Moving to another city

Where are you now and where are you going? What type of tools do you have? How do you plan on moving the rest of yourself?

I recently did New Orleans to New York and had quite a few tools come with me.

-- It's made of wood. Real sturdy.--Chubbs Peterson

Disassemble each tool/machine one at a time, place each piece, nut & bolt into a seperate ziploc bag and label. Place ziploc bags into a box. Only put one tool/machine’s bags into a box all it’s own, seal & label (include owner’s manual). Rinse & Repeat, for each and every tool/machine. Call moving company to relocate all your “Tool Boxes” and belongings. Once at new home, reassemble tool/machines, one at a time.

Seriously though, Good luck with the new job, residence and most of all your “New Workshop”!!!

-- Randy-- I may not be good...but I am slow!

I’ve never moved tools (except when I moved myself), but one good way to decide is to get the mover to give you a $/lb price and then decide what is worth moving and what would be cheaper to replace.

-- Adversity doesn't build character...................it reveals it.

Depends on what your criteria for “best way” is and how far your
move is. You’ll find freight costs are pretty dear and unless your
machines are really nice, higher-end ones, chances are your best
options in terms of economy are to sell them or put them on
a rental truck and drive them yourself.

I moved mine in a moving van with all the household goods. Expensive but efficient if you don’t have time to pack, load, unload, etc.

-- Joe

Mike – is your new company giving you a relo package? Hopefully they are and you can just let the movers worry about loading and unloading your tools.

-- -- Lou Stagner, http://www.WorkTheWood.com (a blog about a newbie woodworker's journey)

I’ll be moving (about 200 miles) in a few months. I’m debating the same thing.

My neighbor has an 18’ enclosed car trailer I could pull with my Jeep, and I’m thinking about loading the major tools into it and drive over myself. The little stuff we would pack and either make a second trip or let the movers take it.

—Gerry

-- Gerry -- "I don't plan to ever really grow up ... I'm just going to learn how to act in public!"

I moved mine 1800 miles one way, 4 years ago. I loaded them into a 16ft cargo trailer and 1/2 ton truck. (Total weight 1st load 10,150 lbs) (Second trip wanted to load lighter 11,280 lbs) Made 2 trips !!!!!!!! (Some furniture came as well)
Would I do it again. YEP.

-- "My mission in life - make everyone smile !"

My full shop of large machines plus 15,000 lbs of wood went from Ohio to Washington State almost 5 years ago and it went into the moving semi with all our household goods. Yes, the semi was overweight by 6000 lbs. but the driver said he didn’t care. He knew how to avoid scales. Everything arrived in excellent shape. No breakage at all.

-- Don, Diamond Lake Custom Woodworks - http://www.dlwoodworks.com - "If you make something idiot proof, all they do is make a better idiot"

I moved from NY to FL using U-boxes (5’x8’x8’ plywood pods) 4 for the house and 1 for the shop. The shop pod had my 14” bandsaw and my floor-standing drill press. It worked pretty well. If you had more power tools you might run into weight issues.

-- Galootish log blog, http://www.timberframe-tools.com

I recently moved from SW Washington to Illinois and this was one of my main concerns. We had a moving company do the move. Pushed it on the weight but it was legal. They took excellent care of everything from the household items to my shop items. They even took the time to unpack the big power tools (bandsaw, sander etc.) and had me inspect they showed up in the same condition they left in. The only thing they would not move was any of the finishes, fertilizers, my ammo, liquids such as bleach. No problem, I was driving out so items they would not take went in my utility trailer.

-- Brock, Illinois

If you’re moving yourself just load them first in the trailer with some breakdown and stack everything else on top. Otherwise pods seem to be the way to go. Just load the stuff in and the pod goes where it needs to. I don’t know if I’d bother moving lumber unless you have a large amount of something that will no longer be readily available.

-- --Rev. Russ in NY-- A posse ad esse

Take lots and lots of photos BEFORE you take anything apart and/or put it in a box. Number all boxes and have a list of whats inside each box.

-- Never board, always knotty, lots of growth rings

Hi all,

Thank you for the ideas. I am moving to upstate NY and it will be over a 3 hour move. Here is what I am going to be moving:

Contractor Table Saw
Miter Saw
14” Bandsaw
Floor Style Drill Press
bench top lathe
9” x 48” Disc Sander
6” Jointer
Dust Collector
2 Storage Carts with allot of other stuff
Other odds and ends

-- look Ma! I still got all eleven of my fingers! - http://www.termitecrafts.com

I moved from Maryland to Texas 5 years ago and I sold a lot of my tools on Creigslist in MD and bought better ones here in Texas.

-- In God We Trust