A little shop reorganization

[Bill in Buena Park]

Recently picked up a small bandsaw - my third - a Ryobi 10 inch, to replace my Ryobi 9 in. It was at this point I realized I have a problem. Not just with tool hoarding, but there was no longer any room to get to many of my tools, let alone move them out so I could use them. So I decided to downsize a little bit. I got rid of one lathe bench I'd made, and put my 10x18 on my HF bench (a tad high, but it works.) This meant I could move my 12x36 lathe out of one of the walkways, and also gave me a good place to set up a tool rack. I also regrouped some of tools I have on mobile stations. Pulling out my second drill press, I established a sanding station, and put my benchtop jointer on my drillpress/mortiser station. This meant I could also remove another tool stand. I even cleaned out my lumber cart some and made room for more turning blanks (although some still ended up under the table saw outfeed table.) The pics below are the "after", with things re-grouped and reorganized. So much nicer to go in and work with the extra space and logically (to me) laid out. Thanks for looking

[jussi]

Looks good Bill. You're utilizing your space really well. I need to do the same.

[leehljp]

It sure makes one feel good when some decent organization takes place! I make commitments to never let it get disorganized again; and then the clutter critter revisits!

Looks great!

[TB Roye]

Hank

That clutter critter sure travels around, she has been out on the west coast recently.

Tom

[Bill in Buena Park]

Thanks Jussi and Hank. Still wish I had more room for more blanks - but that's another hoarding issue.

One of my space-savers was the lathe tool rack - freed up some drawer space. Since it's clamped to the workbench behind the 12x36, I can move it and the Excelsior 10x18 lathe off the workbench when I need to use the workbench for flat work. The back-side of the rack is - another rack, for the 10x18 (as shown in a previous photo). Its made from a scrap piece of 1/2in plywood, a scrap of pine for the bottom and side support wings, a scrap length of oak with forstner-cut recesses to sit the tools in, and 4 HF magnetic tool strips (bought with 20% off, of course) - 3 on front, one on back. And yes - those are the cheap HF tools on the Excelsior side - perfectly fine for the pen work I do. Thanks for looking!