Getting the feet wet again

[jttheclockman]

Well today was the first day I basically went into the shop to start cleaning things up and starting fresh with a new outlook after about a 2 year hiatus. (Medical reasons) What I wanted to start doing was to do some orginizing. I bought these tool cabinets (2) in the summer from HF thinking they would make a great storage place for pen turning stuff. I was then going to build some shelves for the kits. After seeing what I have I may need another.

Well, talk about a mountain of a task. Have to say first day did not go well. Overwhelmed to say the least. I had no idea how many blanks and turning blocks, how much casting stuff, how much raw materials I have accumulated over the years and just kept stacking in boxes. They have taken over the rec room for years. I have not seen my pool table or bar in many years. Between my turning stuff and my scrolling stuff and all the other woodworking projects, this is not going to be fun. Had to walk away today and will try again tomorrow.

The good thing will be it will get my mind focused again and slowly get me in the creative mood again. This should be interesting to say the least. Never was good at being organized A new adventure.


Photo was too big so I just put a link to it.

http://www.harborfreight.com/media/...b33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/i/m/image_20242.jpg

 

[Bob Wemm]

John, I totally understand where you are coming from. My shed is total chaos at the moment. It takes me about 2 weeks to get it all sorted and cleaned, and that only lasts about an hour and it back to square one.
I guess that I am a chaotic person at heart.
I had a visitor yesterday and I warned him as I slid open the door, but his reaction was more than I expected so maybe it's time to have another MAJOR sort out.

Bob.

 

[Curly]

Don't sweat it John. No matter what steps you take to prepare to organize and then execute, it's going to change as you work again. Stuff you thought you had the perfect place for will find their way to another spot in the shop. The perfect storage solution will be found lacking and you'll eventually redo it. If you think about it that's what was happening before, just one thing at a time. So strive to have things good enough for now and tweak it later as you get back into the rhythm of playing again.

 

[JimB]

John, like you I had stepped away from turning for about 2 years (life got to busy) and started again about a year ago. When I started again I spent the first 2 days doing nothing but organizing and finding things. Then I started turning but I continued to make changes to my shop for several months. My shop is now better organized then ever. I still have some stuff in boxes but that is OK. The boxes are labeled and it is extra stuff!

Take it one step at a time. You will get there! Enjoy the journey back!

 

[Sataro]

John, I also understand where you are coming from. When my dad passed away this past April, I had to start moving some of his stuff into my shed. I now have a walk way cleared that gets me to the front of my lathe. That is about the only spot I have free to stand. Bad thing is I've got at least another pickup load or two of antlers to go get & move into my shop.:biggrinmaybe not that bad of a thing, I enjoy making pens out of antlers)

 

[jttheclockman]

Well...... It is a good thing to see that I am not alone. Maybe we should form a club or something or have tee shirts made

I did do a little today. Started getting somewhat of a plan of how to attack this mess. I honestly did not realize how bad things got. I swear someone else must have been here for those 2 years and did this

Will have to put some things on hold for a few days. We are about to get hit with a major storm over the weekend. Gased up the generator and the snow blower and made sure they worked. Gased the truck up. Dug out the snow shovel. Did not think we would need any of this this year because of how mild it has been. Oh well.

 

[Cashew]

Add me to the club, health took 2 years off me as well. I got the shop cleaned out before Christmas and got most of it organized, found stuff I don't recall buying. Bonus. I've already made it a mess, sawdust everywhere, but it feels right. I have made way too many plans for projects and bought parts here there and everywhere, it's slowly coming together.

I wish I had more energy to get any one of the projects fully done. I need a vacation, work is taking all my time. Hope to get some more shop time this weekend, uninterrupted time would be golden.
Good luck gentleman.