Projects Is your shop a constant mess?

I see you have a valve cover obsession! HRP

 

Yep and I keep buying them and intakes as well

 

If you'd just get rid of that Chevy in the middle of your garage, you'd have space for more valve covers and manifolds

 

Now that's an Idea
You got anything down on your end of the county that I need

 

I don't know how anyone that actually does work in a shop won't be somewhat cluttered (best case scenario), I hope when the Stude is finished I won't have quite so many "pieces" laying around but I know I will still be working on something.

A few weeks ago while doing garage sales I noted the guy across the street working on his house and there was a 30's something car in the garage in the back yard. I struck up a conversation and in a couple of minutes we were in his garage, a 600 Horse chopped, fenderless 34 Ford coupe. Everything was pristine, fancy floor, nice walls, pictures, I think there was a shiny tool box against the wall. He had bought the car done. Nice guy, nice car and his garage would always be neat except for spilled wax

A garage (in my estimation) is like a beautiful woman, you don't just take her to church

 

Your shop your rules you can keep it as clean as you want or cluttered and dirty as you want. But please don’t try to tell me a clean shop means that nothing is being done in that work place. I built a complete car from a pile of metal and it is uncluttered and clean. I also have done numerous other project there. On any given day I can walk from the house into my attached shop bare foot to the beer fridge without getting my feet dirty or full of metal chips.

To me it’s a matter of discipline and pride as I have mentioned before about how you keep your workspace. I personally believe you can work much more effective in a clean and organized shop. It certainly takes more time to maintain the cleanliness but that’s my thing. Cleaning up daily is something that was instilled in me at an early age. So please don’t tell me nothing gets done in a clean and uncluttered shop.

 

When I built my shop I spared no expense knowing this was going to be the last one I would build, thw alls are insulated to the max as is the ceiling, the windows and doors are also the thermal type with the highest rating, the walls & ceiling were done in sheet rock, primed and painted white and I also installed central heat & air and the concrete was sealed.

It was my intent to keep to keep it looking as nice as possible, the only fly in the ointment is I use it for more than just a place to park my cars and do an occasional oil change.

I cut, grind, weld as well as do body work, prime and paint parts & cars so the floor & was have discolored from over spray and short of dragging everything out and repainting my garage will never be up for a feature in better garage & social hangout magazine.

However, I can honestly say that when I opened the door of the shop this morning to get the trash bag from last nights club meeting dinner I was quit pleased with myself and the previous few days worth organizing and cleaning.

Hopefully I won't let it get away from me in the future. HRP

 

My shop is usually a mess, and gets worse when I do woodworking projects, then it is a sawdust covered mess. I started a little pocket notebook****led "Where Is It?" where I write down locations such as "spare headlights in green box in attic", or special dashboard screws in pill jar in top drawer. Sounds*****, but saves time when 3 years from now I open every box in the yard to find parts.

 

If I could create cars on a par with my ability to create a mess I would be famous.

 

Tried the thing with the notebook. Left it in the pocket of a shirt and it went through the washer. Time for a new plan.

 

Hello,

I had to share a bedroom with my brother in our post war, small, Westside Long Beach two bedroom house. My side was once neat and clean, while my brother’s side was not so neat and tidy. We knew each other and one played off of the other, so as we became pre teens, the whole room was messy. T-shirts here and in the closet. Levis hanging on a hook on the door or draped on a chair.

When the order came to clean up the bedroom, everything went under the bed or in the closet with the door closed. Our mom was happy when she looked into our room. That worked until our mom started using the thin vacuum under the bed and discovered another world under there. (Monsters included.)

For some reason, it was a messy shared bedroom, but out in the second backyard garage, the tools and parts had their places designated. The work counter was always clean and ready to do some work on just about anything. The only time it began to get a little messy was during the actual building of the motor. Starting from a bare block, all the way to the bolting the 671 on the motor, a part was here and another was there, but in correct order for installation. It was an****embly line with two specific builders doing what was next on the installation list.

