Horizontal surfaces ie junk collectors

[uscarry45]

It seems like the more workbenches / tool boxes / roll carts / shelves I have the more stuff gets stacked on top of those pesky horizontal surfaces.

has anyone build a garage or shop with the idea of eliminating horizontal surfaces for those of us that have “drop-see”. See a horizontal surface and drop something on it

 

[Yankeefarmer]

Years ago, I deliberately built a small, maybe 2’ x 3’, workbench with a vise on it, that I purposely built that size so I’d have to keep it clean so I had a work surface. The first job that came along that it was too small for, I improvised a work surface with an old door across two sawhorses, and the workbench became a junk pile.

In my new shop, I built a small bench to house two bench grinders. Installed the first one, didn’t get the second one bolted down yet, and that end is now what you call a drop-see. I doubt that it is possible to avoid what seems to be a powerful force of nature.

 

[jack stand]

It seems to require herculean personal diligence and discipline to overcome this disorder, I also clearly suffer from this.

 

[Sweetcorn]

I personally despise garbage collecting and clutter. I just hate it.

It's one thing to make a mess when you're working on something, it's entirely different for that to be a way of life. I worked around enough of that earlier in my life to have developed a bad attitude about it.

I honestly think one of the most impressive aspects of my shop are the clean flat surfaces, lol.

 

[brianh]

I have a ocd friend that just about goes into cardiac arrest walking in my shop. I can get it all cleaned up but within hours it is a mess.

Never had an issue being neat when I had to in the Army, though I guess because I had to.

 

[m6z]

I'm very diligent about keeping flat surfaces clean and useable. My wife knows this, so anything she's deemed clutter or packages that need opened and put away gets put on my desk or workbench. lol.

It's a system.

 

[ycgoat]

I suffer dramatically from this problem too. My question is where do I put all the small stuff with out a dedicated place that ends up on the horizontal surfaces?

 

[shoot summ]

I call it FSS, Flat Surface Syndrome, I have no cure for it...

 

[bwringer]

I had to just give up entirely on our kitchen table. I really, really want to keep it clear and usable, but within five minutes of clearing it, my wife will fill it with piles of useless paper from work, junk mail no one asked for, magazines no one reads, and if there's not enough of all that to cover it to at least six inches, she'll dump her purse looking for something and leave 3/4 of the rubble.

I'm certainly no neatnik, more a utilitarian who likes having some portion of surface available for use. But you can't spend life angry, so I let it go, let it gooooooooo.... When we need the table, everything gets shoved into a box or better yet, a trash can.

 

[jonshonda]

I have a habit of enjoying my work immediately after finishing, or even moving onto the next project after finishing the first, second, third. Which means tools and other things don't get put back right away. I does get cleaned up, just not right away.

Something about working 50hr weeks, two kids under 10, trail building, mountain bike riding, and camping almost every wknd..... tends to not lend itself to an abundance of spare time.

 

[smackey05]

I suffer from this too. I'm planning to move to a 6s run.

I'm also going to try and have a system where I can see when things are visibly out of place so I know to put the tools back.

 

[jack stand]

I had to just give up entirely on our kitchen table. I really, really want to keep it clear and usable, but within five minutes of clearing it, my wife will fill it with piles of useless paper from work, junk mail no one asked for, magazines no one reads, and if there's not enough of all that to cover it to at least six inches, she'll dump her purse looking for something and leave 3/4 of the rubble.

I'm certainly no neatnik, more a utilitarian who likes having some portion of surface available for use. But you can't spend life angry, so I let it go, let it gooooooooo.... When we need the table, everything gets shoved into a box or better yet, a trash can.

I never thought about blaming it on my wife!
Smooth move
Actually my wife gives me heck and I explained every answer listed in all of these responses especially johnshonda.

 

[mepstein]

You have to differentiate between your work areas and your storage areas.

 

[pbon]

I don’t have OCD. Maybe someone should design sloped work benches so stuff falls off when you are not holding it in place.

 

[bbbarracuda]

When I re-did my workbench, I made it smaller.
Half of it was just stacked junk anyway. So I made it half size and it's just work bench now, not a shelf.
Easier said than done, but it seems to help.

 

[LeonardY]

The rule of ten. Every time you go into the garage. Put ten things away.
Of course, if your like me. I start something and take eleven things out...

