Just having a tidy up

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

Oh I do wish for a tidy workshop but it never seems to happen, I do try my best though. But I do wonder if those of you that are tidy are missing out on some workshop experiences. For instance that split second that makes your heart jump when you see movement out of the corner of your eye, was it the mouse or has the spider got that big!!? 
 The joy of finding that special piece of wood that will be just perfect for.......or that odd, old tool that you could not find a home for and "I will just put it here for the time being". Reject pieces of work that you didn't like the shape/colour/grain of that you can see each time you turn around and gives you ideas for a remake or new creation.
 No, tidy is OK but I don't think it's all that its cracked up to be.

[TONY MALIN]

I was brought up to believe that a workman with all the kit and kept it neat and tidy was likely to be bit of a botcher. Whereas the one where everything is in a muddle was very good at his job and always knows instinctively where everything is. Me excluded of course.

[bodrighywood]

I was brought up to believe that a workman with all the kit and kept it neat and tidy was likely to be bit of a botcher. Whereas the one where everything is in a muddle was very good at his job and always knows instinctively where everything is. Me excluded of course.

In that case i am bodger in the morning and progressively get better through the day as I usually tidy up and clean away shavings etc when I finish in the evening LOL.

Pete

[Nick Arnull]

I was brought up to believe that a workman with all the kit and kept it neat and tidy was likely to be bit of a botcher. Whereas the one where everything is in a muddle was very good at his job and always knows instinctively where everything is. Me excluded of course.

I would strongly disagree with this it is a polar opposite to the way I understand  many high quality makers operate ( craftsman/Women) in different ways.
But An untidy workshop is a basic breach of health and saftey, it is also detrimental to good productivity ,need I say it will also be dterimental to work in a caotic mess if aiming to achieve a good finish.
 All the professionals that I work with would be extreemly offended to be  refered to as Botchers or did you actually mean to use the word Bodgers,The later has a very different meaning which doesnt realy apply today. are refering to the way some hobby turners /woodworkers carry out thier various processes,this is very different to the way a good professional will and does indeed work and I am not refering to Craft Turners here but the true professionals in the field.



Nick Arnull.RPT.

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

yes I side with Nick on this one (despite being untidy)as I was always taught the best workmen always tidy up after themselves and yes if you want a good finish you don't need dust in the atmosphere. I have to say though that having visited the workshops of some professional turners I am surprised sometimes at how untidy they are, but that could just be the result of a creative mind at work.

[burywoodturners]

My workshop (shed!) is hardly a beacon of tidiness at the best of times, One reason is that when I am making something I get so involved with what I am doing that I simply don't see the mess until I decide that's it for now. So maybe that some people are so focussed on their work that they are not aware of the mess and after a while it becomes 'normal'. That and a very human reluctance to throw any thing away that might be useful and the tide of stuff seems to rise unnoticed.

For people like Nick Arnull a tidy place is 'normal' and having seen Nick demonstrating and seen some of his work then his view of what is normal is certainly working for him.

I reckon that this is another unanswerable question as what we seem to be saying is how do peoples minds work, and showing some reluctance to accept that what works for us does not always work for others
Ron

[Nick Arnull]

Ron :There are days when!!
I do teach in my space and as such need to set a good example,my favourite tool for final cleaning is my  Hoover!!!
Nick Arnull.RPT.

[Bryan Milham]

As Einstein said, 'If an untidy desk is a sign of an untidy mind, then what is the meaning of an empty desk?'

[TONY MALIN]

Oh dear. I seem to have unwittingly sparked off some hypersensitivity.
I was brought up in the 1940s. Safety was paramount in the factory where I served my apprenticeship.
The concept that some people could do the job with whatever came to hand whereas those with every last device were  quite likely "not up to it" was quite common.

[TONY MALIN]

PS
Radio and watch repairers were usually found with a workbench littered with bits and pieces.
Nowadays you just buy a new one. I'm sure there are other examples.
BTW according to my thesaurus botch and bodge are synonymous.

[bodrighywood]

Bodgers is the name for the pole lathe turners who used to seasonally make all the components for the chair industry in Buckinghamshire. It used to be very localised but nowadays tends to be used to mean pole lathe turners in general. See here

Pete

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

Nope, still with Nick on this. If he teaches in his workshop it needs to be clean and tidy, not just to set an example but because you should not introduce someone into a hazardous area.ie, dust in the atmosphere and shavings on the floor which could (at a stretch) constitute a trip hazard but small offcuts certainly would and also a fire hazard. As the H&S rep I suppose my workshop should be immaculate and I should never admit to there being any hazards present (if it makes you happy believe it   )but even in an untidy and shavings strewn area risk management can make it safer to work in. I can't claim to tidy/hoover at the end of each day, but what I do is minimise the risks, I have the extractor on for longer periods, there is no smoking in there, if I need to burn something I try to do it outside.  I will get rid of the shavings when I am melting pewter and small things like that. And lastly I do tidy up after each job. My biggest downfall is timber, I am an avid timber collector..........but that's another story altogether!!

[TONY MALIN]

Sorry John but you have turned this into an H & S debate whereas it was about the tidiness of one's workshop.
My first comment was meant to be a bit of light hearted lateral thinking.

[edbanger]

Tony

I'm with you, I saw this as a bit of fun, and it's now H&S, I have enough of this at work. H&S stops at the door of my workshop and good old fashion common scene then take's over 

I can't believe that someone who want's to learn how to turn need's to go in to a atmospheric dust free zone, without the trace of wood.

Next we will be having to put our lathe's in incubaters, No wonder why the world of woodturning is a dieing art.

Any of my friends that I shown how to wood turn love it, "It's Fun"

Ed 

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

Tony doesn't H&S and tidy workshops fall into the same category (whatever that is)?
     I too get fed up with H&S being shoved down my throat all the time, this was one of the reasons for me going self employed in the first place all those years ago, getting away from ridiculous rules and legislation and just working sensibly again like we used to. But unfortunately times change, not always for the better IMHO and sometimes we do have to change with them.
     I have finished tidying the workshop now but I am sure if some of you walked in and saw it you would think a bomb had hit it still. I think the answer is to be as ruthless with tools by getting rid of the ones you don't use the same as getting rid of wood you are never going to use. But we all know that is not going to happen.