The stuff ya find..

When you "clean up"..

For the last few evenings I've been going through drawers and shelves and cabinets in the shop, trying to reduce "clutter", make room for the new blasting cabinet, and try to free up a little room so I can actually work in the shop and not in the driveway..

I'm amazed at some of the stuff I've accrued in my 15 years of collecting, and even more amazed at the things I have kept in those 15 years..

While cleaning out drawers in one cabinet, I found about 50 feet of used #60 roller chain.. I know exactly what I took most of it off of, and it is worn so bad I don't know why I took the time to roll it up and put it in the drawer..

I also found half a 5 gallon bucket of USED 1" ID radiused bearings.. It's been a couple years since I bought one, but I think they were $7 back then.. Why in the world would one save all the used bearings.. I'd never likely re-use them.. Same thing with cup/cone bearings.. Found enough to finish filling the pail..

Needless to say, in one evening, I emptied out nearly 10 drawers.. Some of the stuff is in a box/bucket to be sorted differently, as I found all sorts of things one would commonly use that were stashed away where I'd never find them..

Another thing I figured out while cleaning is in my "organization efforts" I start many drawers/shelves/piles of the same stuff in different places.. Just as an example, I have a "bolt bin" area, plus I found a box full of nuts/bolts on one shelf, a box in the shelf under the workbench, and 2 drawers in one filing cabinet full.. Granted, they all were mostly sorted for the different types, but still.. I guess they really all should be in one place (and if i clear the crap out of the one bolt bin, I bet all of the fasteners could be within the same area)

I guess the point of the story is I've saved so much useless junk it's unreal.. And I've hidden so many useful items that I could have saved a lot of dollars, had I remembered I had this stuff in the first place.. I mean, after all, the reason i was likely saving much of this stuff was to be frugal.. How frugal is it when you take the time to go to a auction, buy the stuff, truck it home, sort it, put it away, only to go to the hardware store later to buy the same thing ya got at last month's auction because you can't find it..

Sorry for the long post, I guess I just needed to rant about my lack of organizational skills, or my pack-rat like qualities.. LOL..

Brad

Brad, YOU are truly one of us!!!

There was only one Lone Ranger, you have plenty of company! Often a body will keep used pieces "just in case" they might get you by in a pinch. I remember years ago, I did a tune up on my '54 Ford and for some reason tossed the old set of points in my tool box. About two weeks later my sister and I had been visiting some relatives and on the way home the car quit. Some quick diagnostics revealed no spark. The little block that rubs the distributor cam had broken off. So while my sister held a flashlight, I replaced the points with my old set. It bucked and jumped, but we got home. BUT, that is one of the few times any old and used stuff has done me much good. I too, have boxes and buckets of stuff that need to be sorted through or just trashed. I have hauled two pickup loads of non descript stuff to the recyclers and I have a building that I intend to tackle this summer. It has stuff in it that I know I haven't seen in 20 years.

What that's normal right? a clean organized shop
is for folks that don't do anything but clean and
organize the shop!!!! Funny thing is you described
my shop, but at work I'm the hard-a** that makes
everyone throw out the junk, got folks afraid to
store stuff in the county warehouse 'cause I'd put
it in the annual auction. One of our maintenance
techs who retired about 6 years ago would change a
light bulb or ballast and put the old one back on
the shelf, we were still throwing out stuff he hid
when I left last summer.

If I had $100. for everytime I found the "piece"I spent an hour looking for
and couldn't find it until after I
went and bought one at the store, I'd be
a much richer man. Glenn

I'm about at that same stage- a bunch of stuff that needs to be organized and cleaned up. I ain't getting any younger, and I'd hate to leave anybody with my mess. I decided about 20 years ago that I wouldn't bring anything home from an auction that I didn't need. Problem is, I still have all the stuff I bought before then. I also used to buy two of something I needed in case I needed it again, only to lose the second one by the time I needed it again. I'm sure I will surprise myself with what I find, just like you did.

I am to the point of not finding anything anymore. 40X60 and you can t walk through it. But I have been making some headway, I can get the van inside to keep frost off of the windshield!

I started cleaning up a couple hours at night a couple weeks ago. Alot of stuff that didn't belong in there at all. Threw out almost nothing. 3 pails of metal, 2 garbage cans of cardboard etc. Wasn't really hanging on to real junk, just that.... nothing was in its place? sorta thing? There was a thread a couple weeks ago about not having a stash of bolts etc, some guys with their neat and tidy shops go down the road and buy hardware as they need it. Well, just eyeball inventory of hardware as I am finally putting it all back in the proper bins.... at today's prices per each... between 12 and 1400 bucks in nuts bolts and washers. And no gas burnt going to get one. And now, no time or nerves burnt digging for it either.

I always saved used bearings to use as spacers on the float arm hitch pins for 3 point hitch equipment, eliminate side to side movement and equipment hitting tires.

If I could just find that dam rountuit I had that one time....Everthing else would just fall into place.....

