Clean freak?

Patrice Lemée

Patrice Lemée

Joined
Aug 13, 2002
Messages
5,703
I can't leave the shop without tiding sp? a little and 5 minutes of shopvac. Add to that the fact that I've spent as much time on my dust collection systems than on the rest of my tools (well not realy but too much anyway).
I think I have a problem. :(
Am I the only one?

Pad
 
I know I am not, my shop looks like a hurricane went thru it. But I can never seem to find time to clean up!
 
Clean shops produce clean work. I was told that when I was a kid, and it's stuck with me forever.

My shop often has a hurricane run through it while I'm working during the day... but I do my best to keep it tidy. I have real bad ADD, and if the shop has $hit laying around everywhere, I just can't focus at all.

Nope Pad... you're definitely not the only one! :)
 
If I make it a practice to cleanup and straighten up I can find stuff and work efficiently. Right now I can't work efficiently.
 
A clean shop is a safe shop. A safe shop is a happy shop. A happy shop is a profitable shop. (not necessarily in order of importance)

Having said that, keeping things organized is a constant battle for me. It's just something I have to deal with at the end of every "shift".
 
I love this quote from Don Fogg:

"Sweeping the shop
The day begins with sweeping the floor. A clean and organized shop promotes clear thinking. I have heard makers defend their cluttered benches by saying that they know right where everything is, but when you watch them work, they spend much of their time hunting for tools. Sweeping the floor is also about getting a fresh start to the day. The problems and difficulties of the previous day are put into perspective when the bench is cleared and the tools are back in place. Use this time to mentally lay out the work ahead. Sweep the mind free of clutter and focus on the day."
 
I always seem to be spending some time with the shop vac before I leave as well. Heck, half the time, I'll go out to the shop on a Saturday afternoon and spend an hour getting it organized. Makes it hard to actually be productive making knives. Now, sometimes after a long day of work at the day job, and a long night of work in the shop, the workbench will be cluttered and I'm just too beat to tidy up. But it's always at the top of my list the next time out to the shop.

My grandfather always encouraged me to wipe down under the hood everytime I opened it. He said clean engines just seem to run better. I guess that's carried over to the shop as well.

--nathan
 
I spend about the last 10 minutes nearly every day I am in my shop cleaning it up. It is really tidy.
 
Well i like keeping things in order too and fairly organized. I dont like looking for things that should be hanging up and wasting time. kellyw
 
I like to clean my shop between phases of work. Before and after profiling, after beveling, after HT and handlework. Because of the limited workspace I need to organize tools that the forecoming work needs. But sometimes a phase of work may take days to finish, these days I can even loose the blade I'm working on :D. I guess I have to clean more often...
 
Yeah, I clean often. Sometimes that degenerates to as often as it gets to where I can't find stuff anymore, but mostly between projects. Cutting and grinding are dirty jobs; I always clean before I do any finish work or leatherwork. Since my shop is in the basement, keeping it swept up keeps the house much cleaner and the queen much happier with me. Once in a long while I'll take a day to clean all the tools, dust shelving, stuff like that. It's a whole other place when that happens. Sometimes I find materials I'd forgotten about - bonus!
 
My primary shop area is 10'X22'. Dust from grinding gets everywhere. At the end of a work day, I get out the shop vac and do a run through,followed by a air hosing, and the shop vac again. I am going to add a 10'x10' grinding room over the next few months (read as funds are available) and add a dust collector system.
 
I am going to be the black sheep here. My shop looks like a hurricane went through. When the dust gets too high, or the sandpaper scraps pile up too much, I clean. I am the opposite of OCD, and have never been terribly neat and tidy. It is just how I operate. Once it reaches that critical threshold, I do have to clean the entire thing.
 
I usually make a real effort to keep my shop straightened out and arranged. I need to get it all straightened out. I think some of what happened was just what I saw as my life becoming unraveled. . May be straightening out my shop and getting some work done will help me get started on my life again. Jim
 
I feel better now. So I guess you guys also wear latex gloves like I do. Or do I have a problem NOW. :D

Pad

PS: Jim, I pray for you everyday my friend.
 
I wear gloves to keep the metal splinters from getting into my hands from time to time.
 
I do wear latex when working with handle material and during hand sanding. My hands always turn black with sanding and shaping certain handle materials. Also, when working with certain woods, there have been people who've experienced allergic sensitization to the material. And G10 tends to irritate my skin as well. Rarely, I'll wear leather when doing heavy rough shaping on the grinder. Especially after taking off the skin on my index finger when I got too close to a 60 grit blaze belt while tapering the tang on a knife recently.

--nathan
 
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