Although I'm currently, and temporarily, shop-less, my MO is almost exactly like Pappy's: when each major step of a project is finished, I put away the stuff I no longer need before moving on to whatever is next. If I've made a big mess (lots of sawdust, shavings, dust) I'll sometimes make a rough pass with the push broom or shop vac before proceeding.
At the end of the day, I virtually never leave the shop unless all my hand tools are put away and all the machinery is returned to a "neutral" state (i.e., the blade on the table saw is cranked down all the way, the tension lever on the band saw is released, bits are removed from the drill press and hand drills and routers, etc). The only exception to this is when I run out of time and don't want to break down a setup that I will still need the next day.
Some years ago I would thoroughly sweep and/or vacuum everything -- floors, benches, tools, everything -- before locking up each day. Not Kirby Klean, but I'd get up at least 95% of the dust and debris. I gradually realized that I was spending an awful lot of time getting the shop into a state of cleanliness that would be completely undone during the first five minutes of my next shop session. At that point I relaxed my policy to only sweep up when it made overall good sense to do so. It's hard to define exactly what that means, other than to say that overall I still keep things pretty tidy most of the time. I never allow things to get to the point where I'm wading through piles of sawdust, or tripping over cutoffs that are buried within.
When you incorporate these practices into your regular routine they soon become automatic and take hardly any time at all. And they pay big dividends, saving you far, far, FAR more time than you spend. Shop time is too precious to waste shifting crap around so you'll have room to work, or to blow on searching for a misplaced tool.
At the end of the day, I virtually never leave the shop unless all my hand tools are put away and all the machinery is returned to a "neutral" state (i.e., the blade on the table saw is cranked down all the way, the tension lever on the band saw is released, bits are removed from the drill press and hand drills and routers, etc). The only exception to this is when I run out of time and don't want to break down a setup that I will still need the next day.
Some years ago I would thoroughly sweep and/or vacuum everything -- floors, benches, tools, everything -- before locking up each day. Not Kirby Klean, but I'd get up at least 95% of the dust and debris. I gradually realized that I was spending an awful lot of time getting the shop into a state of cleanliness that would be completely undone during the first five minutes of my next shop session. At that point I relaxed my policy to only sweep up when it made overall good sense to do so. It's hard to define exactly what that means, other than to say that overall I still keep things pretty tidy most of the time. I never allow things to get to the point where I'm wading through piles of sawdust, or tripping over cutoffs that are buried within.
When you incorporate these practices into your regular routine they soon become automatic and take hardly any time at all. And they pay big dividends, saving you far, far, FAR more time than you spend. Shop time is too precious to waste shifting crap around so you'll have room to work, or to blow on searching for a misplaced tool.
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