I have been cleaning out my work area.Dad's barn, and shop I have found stuff my Dad put there at least 50 years ago. A lot of it goes to the metal pile. There is stuff I just can't get rid of, like Dad's horse harnesses. I will let my kids deal wtih it. I did a brake job on our 63 F100. I put all the old shoes in a box, and put them away. Might need a part one day. I After 69 years I finally decided I never will be organized, and have a clean and organized shop, but I keep trying. Stan

I'm a pack rat. Not a complete, TV reality show type hoarder, but I never throw anything away without examining it for possible future uses first.

When I do throw something away, I'll strip it for fasteners, brackets, bearings and anything else of a generically usable nature.

But, I'm also fairly organized. I have bins and parts drawer and cabinets for the majority of it. When I strip something, all the small stuff goes in a small paint bucket. When the bucket gets full, it all gets sorted and stored in the appropriate place.

Can't count the times that has saved my butt. I know without having to think about it that I have SAE fasteners from 4-40 through 1/2-11 and where to put my hands on them. Other widgets like bearings, bushings, sprockets, pulleys, spacers or linkages might take a moment's thought, but I generally know if I have something that will work and more-or-less where it is.

I also buy my fasteners by the pound. Local outfit called Marden's buys surplus and salvage from all over the country, and have Grade 3 or Grade 5 hardware by the ton. When I pull a drawer and notice I'm getting low, I make a list and stop by Marden's and buy 5 or 10# of whatever I need for a couple of bucks.

My 40x 50 shop has a main outer room that is barely heated in winter and an inner heated room. In both areas I keep trash and junk metal containers within toss range of where I do most of my work. cuts down a lot on picking up and sorting.

Here's the kicker:

How much does your shop look like your Dad's shop?

Well guys, I'm surprised with the comments so far lol..

I guess I'm not the only one this way it seems..

I figure now I'll add a little more in response to the comments..

I keep quite the stash of nuts and bolts.. Usually once a year I go through my bins (which are right on/next to the workbench) and take a quick inventory.. I used to restock at TSC, as they were cheap at the time.. Anymore though, I do just as Fawteen said and go to a salvage place and buy my fasteners, and misc. steel to put on the steel rack. The salvaged stuff is usually about half the money, and just as good as far as I am concerned.

At 31, I don't think I'll ever be totally organized myself.. no matter how hard I've tried in the last 15 years, I've never gotten organized.. I'm more organized than I have ever been right now.. Just trying to get to a point that I don't have to dig for hours for something to end up going to buy it anyhow.. Well, and like one of the posters, 2 years ago I couldn't hardly walk around in the shop..

I also have 2 trash cans, and 2 small drums (like grease comes in).. the trash cans are marked for burnables and for the dumpster, and the drums are marked for steel and for the rest of the iron (as to save time picking through and sorting everything loading scrap)

So far, in my efforts, not much has landed to the scrap pile.. One of the cabinets is going (when I moved the one next to it, it almost tipped over.. it was pretty rusty when I bought it, well, the side finally give away and the other cabinet was keeping it upright) and the steel can is now full (was half full when I started). The pail full of bearings is also going, but reading about using them as spacers, I may keep just a few of em.. You know, just in case.. LOL..

Tahnks again guys for not making me feel like the only one.. LOL.. Sounds like there's a few of us at least..

Brad

The first time I tried to retire I had a lttle extra time, so I organized my bolt buckets that I'd been keeping for 35 years. Only took about three weeks 4-6 hours a day. Once done I labeled all the drawers in the cabinet, and so far I've kept it organized. Now the rest of the barn is another story--maybe next summer!

marden's is great entertainment when we go to maine. i even found a new bag of seed corn there one time 25 years ago. fender washers, extension cords, barn scrapers, tools, shoes, you name it, we have come home with it sometime or other.

I have done that so often I'd be rich just by not buying the second time. But I'll accept the $100 bonus thank you.

Thats hitting below the belt. always swore to
myself I would do better. I have done a little
better but not much. Like the old saying. The acorn
doesn't fall far from the tree. Vic

My shop was like yours, and part of it still is. I think this is the farmer or mechanics way. I always thought someday I would need some of whatever I was saving. Then most of the time when I needed it, I couldn't find it. Went to town and bought a new one. Basically I have retired now, and this past summer I cleaned house also. It was hard to toss some of this, but I just kept telling myself I would not be needing this anymore. Most of this stuff, I wondered why I had kept it anyway.

You were saving it until scrap prices went up! Sell
now!

Couple of weeks ago my son told me he spent an
hour cleaning his shop so a couple of kids could
work on an old Wisconsin engine. I told him I
didn't believe he could accomplish much in an hour.
He said it would have taken longer if he hadn't
spent 6 hours on it the weekend before.

Yup, 32x40 and got two oil changes, 1 transmission and one axle rebuild on the tractor before there was no room to get inside.

Had the tractor inside for the first time in a few years after a few hours work... to store something else non shop related for a friend.