Cleaning shop...

[DaveO]

I had a few thoughts...

Why the heck do I keep all the crap I keep? I threw out so much useless scrap wood it's silly. I kept the corners that I bandsawed off of square bowl blanks, with the thoughts that I could make pen blanks out of them. I already have pen blanks coming out of my ears, and create more with every project

Will the dust ever go away? I filled 4 trash cans with sawdust and shavings, and I feel that I keep my shop pretty clean. But it hides under and on top of everything. Once I had swept and sucked up all that I could find, I moved something and there was more .

A lathe is a very messy tool. Two of the above trash cans of dust and shavings came from under my lathe

Sawdust is like steroids for Wolf Spiders. I have never seen them so large. I killed at least a dozen that were the size of a silver dollar.

Why do Toadfrogs hop into my shop just to die and end up as shriveled up little pieces of Toadfrog jerky?
Maybe to hang out with the gargantuan Wolf Spiders??

Sawdust and water make a very good concrete stain. I get a little seepage into my basement shop during heavy rains (like came with tablesaw Hanna). My sawdust piles make very effective dams but the result is a nice multi-colored mark on my concrete floor depending on the species of dust.


Never brag to your wife on how clean you got your shop. She will find the areas you missed and you will be on your knees vacuuming under the table saw and lumber pile


Never brag to your wife about how clean you got your shop. She will just reply "you spent 6 hours cleaning your shop but don't help at all keeping the house clean"...I ended up vacuuming the living-room too

The harder you sweat while cleaning your shop, the more dust that will stick to you. I started a clean white boy and ended up looking like this -



Respectfully submitted (with all due respect for Aborigines, who can't help that they look like they just cleaned my shop)
Dave

[TracyP]

Well I am glad to hear that you are gettin rid of all of the spiders before the shop crawl, cause I don't like spiders. Specially wolf spiders.

[dick541]

I bet you can't keep it clean till we get there on the crawl.
dick

[ptt49er]

I was doing the exact same thing today. It's amazing how dust ends up EVERYWHERE! Not to mention the larger chips!

I don't have a problem w/ the spiders, it's the danged rolly pollys (or whatever they're called). I'd find'em in every corner.

And yup, I've learned to keep my shop cleaning time to myself, b/c my wife gives me the same response yours did.

[FredP]

hmm........... wonder how them dried frogs would look as a slimline?
so when ya commin to clean mine dave? Ive been off for the last 3 days and havent set foot in the shop cause I didnt feel like cleaning it!

[DaveO]

Originally Posted by dick541

I bet you can't keep it clean till we get there on the crawl.
dick

That's my fear too. But I have my parents coming to visit next weekend and was afraid I wouldn't have the time to do it right while they're here. But on the other hand they provide a ideal babysitting service when they visit, giving me more shop time. Maybe I just have to take my wife out for the day instead

Dave

[Bas]

The problem is that house cleaning isn't fun. If men had been in charge of household chores when appliances were first manufactured, things would have been rather different. Instead of a boring vacuum cleaner, there would be zero-turn radius 5HP cyclone vacuum tractor. WITH stair climbing adapter (Go Go Gadget Cleaner!).

Bathroom cleaning mundane? Not with the portable 3HP HVLP Hydromaster 6000. Simply blast the soap scum off the tiles using the high efficiency cleaning wand, then follow up with the rinse attachment.

Ironing? By hand? Ha! This 37" wide belt ironer will handle large sheets, shirts and skirts without issue, with less than .004 wrinkle snipe at the ends. Patented steam technology with variable temperature control and soft start feature ensures everything fabric in your house looks good.

I think I'll go clean my shop now....

[TracyP]

Originally Posted by Bas

The problem is that house cleaning isn't fun. If men had been in charge of household chores when appliances were first manufactured, things would have been rather different. Instead of a boring vacuum cleaner, there would be zero-turn radius 5HP cyclone vacuum tractor. WITH stair climbing adapter (Go Go Gadget Cleaner!).