Jnaki

So, if you had seen the shop after the engine builds, it was***** and span. But, during the builds, it was a little hectic, but orderly. We never liked a total mess, as then, it was up to one (or both) of us to clean it up. It was usually me, since my brother had to go to his job, daily. Lucky for him… and both of us, for the spending money factor.

It has followed us around all of our lives to be neat and orderly in the garage and definitely in our house. When my wife’s sister comes for a visit, she always cleans up her own mess, as she does not want the wrath of my wife’s comments (later to me,) that her sister is a mess. Well, she is and that is a fact, as both of us know it.

Our granddaughter has stayed at our house many days of the week since birth and she was always part of the “clean up” crew after playing with the many different choices that were always available. But, as a teenager, her own room at home is slightly messy. Ha, ha…teenagers, what can you do for that stage in life? Just like Grandpa when he was a teenager. A big mess in the bedroom was a sign of a cool teen. Ha!

 

Slowly getting organized with the new shop addition.

This first pic was taken a couple of weeks ago


The following were taken in the past couple of days. It's getting there!

 

I don't have a shop but I'm lucky enough to be able to use my friends shop. Everything gets put up. Floors are always clean but it's a shop.

 

No.. My garage is orderly and so is my work truck. Being sloppy is too expensive and causes too much stress..

 

No horizontal surface is safe I get to the point I work on the stools

 

I know it is going against the grain, but when you have a small shop to work in it is easier to keep organized and be able to work in. My wife always teases me about my shelf building; it does keep a lot of stuff off the floor and work bench.

 

recently discovered a weird new twist in the clean and orderly shop transition....after years of the usual dealing with the clutter produced by building stuff ( some auto related and some not) I cleaned and organized and arranged and DAMN!!!!!! it came out good!!. Now ,every time i start new*****, projects big or small, my brain says : JEEZUS!!! don't make a mess.......Iv'e become my own mental health problem. Gotta go.....ain't swept the shop since I posted this.

 

I have a "shop" in a bump-out in a corner of my garage for my shift knob hobby/business. I'm constantly cutting all kinds of funky material, everything from yak bones from Tibet to gemstones, bakelite, wood and so on to hand-cast various metals and resins.
My mindset is "Okay, I'll clean up the drill chips and tailings when I'm ready to take a long break but since I'm going to be right back here in a couple of hours, I'm just going to leave this mess. The 'mess' is made a bit more complex because I often use a water-soluble cutting fluid pumped in and somewhat unsuccessfully recycled. More goes on the walls, floor and me as flying paste than back to the tank. Since everything is such a mess anyway, why bother to clean and put away any of the tools?"

 

I FINALLY got my shop together....

 

I cleaned up a big enuf area to put a recliner in my shop. Whenever the need arises I Go out there and drink a beverage turn on a fan and take a nap. keep the doors closed and the wife don't know where im at.

 

I started this thread over a month ago and thus far I have managed to keep it clean and picked up. HRP

 

Better man than I am! Why is it the tool box is only three more steps, yet I put the tools on the work bench instead of going right to the box?

 

Yes it is.
It always was.
It always be a mess despite all the plans to clean up once and awhile. When I start cleaning I always find stuff and am abstracted and start doing other thing except cleaning

 

I just tell people how do you keep a shop spotless when you are working on 5 different projects at once. Being cluttered and being dis organized are two different things. If I have something, I can find it in 5 minutes. Weather it`s an E-clip or it`s a piece of 1 inch square tubing. You have got to know where it is.

 

Most of my clutter is in my head, I try to keep the shop clean.

 

This just a couple of walls! Never mind whats on the floor!

 

Clutter is a state of mind.
I choose the other option.

 

In a word, YES!

Pat

 

My shop is used , and used daily . If not on my junk on a friends junk . My car and bike are parked in part of the shop . No work ever takes place in that area and it stays spotless . The other part of the shop is a work in progress area . Never clean , all my tools are cleaned and put away daily , but projects maybe in progress*****tered everywhere .