post the picture with a 1961 Mercury 9.8 outboard motor sitting on the table saw! I have so many projects going at one time that it is like musical tools and clearing surfaces to work on. I have to keep the floors swept up as I hate kicking chips all around and makes it much easier to get through the stuff! So I have laid the challenge down and will glady accept defeat, if it should arise! I am moving all the welding and metal tools out to my little shop (10x12) soon, just have to finish insulating it and moving all the tools over, then the main shop will be decluttered and reorganized to perfection! Big dreams, but maybe I can keep one of my promises......maybe!

But the big thing is that I have a 42x36 pole shed out in the country that has my tractor, Woodmizer, more tools, 4x4 ATV, More tools, 15,000 bdft of lumber and other asundry stuff!

I am blessed, with a loving wife who will not let me bring anything in the house, so it is clean and tidy, no hoarding there! Maybe some of the travelers from the symposium will come take some wood with them on their way home to help me out!!!


Clutter is my friend,

Jeff