# How clean is your shop?



## mark88 (Jun 8, 2009)

AHHHHH how good it feels to have a clean shop once again. For once my shop is tidy and clean once again. But not often. After just working with bloodwood it looked like I took my chalk bottle and spilled the chalk all over my shop. So finally I decided to clean it up today. Hows your shop?


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## craftsman on the lake (Dec 27, 2008)

I put tools away, blow, sweep and vacuum after every project. That could be a two day project or a two week one. But I do like the look of it clean. And when the work is done I like to bring it back up to snuff.


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## degoose (Mar 20, 2009)

I have 53 projects on the go at this moment… so what do you reckon?


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## Timbo (Aug 21, 2008)

Cleaned mine up yesterday am…....its dirty again, oh well.


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## dbhost (Jul 20, 2009)

I found the floor last night. Does that count?

All the tools are in their proper places, it's cutoffs, scrap, and hardware I am having storage issues with keeping my shop messy, not to mention yard tools, BBQ pits, and the seemingly ever present fencing material for my back fence. I have been wanting to get out into the yard since early October and get the fence done, but it has been raining so consistently that I step out into the yard and I almost immediately sink in mud…

As messy as it is though, like I said, I found the floor, which is an accomplishment!


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## cabinetmaster (Aug 28, 2008)

Hey Lazy Larry…....................... probably 53" of sawdust…..................LOL


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## BlankMan (Mar 21, 2009)

Depends, during a project, a mess, between projects, pretty clean, I can even see the bench tops. LOL But that doesn't last long…


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## mark88 (Jun 8, 2009)

53!? what the heck are you doin online? get to work before its 54


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## CharlieM1958 (Nov 7, 2006)

I just finished assembling a box this morning, so I followed my usual routine of cleaning the shop before I started to put the finish on.


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## cabinetmaster (Aug 28, 2008)

Good for you Charlie….........LOL


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## cranbrook2 (May 28, 2006)

My shop will never be clean ! Just like my house


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## webwood (Jul 2, 2009)

my floor is completely covered in planer chips - kinda like going to the circus - cement floor so it's easy on the feet!


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## hairy (Sep 23, 2008)

I keep it clean as I go,and never go off and leave a mess. All those years in the Air Force made it a habit.


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## mark88 (Jun 8, 2009)

i can relate john


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## asthesawturns (Aug 23, 2009)

Super messy and disorganized, currently. I am trying to build a new multifunction tbench in the back of the garage, As I build a section I put the tool there, so far my router table and miter saw now have a home, everything else is in limbo, for a few mor days. As this project moves along I get more and more organized, when I started I had barely enough room to get my mitersaw out, and lay out the 2X4s, I still need to squeeze by the table saw, but it is coming along. In a couple of days I will be finished enough to house most everything, and get rid of a 3'X3'X4' mobile tool cabinet I built a few years ago. Then it will really start coming together.


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## SnowyRiver (Nov 14, 2008)

I keep mine very clean. I often stop in the middle of a project or after a procedure and clean up then start in again. I dont like a lot of sawdust on the floor because it gets slippery and dangerous.


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## JasonWagner (Sep 10, 2009)

I clean up after every project. Sometimes after different stages of the project. If I cut MDF and there's dust all over I'll try to get it up more quickly. Shavings from a plane on the floor don't bother me as much. I just hate having tons of bench space all covered by tools, so I try to put things away often.


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## sbryan55 (Dec 8, 2007)

I usually managed to clean mine up each day. But that is according to my standards, of course. My wife's standards are somewhat higher than mine and she is fond of pointing out what a messy shop I have.


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## 8iowa (Feb 7, 2008)

Snowy:

You took the words right out of my mouth. I seldom finish a project without cleaning up several times. I simply like to work in a clean area. I exasperate my son and my son-in-law who have no share in this "quirk" of mine.

When people visit, I often get comments like " When are you going to start using this shop?" or "Don't you ever use these tools?"


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## mark88 (Jun 8, 2009)

scott… meh my shop my rules…i even got a mens only sign on my door


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## dmorgantx (Dec 16, 2009)

Cluttered! I try to clean it nightly… and anytime I start loosing stuff!


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## JAGWAH (Dec 15, 2009)

I stop to clean often. It's one of the most important things I feel I do in the shop. Not for the cleanliness or need for order but the contemplative zen moments it affords me. When I get stuck on a problem or need to come up with a new project I'll start to clean. I don't clean in any orderly way but follow my hands around the shop. This way of cleaning might be heard to explain, but here goes…

I'll, for example, move a cup of nails to where they belong. While doing that I'll see something where it takes me and move or clean that, thus moving back and forth around the shop in a zen like non directional flow. Cleaning the shop as the shop directs me with no thought needed thus allowing my quiet mind to ruminate on my current issues, pondering solutions. I don't always finish cleaning before some revelation hits me.

