Do you ever wonder how you get so much stuff?

[pacwind3]

LOML and I moved a few weeks ago. We've moved from Seattle area down to Portland, my home. Vancouver actually. Thanks to a promotion within our company, she is now a manager in customer care.
We got a rental house that we have an option to buy, which I think we will. I now finally have a three car garage.
The good news: I get to set up an entirely new shop. The bad: I HAVE to setup an entirely new shop. Now I have allot of tools, but really: I have at the minimum 12 storage containers full of stuff. How on earth did I get that mush stuff for my shop? I don't even know where to begin. I probably should start with sorting an donating things. It's not fun, but I guess it would be worth it to scale down a bit.

[dbhost]

It's not fun, but I guess it would be worth it to scale down a bit.

Heretic!

It's not the tools and such that are my big problem, so much as the stacks, and stacks of screw ups that litter the scrap bin and overflow all over the shop...

It is almost memorial day, and if the weather holds out, LOML and I are going to the beach down south with the 4wd club, and contribute the nastier bits from the mess up pile to a bon fire...

[crokett]

I am going to have that problem in a few months when I move from my basement shop to my new one outside. Of course I am not moving things that far. I was thinking about not really unpacking, just pull drawers out of cabinets, move the carcasses andput the drawers back except I know that the shop REALLY needs to be organized. When we moved into the current house I never did the organizing because I was too busy with other stuff. 4 years later I still haven't.

[pacwind3]

I have terrible orgainizational skills, just terrible. I struggle with it constantly, even at work. I am trying desperately to get better at it. I even bought a book and the book says the first step to this kind of thing is the sorting. Get the keep, donate and toss piles going. It's not the funnest part of the job, but it sure makes everything that follows easier.

[430752]

I have at the minimum 12 storage containers full of stuff.

I probably should start with sorting an donating things. It's not fun, but I guess it would be worth it to scale down a bit.

I should think so!

[BobSch]

Heretic!

It's not the tools and such that are my big problem, so much as the stacks, and stacks of screw ups that litter the scrap bin and overflow all over the shop...

That's my problem in spades—I have a hard time throwing out cutoffs, mis-cut pieces, basically any chunk of wood. I've got plywood pieces down to 2" square. Obsessive? Not me!

[radhak]

I'll weep for you if you weep for me !

Yes, my 'material' is my biggest problem. Can't get myself to get rid of even plywood strips. The other day my neighbor was throwing away pieces of a bed, and in a moment of madness i dragged in some of the thicker/wider pieces, but realized later that it was all just pine, 2x4s and 2x6s stained and finished very nicely. Now am unable to throw those out too...

Problem is, as soon as I trash something, the very next day I seem to need it desperately - I could have shimmed it here with that sliver I threw away yesterday... !

I have not seen a bonfire nearby for ages; could really contribute to one; am not allowed to start one myself as LOML is paranoid about fires .

[bruce hylton]

I have terrible orgainizational skills, just terrible. I struggle with it constantly, even at work. I am trying desperately to get better at it. I even bought a book and the book says the first step to this kind of thing is the sorting. Get the keep, donate and toss piles going. It's not the funnest part of the job, but it sure makes everything that follows easier.

I am just off exit 63 if you want to make a donation on the way by. Or drop me a line and I will stop by on my way home from north Portland and we can just load things into my pickup. I am dowm that way about once or twice a week lately. Bruce

[Tom Miller]

Without a wood burning stove, where cutoffs have the advantage of getting a blaze going quickly, I'd probably be buried in my small basement shop.

Having a lathe can be a problem, too, as even small cutoffs can be turned (pun) into something useful.

Otherwise, for organization, I adhere to the "a place for everything, and everything in its place" philosophy. It's the first part that's the most important, and a small shop does a lot to force the second part.

Moving time seems like a great opportunity to trim down, though. Some folks say if, after a move, you don't open a box within 6 months, you should consider throwing/selling the contents. (Do NOT suggest this for wedding photos. It doesn't even make a good joke. I thought it did, but I was wrong.)

Regards,
Tom

[smorris]

We still have that one box in the closet which has been sealed for the last 16 years. Grand mysteries await us when we finally open it some rainy afternoon. The likely course of events is I'll look inside and head to the shop while LOML will spend hours fondling each item. The correct answer to "Do you remember this?" is not "no" BTW.

[poolhound]

That's my problem in spades—I have a hard time throwing out cutoffs, mis-cut pieces, basically any chunk of wood. I've got plywood pieces down to 2" square. Obsessive? Not me!

LOL. I was re-orging my shop last weekend and clearing out old cupboards. I found lots of stuff I didnt know I had.

I also went through my cutoff bins and threw a bunch in the trash. I had been keeping some ridiculous pieces and still am

[eccentrictinkerer]

Years ago I read a tip in a woodworking magazine that said you should throw all your offcuts in a box close to the saw. Then, when the box is full, burn it! Problem solved!

Like all magazine tips I've read, I've never done it. Got to have my stuff.

George Carlin on 'Stuff'
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[LarryG]

Years ago I read a tip in a woodworking magazine that said you should throw all your offcuts in a box close to the saw.

Yes, I have that magazine, too.

I got my black belt in pack rat-ism years ago; it extends to almost all aspects of my life, but the woodworking part is the worst since it takes up the most space. For expensive materials like Baltic birch plywood, I keep scraps down to about 1" x 2". The fact I actually use pieces that small from time to time provides a justification that I probably don't really need, because it only makes it worse.

[cabinetman]

I was in my first shop (rented warehouse) for 16 years when the building got sold and the new owner wanted to occupy. To make a long story not so long, I needed to find a place that was larger, had tractor trailer access, and 3 phase.

After about a month of looking, the new owner offered the space that he had been renting. It was perfect. The only problem was that neither of us had an empty building to move to.

Well, it worked out like this. I would make a pile on his floor, he would make a pile on my floor. It went like that until we had moved all our stuff to each others space. This took place while I had ongoing work. What a PITA. I will say this...I did find a lot of things that I forgot I had, things that were missing, and things I didn't know I had.

I couldn't believe the "stuff" that accumulated. Actually it was a blessing in disguise for the moment because it allowed me to "get set up", and get cleaned up.
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[Rand]

Hey Neighbor,

Welcome to the Couve!

It's true that you never really realize just how much crap you have until you have to move it.

I'm a pack rat too. I bought my first house when I was 27. When I moved in I had no scrap wood at all. I remember having to buy a full sheet of plywood because I needed a 1'x2' piece.