In my January newsletter, I wrote about a plan that I had for cleaning up my shop space after the holidays to prepare for the new year of making. It was a best laid plan that I didn’t achieve because my itch to get working again was too strong.
Since then, I’ve done some incremental work to clean up and to organize my wood stash, and I bought a new dust collector. I have to confess that setting up my shop is not something that I particularly enjoy. I would rather just make something on the lathe even if I’m just prepping wood for later projects.
I once visited a friend who was helping me make signage for my market setup. His workspace was immaculate. He had made his own cabinets and thoughtfully placed them on casters for easy reconfiguration. His tools were mounted on a wall panel for easy access. It was so very different from my grungy basement shop where I have just enough set up to turn out my work.
A part of me prefers a mess. I have my own organizational scheme in my space that would not be obvious to a casual observer. Maybe the mess contributes to a feeling of making beauty out of chaos, a classic artist trope. It’s more likely that I only want to put energy into making my work instead of making my workshop.
All this being said, I could be a lot better at keeping things tidy, and I would benefit from spending some time improving the overall setup of my shop.Â
It’s a slow process for me and something I need to keep coming back to. I am generally good about sweeping up at the end of my workday. I’ll clean a few chips out of my tool tray and turn off the lights before heading upstairs.
Small improvements that I have made since January are shifting my shower curtain so that it better covers the chip spray. I bought and set up a new dust collector. And I moved the loose scrap pile from under my bandsaw to boxes against the wall.
Other areas that still need improvement are adding more lights, and mounting electrical cords on the ceiling so they don’t lie on the floor.
Even though these maintenance tasks are not my preferred activity, the payoffs make my workflow more efficient and effective.
Other than the Spring cleaning, I’m working on salad servers, bowls and other commissions. I’ll be selling what I have at the Arbor Earth Day Festival on Sunday, April 23 in Stamford. I’ll also be demonstrating the lathe at the second annual Wood Fest in Ossining on May 3.