Bathroom cleaning mundane? Not with the portable 3HP HVLP Hydromaster 6000. Simply blast the soap scum off the tiles using the high efficiency cleaning wand, then follow up with the rinse attachment.

Ironing? By hand? Ha! This 37" wide belt ironer will handle large sheets, shirts and skirts without issue, with less than .004 wrinkle snipe at the ends. Patented steam technology with variable temperature control and soft start feature ensures everything fabric in your house looks good.

I think I'll go clean my shop now....

Last famous three words for you Sir Bas!!!!

YOU AIN'T RIGHT

[Gotcha6]

I can echo your lament about getting a shop clean. I don't have wolf spiders, but I do have granddaddy longlegs. I told LOML a couple weeks ago I was gonna name my shop 'The Spider Farm'. I can broom it out & not go in there for 3-4 days and there'd still be dust on the floor.

[lwhughes149]

As a female, I tend to think a clean shop is a safer shop. Bet you guys don't see it that way. I can't stand to walk around in sawdust so I stop at each step of the process and do a little cleanin up. Just a woman thing. You know? We can't help it, it's in the blood. And I have found that you can't eliminate dust no matter how many machines you put in the shop. Dang.

[BKind2Anmls]

Speak for yourself about the woman thing! Cleaning is not in my blood. I clean my shop whenever I start losing things. As I get older, that means I clean it more often. However, I do clean my shop more often than I clean my house, which is, after all, just a place to eat and sleep in between work and the shop.

I see these shops on woodworking shows and always want to know, "Where's the dust?" In my shop it's all over and under everything.

And quit picking on poor wolf spiders, you guys. They don't build webs and they will kill the more irritating bugs. Or, if you must, take them outside. Live and let live. I'm always fascinated by the wildlife that ends up in my shop. We live w-a-y out in the country and have quite a menagerie.

[PeteQuad]

I basically clean after every large project. I kind of like bringing my shop back into order.

I keep my spiders around for the most part, they help me kill the other insects. I do fear getting a black widow in there some day though.

[Glennbear]

Originally Posted by Bas

The problem is that house cleaning isn't fun. If men had been in charge of household chores when appliances were first manufactured, things would have been rather different. Instead of a boring vacuum cleaner, there would be zero-turn radius 5HP cyclone vacuum tractor. WITH stair climbing adapter (Go Go Gadget Cleaner!).

Bathroom cleaning mundane? Not with the portable 3HP HVLP Hydromaster 6000. Simply blast the soap scum off the tiles using the high efficiency cleaning wand, then follow up with the rinse attachment.

Ironing? By hand? Ha! This 37" wide belt ironer will handle large sheets, shirts and skirts without issue, with less than .004 wrinkle snipe at the ends. Patented steam technology with variable temperature control and soft start feature ensures everything fabric in your house looks good.

I think I'll go clean my shop now....

So besides your career with Big Blue, Tim (the toolman) Taylor has hired you as a salesman for the Binford line of mega horsepower housework machines

Originally Posted by BKind2Anmls

Speak for yourself about the woman thing! Cleaning is not in my blood. I clean my shop whenever I start losing things. As I get older, that means I clean it more often. However, I do clean my shop more often than I clean my house, which is, after all, just a place to eat and sleep in between work and the shop.

I see these shops on woodworking shows and always want to know, "Where's the dust?" In my shop it's all over and under everything.

And quit picking on poor wolf spiders, you guys. They don't build webs and they will kill the more irritating bugs. Or, if you must, take them outside. Live and let live. I'm always fascinated by the wildlife that ends up in my shop. We live w-a-y out in the country and have quite a menagerie.

Must be a woodworker thing, I find that major clean-ups happen more often in the shop than the house I can definitely relate to the shop being a wildlife refuge since I also live out in the country. Every night several toads line up outside the shop to feast on the bug buffet attracted by the outside light .Nature being what it is I fear that next the snakes will be coming out to feast on the toads

[JackLeg]

You guys CLEAN your shop????

[toolman]

I will bring my white clove for a navy test!!