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Tractor repair shop getting cleaned out

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snoop-nc

Member
I've just retired from ~10 years of trucking and am NOW in the process of trying to find the floor...and other horizontal flat surfaces...in my shop. Wash tub is now full of "tools" that were off the wall and laying around. Have been working on the work bench this morning and think I see the flat surface emerging from clutter and "stuff" scattered about. My question is this: What happens AFTER I finally get stuff organized and floor swept, cobwebs down, and tools sorted and put back on the wall?? Will the ground shake?? Will the thunder (on a clear, cloudless day) rumble and rattle windows?? Will my wife and kids even BELIEVE me when I tell them shop is clean?? Do I have an OPEN SHOP celebration?? AN INQUIRING MIND NEEDS TO KNOW!!

Rick
 
(quoted from post at 12:54:52 05/26/10) I've just retired from ~10 years of trucking and am NOW in the process of trying to find the floor...and other horizontal flat surfaces...in my shop. Wash tub is now full of "tools" that were off the wall and laying around. Have been working on the work bench this morning and think I see the flat surface emerging from clutter and "stuff" scattered about. My question is this: What happens AFTER I finally get stuff organized and floor swept, cobwebs down, and tools sorted and put back on the wall?? Will the ground shake?? Will the thunder (on a clear, cloudless day) rumble and rattle windows?? Will my wife and kids even BELIEVE me when I tell them shop is clean?? Do I have an OPEN SHOP celebration?? AN INQUIRING MIND NEEDS TO KNOW!!

Rick
Click to expand...
hat happens is that you won't be able to find anything!
 
Yep I agree with JMOR you clean it up and that wrench you need you will not find till you give up and use something else. Every time I clean up my shop I loose half the tools for at least a month
 
You will wake up and find out it was all a dream. Things will be back as they should be. A shop should never be cleaned. In mine I just move things from one side to the other,then in a couple of months. I move it all back to the other side. Sometimes I even find things I was looking for.
 
Cleaning a shop is like walking under a ladder - its bad luck. Your wife will find out you really can clean and then you'll be expected to clean in the house too. There's no end to what will happen after that.
 
You be able to find your tools WHEN YOU NEED THEN, instead of tripping over them when you are looking for something else. BTDT.
 
Dad's (and my) shop was always a mess when I was a kid. One day my fastidious Methodist minister uncle did us a big favor and "organized" the shop. I thought my dad was going to have a stroke. We had trouble finding anything for years.

One time when we were looking for something, I said, half kidding, "We just need to think like Uncle Howard for a minute." Dad turned to me and said "NOBODY thinks like Uncle Howard."
 
Cleaned my shop(garage)once. Spent many many hours, oh did it shine and looked "GOOD"!! I got all that junk I would never ever need or use in a million years out of there and sold those goofy, strange, and always in my way tools that I would only use one time in my life. Guess what, you know the rest of the story LOL. I have since made several trips to hardware, tool sales, dealers, and junk yards telling myself all the way (HERE'S YOUR SIGN)
 
"THANKS" for all the encouraging remarks!! I DID find the top of work bench (32" x 8' x waist high) and it is already half buried again!!

I may need to start on the 48 x 24 machine shed and get that in order so that some of "stuff" laying around on shop floor can find a new "home". Of course there is a "but first" to that part of project. 4000 Ford needs new front tires (both flat and dry rotted) Farmall A also needs front tires since both are flat and probably 30-40 years old. Both tractors were parked under the shed under their own power and neither has run in 6-10 years....they will have to be drug out with 4610 and log chain.

Didn't I read somewhere on one of these related boards about a "Theory of Flat Surfaces"??

I've done all I can stand for the day...will start again tomorrow.

Wife got a chuckle about replies.

Rick
 
Hello snoop-nc.
The deafening sound of quite will keep you
.........................................awake!
You now have to do something, remember, he who does nothing, never knows when he is done.
Enjoy the neatness and availability of the tools.
Guido
 
Know how many men it takes to clean a shop? Trick question, she should have kept it clean in the first place.

Best not show that to the wife, or perhaps you will be cleaning the shop with a cast on.
 
Geeze, I thought this forum had a filter to block this kind of talk. What's the world coming to, anyway? Leo
 
Dad passed away in 2003, and there are tools on the shop bench that he didn't get put away still.....