 

[bluwolf]

It has always driven me nuts at work. Every horizontal surface gets covered with ****. I used to clean them up. Then they just get covered again. I'm learning to just let it go. And if I need a space, everything just gets pushed to the side or on the floor. Funny thing though, nobody ever asked me about the mess on the floor or elsewhere, because they know what the answer is going to be and they don't want hear from me.

Fortunately, my wife and I are fairly neat at home, so that's not a problem. But I have made one concession at home as far as clean up. I used to have to clean up right after I finished a project. But if it's getting late I will leave it to the next morning. I realized what takes me an hour to clean up the night before only takes me 15 minutes when I'm fresh the next day.

I'm surprised no one else posted pictures. Here is one bench at work after I cleaned it to start a project. Next picture is less than two days later after I had been away.

 

[Junkdrawer Dog]

I gradually weaned myself off of conventional work benches due to their propensity to collect junk. I made a 4' x 4' worktop to fit my Black and Decker Workmate. When I'm done, just clear off, fold up and put away. By getting rid of 3 work benches, it made room to cram a few more motorcycles in the garage. Win-win!

 

[shaune]

My 2nd garage has no shelving, just storage, well a desk found it’s way into the space……heaped now with little bits of ????
My snowmobile trailer, flat surface, yup, a heaped up flat surface that I can roll around. It is a battle to keep flat surfaces clear or at best organized. I find it is a roller coast of events, tidy it up and it slowly accumulates agai, tidy it up ……..

 

[oldmachinenut]

Self dumping bench top with linear actuators on a timer?

 

[lkjk]

i may be in the minority but if you're a messy person, the workbench isn't the problem. I'm that guy that cleans up every day i work in the garage, regardless if the project is finished or not. clutter annoys me for numerous reasons, but mostly because if **** is everywhere i spend more time looking for things than if i know where they are.

point is, if youre messy, the amount of work surface you have isn't the issue.

 

[larry_g]

I have a habit of enjoying my work immediately after finishing, or even moving onto the next project after finishing the first, second, third. Which means tools and other things don't get put back right away. I does get cleaned up, just not right away.

Something about working 50hr weeks, two kids under 10, trail building, mountain bike riding, and camping almost every wknd..... tends to not lend itself to an abundance of spare time.

Stuff in red is the definition of spare time. When you have that much spare time then it is just deciding where you have your priorities...

Right now my shop looks like a couple of toolboxes exploded in it. Priority right now is to go bashing around a couple of RC cars with the grandson.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[Pexto]

Self dumping bench top with linear actuators on a timer?

A long time ago I worked in a bike shop doing flat-rate repairs. It was important to work fast and efficently, and I'd often go in late at night and work alone. Normally I would bring my own small toolbox to set on the bench and work out of that; only using the shop tools for more complex jobs. Some of the other mechanics would leave a mess on the (shared) bench, which did not sit well with me as I was not hourly like they were. I complained a few times to no effect.

The problem was solved when I cut a piece of 2x4 to match the width of the bench. When I came in and found a mess on the bench, I would take my 2x4 and, like a bulldozer, push everything on the bench to the far corner in a big untidy heap. This left me plenty of room to work, and was remarkably satisfying as well.

 

[Jazz1]

It has always driven me nuts at work. Every horizontal surface gets covered with ****. I used to clean them up. Then they just get covered again. I'm learning to just let it go. And if I need a space, everything just gets pushed to the side or on the floor. Funny thing though, nobody ever asked me about the mess on the floor or elsewhere, because they know what the answer is going to be and they don't want hear from me.

Fortunately, my wife and I are fairly neat at home, so that's not a problem. But I have made one concession at home as far as clean up. I used to have to clean up right after I finished a project. But if it's getting late I will leave it to the next morning. I realized what takes me an hour to clean up the night before only takes me 15 minutes when I'm fresh the next day.

I'm surprised no one else posted pictures. Here is one bench at work after I cleaned it to start a project. Next picture is less than two days later after I had been away.

this is the result of a simple project that would normally require only a flat head screwdriver and 7/16” wrench

 

[CN Spots]

It's a daily struggle for me. I have one of those US General rolling carts that I look at the way a fat chick looks at a *******.

I so desperately want to put stuff on top of it but then I can't get anything out of it. Oh what a twisted web we weave.

 

[jbfsr]

Got two benches in the wood shop, one in the metal shop and one in the garage. Had to use the kitchen table to fix my toaster oven.