My shop is always messy and clean at any given time. When I finish a project I am not quick to clean up since there is aways a reason to revisit my last actions to refine a project. Hence I always leave router bits in the router they're last used in at their set depth.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

My shops in pretty good shape right now, I like it clean and everything in it's place. Even when it's clean I can't keep up with some of the shops that look like operating rooms.


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## CanadianWoodChuck (Sep 8, 2007)

I like to have a clean shop, then I can find what I'm looking for and not wasting time. My wife suggested that if I put as much effort into helping with the housework it would be as clean as my shop  I just don't seem to have the same incentive indoors. I spend most of my time out in the shop so I like it clean.


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## woodcrafter47 (Nov 24, 2009)

Well I clean after most projects, however a few are not finished so therefor I do not clean until I need to do the finishing, Bench top sometimes get to cluttered and have to stop and put away tools that I will not use again for project . Like other I like making dust therfore means that I am working on something.Don't get in the conerrs too well though. Keep it tidy and keep it handy is what I do.


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## ropedog (Mar 26, 2008)

so trashed i cannot even find my lathe,my life is one big organized mess. it seem to work for me.


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## mark88 (Jun 8, 2009)

my shop can get very messy but as messy as it gets i can still find where everything is. i know where i used everything last


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## huff (May 28, 2009)

Love to keep the shop clean. Very seldom do I leave the shop that it's not picked up and cleaned. On a heavy work day, I will usually do a partial cleaning sometime during the day and then again before I leave. I have enough trouble tracking down my tape measure and pencil as it is. lol.


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## Sawkerf (Dec 31, 2009)

Aren't the words "clean" and "shop" in the same sentence a contradiction in terms?

My family has been instructed for years that they're welcome to use anything I have in there as long as they put it back exactly where they found it. Not where they think it should go, but where they picked it up!! - lol


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## toddc (Mar 6, 2007)

I run a pretty tight shop but there is always room for improvement and I am working on it right now.


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## Porosky (Mar 10, 2009)

300 days later…. Still waiting for mine to be clean enough for workshop pictures.


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## Dudley (Jun 22, 2009)

22 yrs in the Navy and my Dad always told me the job is not done until the tools are cleaned and put away and the shop is cleaned. I adhered to that as best I can.


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## Grumpy (Nov 9, 2007)

Waiting for you to give mine a clean Mark. LOL


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## mark88 (Jun 8, 2009)

O I'm hiding in there under one of the many piles of sawdust grumpy looking for the light of day and a vacuum


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## dbhost (Jul 20, 2009)

Roper, if you can't find you lathe, you're making me look GOOD!


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## miles125 (Jun 8, 2007)

My shop is like one of those mood rings. Catch me on a bad string of days and it looks like a bomb went off. Still not sure which comes first though, a clean shop or a better mood…


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## kolwdwrkr (Jul 27, 2008)

Heidi just cleaned ours and I updated my workshop pics. Then it went back to messy.


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## Brian024 (Feb 2, 2009)

I usually clean it before I finish something, during the winter. When its warmer, I move the piece outside or to the shed and finish it there. It's been clean for almost 1 1/2 weeks but after tomorrow, it won't be for a while as I've got a couple things to build.


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## Rick Dennington (Aug 27, 2009)

Greetings Mark: I keep my shop cleaner than a Safeway chittlin'..... I detest clutter and filth, and I'm my own worst maid…. I'm the same in the house, and my wife knows it,too. Sure, it gets messy while doing a project, so I keep the door locked so noone will come in and disturb me while cleaning up. Someone once told me they could eat off my floors and cabinets….. that's a little extreme, I think, but close to true when the shop is top-notch clean. What can I say…..... I'm a neat-nick, not an old beatnic…..... keep on keeping on.


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## patron (Apr 2, 2009)

i cleaned my shop before i moved my tools into it .

and plan on cleaning it as soon as i get the dust collector going ,
i now have all the parts ,
but its been down to -2 outside and under the shop ,
so maybe next year ?


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## mark88 (Jun 8, 2009)

ya whats the deal with the cold weather down there is that normal? not to sound so canadian lol


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## Taigert (Nov 20, 2007)

Every Thursday afternoon is a shop clean and tune time. If I miss a week it just gets to be to much work to get it all done, then I don't want to do it at all.
Being a born Procrastinator, it' I don't schedule it, it won't get done.
I clean up at the end of each day by putting stuff away, and a quick sweep.

But Thursdays are for a good clean up and maintainence time.
Organize the scrap and take care of the lumber rack. 
Put everything away from the past week. I open everything up and check belts and stuff, vacuum everything from inside the equipment and wax all the iron down. 
Take care of saw blades & bits, all cleaned, any thing that needs to be sent out for sharpening gets done. Then if I have the time I try to keep up with plane irons & chissels.


