Win our “Essential Woodshop Value Pack”

The “Woodworking Daily” 3-year magazine subscription contest has ended, and today a new contest begins. Since it’s finally spring, we thought of a good idea that has to do with spring cleaning.

What are your best tips for shop clean-up and organization? Tell us in the comments section! We’ll read all the comments on Monday and choose the best or most helpful. The winner receives our shop organization collection, the “Essential Woodshop Value Pack” – a $66 prize!

As you can see in the picture (left) of Popular Woodworking’s shop, clean-up and organization is a challenge for everyone. In fact, having a perfectly clean shop is probably a sign that you aren’t doing much woodworking! But there’s no doubt that a certain level of shop organization and cleanliness will help you to be more productive.

Here are a few tips from our blog authors:

Matt Vanderlist on storage ideas

Diagrams for a typical garage shop layout

Mike Siemsen on sweeping (funny)

Bill Rainford on customizing your tool chest

Megan Fitzpatrick on hand saws in her tool chest

I hope that gets your ideas flowing! The deadline for leaving a comment below is Monday, April 7^th. So do a little sweeping and organizing this weekend and let us know what you come up with.

Oh, and please read the official contest rules here: https://www.popularwoodworking.com/current-contest-rules

–Dan Farnbach

UPDATE, 4/9/14: We’ve selected the winner for our contest, Kelly, who has shared this fabulous tip for keeping your shop organized!

Many thanks to everyone who entered with their amazingly good ideas. It was a very tough decision. Enjoy learning from each other, and keep adding your thoughts!

Maximize Vertical Wall Space & Eliminate Storage Carts
by community member Kelly

To fight cabin fever this winter and tackle shop clutter, I decided to maximize the vertical wall space above my workbench and eliminate numerous storage cabinets and shop carts accumulated over the years.

During a slow time at work in 2012 I built a 13-foot work bench for a new miter saw with 30-inch by 30-inch drawers of various depths. The new drawers did wonders for organizing my small tools, consumables, and pneumatic tools. It was not until this February that I got around to building upper cabinets to replace the slat board setup and an old storage cabinet.

My garage shop has 10-foot ceilings which I was not using to maximum advantage. I built 27-inch high by 10-inch deep cabinets for the most used items (glues, finishes, solvents, etc.) and installed them starting 12-inches above the workbench. Then I built 40-inch high by 18-inch deep cabinets to store less used items and installed them above the 10-inch deep cabinets. To minimize the dust accumulation, I added doors with acrylic panes so I could see the contents and avoid dust settling on everything. So far they are working great, not sure why I waited so long.

On the wall adjacent to my workbench where I stored my lumber I had two HTC lumber racks (4 uprights) installed 48-inch on centers which meant that any board less than 47-inches leaned against a wall somewhere or was piled on top of a cart or toolbox. I reconfigured my existing lumber racks and added two more lumber racks (4 uprights) and installed them 16-inch on center to store shorter boards and smaller plywood pieces. All the lumber racks were installed with the bottoms at 75-inches above the floor, which means using a ladder to access anything above the the bottom two rows. Below the lumber racks in a long line I installed 14-feet of Rockler clamp racks and 8-feet of 3-inch high metal peg boards. I used the metal peg boards to hang all my jigs and layout tools, which greatly reduced the cluttered around my machines.

I was able to eliminate four rolling carts and a huge 5-foot rolling aluminum toolbox from my shop. I now have plenty of floor space for work-in-progress without constantly moving cabinets. By eliminating all the clutter on the floor leaning against walls, I am able to keep the shop much cleaner too.