 

[Sweetcorn]

It's a daily struggle for me. I have one of those US General rolling carts that I look at the way a fat chick looks at a *******.

I so desperately want to put stuff on top of it but then I can't get anything out of it. Oh what a twisted web we weave.

Forced discipline ain't all bad.

Edit: as long as you are the one forcing discipline on yourself, lol.

 

[Toomanytools?]

I like to think I'm organized but I'm not, but in all my clutter I know where my stuff is...most of the time.
I suffer from the horizontal drop zone, I'm in the process of getting rid of stuff I just don't use or need. It is a struggle for some of us. What is weird is I'm a perfectionist my projects are done with great detail, but the work space around that project looks like a war zone.

 

[Bessy]

Guilty. I too suffer from FSD, but I come by it honestly. Much of my problem stems from sharing shop space for my entire life so far with my Dad who is also a dramatic sufferer of FSD.

Moving into my own (rented) space now, I hope to curb the issue, but we all know how that goes... Wishful thinking, I imagine.

 

[Spareparts]

My wife has a Pile-it license, so I keep her out of the shop

 

[K'ledgeBldr]

Horizonal/flat surfaces???
That ain't ****! I got as much if not more on my vertical surfaces!!!

It's the "throw it against the wall and see what sticks"! But, there's a place for everything, and everything has it's place!

 

[John McA]

Gravity. Stuff winds up on the floor too.
Good luck,
John A.

 

[uscarry45]

I don’t have OCD. Maybe someone should design sloped work benches so stuff falls off when you are not holding it in place.

I remember lockers in schools built this way to keep people from developing fss

 

[Squankum]

I have a ocd friend that just about goes into cardiac arrest walking in my shop. I can get it all cleaned up but within hours it is a mess.

Never had an issue being neat when I had to in the Army, though I guess because I had to.

Weird thing is, I used to be a Felix Unger, now I'm an Oscar Madison.

HOWEVER
Tools have places in drawers and generally get put away after a project or before the next one. Just can't live with tools scattered to the four winds and in the tides of ****.

 

[Dagny]

once the stack gets high enough it will tip over freeing up some more flat surface.

 

[Squankum]

this is the result of a simple project that would normally require only a flat head screwdriver and 7/16” wrench

Ah, but this is GJ! The person with just a flathead screwdriver and 7/16" wrench tries, fails, and quits! We whip out the angle grinder and fire up the drill press and tap new thread and (inset 27 other things here) and then it is FIXED if not rebuilt to be BETTER and it only took us three days!

 

[Squankum]

Got two benches in the wood shop, one in the metal shop and one in the garage. Had to use the kitchen table to fix my toaster oven.

I have taken some projects to the washer/dryer area. OK, I mostly use the old washer that doesn't work that's meant for shop rags. Mostly. Great lighting over there if I do say myself. (LED shop light unit.)

 

[qdvuu]

I have a good buddy whose garage has every horizontal surface covered at least 4" thick with tools, parts, spare material, old project misc that hasn't been put away after 3 years and random junk. I used to help him on boat-building projects, spending occasional full days, and most of the time was spent digging to find a tool or clearing some workspace to do a task. Since the work was often done on top of and around piles of stuff instead of on unobstructed work surfaces and vises, the quality of work suffered. Not only was time poorly used, but importantly, there was the loss of mental focus on the task that made it harder and slower to get the projects done.

Now I only help him for a couple minutes here and there if he needs the proverbial "another set of hands" to do awkward tasks. I tell ya, what could be a smooth and fun project in an orderly shop was a frustrating time.

 

[rmmiller]

Since the work was often done on top of and around piles of stuff instead of on unobstructed work surfaces and vises, the quality of work suffered. Not only was time poorly used, but importantly, there was the loss of mental focus on the task that made it harder and slower to get the projects done.

So true! My issue seems to stem from not having a place for everything. I also have tools inherited from dad and grandpa that I don't use but feel guilty getting rid of. Need to just nut up and move them on to someone that can use them, should free up the space needed for stuff I use.

 

[Ricky Joe]

I have a habit of enjoying my work immediately after finishing, or even moving onto the next project after finishing the first, second, third. Which means tools and other things don't get put back right away. I does get cleaned up, just not right away.

Something about working 50hr weeks, two kids under 10, trail building, mountain bike riding, and camping almost every wknd..... tends to not lend itself to an abundance of spare time.

Your priorities are right. Kids matter, family matters, stuff takes care of itself. Keep camping!