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## REK (Aug 30, 2009)

Mark,

You are invited for coffe-steak-and a bud, but first you'll

have to help me clean the shop!!!


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## Innovator (Jan 20, 2009)

I did a little straightening up yesterday before going out to celebrate with friends. Not perfect but it will be once I make a mess again today!


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## Gene01 (Jan 5, 2009)

A clean shop?
It's all relative. 
My wife prominently displays a sign that reads "Dull Women Have Immaculate Homes" By that standard, I'm one very exciting guy!


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## mark88 (Jun 8, 2009)

Bob I'll help you clean the shop but you have to let be bbq the steak ;D

I find it amazing how long it takes to clean a shop but how quick it gets messy again.


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## bigfish_95008 (Nov 26, 2009)

Being in SoCal I am able to work outside much of the year, and the place I am renting right now has a very small garage. Everything gets rolled out at the start of the day and rolled back into it's home at night. It is generally clean after that. If the wife is helping the shop vac is the first thing that comes out before the tools are rolled back.


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## mark88 (Jun 8, 2009)

i love working outside which for me is only 4-5 months of the year. I still have my neighbours yellin at me because when they open their garage they got sawdust everywhere which I find funny. They love me lol


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## JohnGray (Oct 6, 2007)

Since I made adapters to hook up my Delta 1-1/2 Hp Dust Collector SS Model # 50-760 most of my dust problems are controlled. My friend was over the other day and commented on how clean my floor was. I told him I had used the TS, jointer, planer, and bandsaw that day he said "How long since you vacuumed?". I told him I hadn't and he was amazed. I've signed up for a class involving lathe work for this Summer and I'm sure when I start using my lathe I will have another dust/chip problem to solve.
I try to put away every tool, finishing supply, and fastener that I'm not using on my current projects away every time I'm done using it/them. My shop still looks somewhat of a mess. *;-)*


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## Dusty56 (Apr 20, 2008)

Cleaning my shop is at the top of my things to do *tomorrow* list. 
Can you say ….Procrastinator ?? 
But seriously folks , I wish I could keep it somewhere between spotless and cluttered , but it is always one or the other with no happy medium : ( Maybe some new meds would help ! LOL

*Happy New Year to Everyone of you wonderful people out there !*


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## mark88 (Jun 8, 2009)

just like i say to my wife….i'll help you clean the house *tomoro* lol


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## ellen35 (Jan 1, 2009)

Whenever I clean the shop I find stuff I lost before… and I lose a few things because they are now "put away" where they belong! I do try to keep it clean as we put a car in the second bay of the garage and I have everything on wheels. Cleaned it today… changed bandsaw blade, table saw blade, drum sander paper and cleaned out my shorts bin… that will last about a week! I just can't throw any wood away… no matter how small… I'm saving a splinter I got today ;-) !!
Ellen


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## mark88 (Jun 8, 2009)

lmao speak of the devil ellen…i got a splinter of purpleheart yesterday and i saved it lol


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## Gene01 (Jan 5, 2009)

I* should* save splinters. After all, I work so *&%$ed hard getting them out.


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## mark88 (Jun 8, 2009)

lol and after the price of wood anymore


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## Dustmite97 (Aug 1, 2009)

My shop is small and gets cluttered very easy. I usually clean up after each project but by the next one it is messy again.


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## johnnymo (Aug 15, 2009)

Right now my shop is clean because I just finished a project. But that won't last. I start my next project tomorrow and, well, you know how that goes.


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## mark88 (Jun 8, 2009)

like i said in the forum i just cleaned my shop which was yeasterday and today my main workbench is already covered with all my wood i'll be working with in the next project. sad eh?


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## rareddy (Jan 31, 2009)

There's "clean", then there's "cluttered". If you're working, it's impossible to keep it "clean", but once can keep it uncluttered. I forgot where I read it, but the suggestion was every time you enter your shop, put 10 things away. Be it a box of screws, a tape measure, whatever. It helps keep it up.

Now, if I could only live by those rules!


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## Rustic (Jul 21, 2008)

Define clean


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## mark88 (Jun 8, 2009)

it only takes 10 things to mess my shop up…lol i only have a one car garage 12×20


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## ND2ELK (Jan 25, 2008)

I completely clean the shop after every project is done because I finish in the same area. Sometimes I clean more depending on certain operations I am doing. All my tools are put back after I am done using them everyday.


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## flyingoak (Nov 21, 2009)

Ugly….... just plain UGLY…......