Not to be a wet blanket, but - I think some repair job will come up be4 you get it clean, & that will derail that cleaning job ;)

--->Paul
 
Last time I cleaned my garage, the Mrs. found I have 3 table saws and 2 radial arm saws.

Not good. She only has one sewing machine.
 
I intentionally set stuff in the middle of the floor as a reminder to do something. Know what I mean? Say tomorrow I'm taking off the outside duals, while I'm thinking about it will lay the 3/4" breaker bar, a big cheater pipe and socket right in the middle of the floor. Next day I walk into the barn, see the breaker bar and stuff in the middle of the floor and say, "Oh yeah, take the outsides off". Here's the problem with that. I'm getting older and forgetful, so when I see it setting in the middle of the floor, I say "I put that there to remind me of something, but I forget what, so I'm going to leave that there until I remember what it was". There's a huge pile of stuff in the middle of my floor, and actually most stuff is in the middle of my floor now, and I can't remember why, but one day I hope to so I can quit tripping over it.

Mark
 
My father and Grand father never put anything away. They always remembered where they used them last. Well that worked if only "one" of them was working in the shop. So I am quite compulsive about keeping the shop straight and clean. My son did not get it until he started auto repair school and had to spend $25,000 on the "starter" tool set. Now he picks everything up too.
When Grand Dad died it took us two weeks to clean out the shop. Two years on the sheds full of "too good to throw away junk" LOL
 
I like you retire last Oct 31 One of the first things I did was work the shop..Now 5 months latter it is so nice to be able to walk in there and find something. My big thing now is to try my best to put it back when I use it. I did a lot of figuring and thinking before I buil this shop knowing I wold spend time there once I
retired. Will try and add a photo..Jerry
a16343.jpg
 
Russel, funny that you mention that your wife only has 1 sewing machine, and you have 5 saws. My wife has 5, yes five sewing and embroidery machines and I only have 3 saws and 3 tractors in my shop. I guess this means I am in the clear.
 
Reminds me of the time (long ago) when I made one good Hillman Minx out of two at my buddys place. Well, his wife said the other one had to go so we towed it to the wrecking yard and got $25 for it.
A week later my generator went out and I had to go to the same wrecking yard and paid $35 for my old generator! And a week after that my starter went out and you guessed it.
It costs to be neat!
 
I'm not cleaning my shop. After a long time my wife talked me into cleaning up my "iron pile" behind the barn. Now you know you can fix anything with a few tools and a good iron pile, but she didn't see it that way. This was a long time ago, so I hauled it to the scrap iron guy, got $8 for a pick-up load. Also got a flat tire from a screw in the scrapyard. Cost $12 to fix. Iron pile is bigger than ever, never know when you'll need it.
 
I retired 2 years ago. With scrap prices being good, I started cleaning out the broken parts "I might need some day." So far, I have over $1000 to show for my work in the hot sun. And I am only getting started. Guess what my wife wants to do with "our" money!

As for my tools, I have always cleaned them and put them back in the proper places when done. If I need a certain tool, I can reach in the correct place and there it is. If I have to look for it and do not find it within 1 hour, I buy a replacement for it. Then it will turn up.

If you get the shop cleaned up, you will see that you have room to work on "just one more project." Wife will be happy about the clean garage but that feeling will blow over when she sees the new toy.
 
When James and I took over the farm, one of the first things we did was clean out the shop. When we first started there was just a small trail from the walk through door to the big sliding door.

When we got through, there was enough room to drive a tractor in if it needed work.
 
LOL!! That is the way my shop was built...just didn't stay that way as a "pull through". Now, can't even get in front door.
 
Show me a man with a neat shop and I'll show you a man who doesn't have much to do. Either that, or he's just too darn picky.

My shop is a mess, but it's MY mess. I know where everything is and I know when it's been moved. One time my wife and brother bought me a new battery for one of my tractors and they installed it. (for my birthday) That night we had a party in the shop and I started complaining that someone had moved my 9/16's wrench. They couldn't believe I noticed that. LEAVE MY STUFF ALONE....it may not be neat, but I know where it is! (the new battery was nice so I didn't b&%ch too much)
 
I've started to clean mine. Figured the bench was the logical place to start. Got that into a presentable state, then moved on to the next work table.

Guess where most of the stuff ended up? Yep, on the bench.

Gonna have to rethink my plan...

P.S. I still like the idea of putting 10 things away every time you walk into the shop. That way it doesn't seem like a daunting task, yet you still make some headway.
 
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