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## Jim Jakosh (Nov 24, 2009)

I have a small shop in the basement and I don't have a vacuum system for three reasons; 1) Money,2) It will not catch a lot of the chips from my drill press and hand router going around parts on the bench & 3) Sweeping the floor is good aerobic exercise and a dust collector would rob me of that!!
When I walk into someone's shop and it is squeaky clean, it makes me uncomfortable and gives me the feeling that not a lot of work is getting done there. Squeaky clean is for kitchens and bathrooms!

I do like to have a place for everything once I get through using them, but I can never get all the dust and chips out of every corner and under every piece of roll around machinery in the shop.


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## Broglea (Dec 9, 2009)

Its a work in progress. I have a small shop that can get cluttered quickly. I find the best time to clean is during glue up when I seem to have the most down time. I can't seem to get my wife out to the shop to clean it for me.


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## rickc (Jun 27, 2009)

Alright who moved my tape measure and where did those square drive screws go to ?


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## mark88 (Jun 8, 2009)

thats why i bought 7 tapes and a pack of pencils when my tapes were on sale..lol..i have a tape anywhere you look


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## dusty2 (Jan 4, 2009)

It is all Mr Peterson's fault. Mr Peterson was my high school shop teacher. No saw dust and no wood chips left on the floor or around the various shop areas unless you were all still working for the day. No vacuum cleaners or compressed air. Cleanup was is with a rat tail broom, a push broom and a dust pan.

Now that last set of guidelines is no longer followed. I do use compressed air to blow out the saw dust followed by the vacuum to pick it up off the floor.

I don't use compressed air to blow off the work bench any more. I've lost too many small miscellaneous parts, bits and pieces that way.


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## Xtreme90 (Aug 29, 2009)

I always clean the shop.  I might do several projects before I clean, but for the majority I'm very fussy with keeping my tools and shop clean and mint!


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## NH_Hermit (Dec 3, 2009)

Mine's fairly clean. Probably not up to my wife's standard, but at least to mine. Like many of you, shop teachers of the past have had an impact. One kept saying, "A clean work area is a safe work area."

Besides, I have the habit of loosing tools, so I do try to put them away - especially the expensive ones.

I tiled the floor when I built the shop and find it can get very slippery with sawdust. I'm also concerned about sawdust getting into the wall heater and combusting. I do love my Ridgid shop vac.

I've still to find a good method for storing scrap wood. I hate to throw away even the smallest piece, so there's a growing pile at the far end of the workbench.


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## ropedog (Mar 26, 2008)

o.k mark ,today is the day i go into the shop and find my lathe,i will report back when it happens ,probably some time this evening.


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## mark88 (Jun 8, 2009)

whats it turning roper? a lost hammer? lol do you feel like an archiologist slowly dusting its appearance


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## Northerner (Sep 30, 2009)

i clean mine all the time before i lock up and head home for the night.


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## ropedog (Mar 26, 2008)

I found it, it only took 6 hours of cleaning,now it's time to make a mess again. i felt like the indiana jones of woodworking.


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## BigG (Dec 30, 2009)

I clean as I go. I know it wastes time but I'm kind of anal about it. Conversley, my Son-in-Law cleans when my Doughter can no longer wade through the shop area. She then threatens him with you know what and he cleans up!


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## seyit (Dec 25, 2009)

I've been waiting for the Japs to invent a "Workshop Cleaning Robot" 
I'll be the first to purchase it.


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## Dano46 (Sep 21, 2009)

My shop is in the basement. Christmas decorations are in the same general area. Now my wife very seldom goes near the shop, or even peeks in, except when preparing for christmas. 
Well my shop is very clean now. I kind of like it. Afraid to use it, but I like it. 
I guess I have 11 more months to use it….......before Mrs. Picky Super Clean returns.
It's a wood shop dear!


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## dmorrison (Jun 20, 2009)

Oh God, all the replies, and my shop is included.

I'm spending evenings on "Grizzly Shop Planner" tying to figure out what to do with the shop. So yes it is a mess.
Not just "cleaning it up mess" it's a mess by re-arranging it. And flipping it 180 degrees re-arranging, a mess.

So don't even look at it.

I took Iphone pictures of it to figure out what to do, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to flip it 180 degrees to what I have now.

Dave


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## mark88 (Jun 8, 2009)

i dont know if i could ever have a shop in the basement…unless it was my only option of course. i need a garage door…i like the fresh air…on a scale of 1-10…10 being messy…my shop is at about 3 right now which is ok


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## Woodbum (Jan 3, 2010)

I clean up at the end of most days with a cigar and a cold beer. I haven't hurt myself YET with a broom or a shopvac or caused any fires. Just tunes on the IPOD, a good puro and a (or several) cold BUDS. It is my equivalent of a Zen experience after a good day in the shop. You know, some level of an altered state of awareness.


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## mark88 (Jun 8, 2009)

i got massive sawdut in my shop now thx to my planer


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