Do you need to keep a tidy bench to produce quality work?

[Doingupthehouse]

I ask this question cause I’ve been thinking about benches a lot recently, specifically why I dislike of tool wells.

I’m admittedly a very untidy worker, and had a bench many years ago with a well - it just ended up permanently full of carp. When I watch high end cabinet makers at work, they always seem to have a very tidy and organised bench, and what seems to be a zen like calm about them. It could all just be an act for the cameras of course...

I try hard to stay neat, I at least manage to put everything away after a session, but after 53 years I’m not sure I could change now.

I’m a graphic designer by trade and my desk usually looks like a bomb’s hit it, but the work I produce is very neat and I hate disorganised folder structures on my computer.

So can you have a messy bench and still produce very high quality work - I’ve still got a long way to go before I produce anything approaching ‘top quality’

Simon

 

[sunnybob]

Coming from an engineering background, I always do a quick clean down at the end of each day. Tools not actually being used back in their racks and a quick brush over.
At the end of each project its a complete clean sweep. Everything put away, bench tops and floors swept.
But anything you see on the TV screen is staged, dont beat yourself up about being too tidy.

I have to admit i wont give work to any shop that is a complete mess. I took my car to a local garage for repair, and every bench and table top was covered in old tools, like the end of a jumble sale in a village hall. i never took my car back again.

 

[Doingupthehouse]

Coming from an engineering background, I always do a quick clean down at the end of each day. Tools not actually being used back in their racks and a quick brush over.
At the end of each project its a complete clean sweep. Everything put away, bench tops and floors swept.
But anything you see on the TV screen is staged, dont beat yourself up about being too tidy.

I find the tools I have a proper home for get put away every day, which is why I spent quite a bit of time making Workshop furniture - but I’m just a messy worker! I’m a keen cook as well, but you wouldn’t want to see the kitchen after dinner :lol:

 

[custard]

I've been lucky enough to work alongside some of the best cabinet makers in the country. I wouldn't call them "tidy" as such, but they are to a man (and woman) almost supernaturally focussed, patient and methodical. Here are some of the things they do that regular human beings just don't.

If they're scraping a top and there's literally only one or two strokes left to do, but they feel their scraper would benefit from sharpening, then they'll stop, resharpen, test the result on some scrap, and then complete that final ten seconds of work. Who here wouldn't just say "£^$@ it" and crash on with a fractionally blunt tool?

They're at their bench, deep into a difficult task, when outside the workshop there's a traffic accident that results in dozens of empty milk churns falling off a lorry and rolling down a hill, making a racket that would raise the dead. The true craftsman not only doesn't look up, they're not even remotely aware of it. Meanwhile normal people would have downed tools and be outside snapping away with phone cameras.

If they've ordered a new tool that arrives for them at the workshop they'll tuck it under their bench until lunch. Then they'll carefully remove the packaging with a scalpel (I kid you not) in case they may need the packaging to return it. They find the instruction manual, check the tool contents are all there, then settle down to read the manual from cover to cover. After that they'll diligently perform any calibration that needs to be done and then carefully select the ideal piece of scrap on which to test it out. It wouldn't even occur to them to do the normal thing, ie shred the packaging, lose the manual, and immediately start using the tool on a critical project without even sharpening it.

If they're just finishing a huge 1,000 hour project, with only a small nameplate to be screwed onto the back, but they discover none of their screwdrivers perfectly fits the screw slot (some are very close, but none is that ideal semi-friction fit where the screw stays on the end of the driver even if you wave it around), then even with the delivery men outside the workshop honking the horn they'll search out a slightly oversized screwdriver and grind it down until it's exactly the correct size. Be honest, if necessary wouldn't you just use a bit of double sided tape?

If you think I'm exaggerating I can assure you I've seen all these and hundreds more similar examples. The very, very best craftspeople, well, they're just wired differently.

 

[Doingupthehouse]

Thanks for that Custard, very insightful. That kind of attention to detail is something I’d never attain, no matter how hard I tried. Not that I’m worried, I just enjoy the work and strive to improve with each project. Mind you, I’m getting better at little things, like sharpening when needed, clocking slot headed screws etc.

As my Workshop evolves, I find it easier to be organised - but it’s all still very enjoyable work in progress.

 

[doctor Bob]

I've been lucky enough to work alongside some of the best cabinet makers in the country>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
If you think I'm exaggerating I can assure you I've seen all these and hundreds more similar examples. The very, very best craftspeople, well, they're just wired differently.

I've not seen that extreme, but I can believe it ........... only because so many makers lose sight of "making a living out of it". As a commercial woodworking business I have employed a lot of guys, the best ones are usually the tidy ones, I genuinely believe that there is a natural talent, like being an artist, yes you can teach it but the best ones, it just comes naturally.

 

[ED65]

Going by the many benches of skilled craftspeople, in multiple disciplines, that I've seen that were slightly untidy through to "Did a bomb go off in here???" the answer is a resounding no. However that's not a reason to have an untidy bench; just because they can get away with it doesn't mean A.N. Other can. And of course there are just as many top craftspeople who are neat freaks, some to the point of borderline psychosis

I think everyone has to find the level of untidiness they can comfortably work in and then do their best not to exceed it.

When I watch high end cabinet makers at work, they always seem to have a very tidy and organised bench...

See if you can find some pics of Asian workshops, particularly 3rd-world. Carvers in particular seem to revel in an unholy level of mess!

 

[thetyreman]

I prefer to sweep up the floor and bench after I have used it, pretty much every time, if you keep on top of it, you create peace of mind.

 

[Doingupthehouse]

See if you can find some pics of Asian workshops, particularly 3rd-world. Carvers in particular seem to revel in an unholy level of mess!

I once watched a video of a chap in Pakistan making curved mouldings on a spindle moulder with zero guarding... even though I knew he wouldn’t get injured - it was stil the stuff of nightmares and very uncomfortable to watch! Fingers literally an inch from the cutters :shock: But I digress...

 

[Doingupthehouse]

I prefer to sweep up the floor and bench after I have used it, pretty much every time, if you keep on top of it, you create peace of mind.

I think you may of hit the nail on the head, I find a clean workshop a more relaxing and productive place to be, which in turn creates a more focused state of mind. I’m Still no good at keeping it tidy all the time, even though I’d like to.

 

[LancsRick]

Keep it tidy except for a nice level of plane shavings kicking around. Plane shavings make the workshop feel right!

 

[Geoff_S]

I find that when the workbench in my shed gets cluttered, I move into the garage.

 

[Lazurus]

I am a bit OCD when it comes to my working space. I do clean methodically at the end of each session, and the lathe is blown with the compressor and everything put back in its place. However when working on a big turning I love standing knee deep in shavings with streamers hanging all over the place, and the smell............

 

[Nelsun]

Having a small space (6x10') I really do have to keep down on things. Tools get moved in and out of the shed depending on the task at hand so I need to clear the decks or I spend more time shuffling things out of the road than anything else. It does cut down on the amount of gutter I track into the house on the soles of by boots... which saves SWMBO from donating to the swear jar quite so much =P~

 

[Stanleymonkey]

I can relate to the OP completely! I am very messy and always struggle to keep on top of the mess - workshop, home and job!

I forget where things are - so it's a bad combination of things! When I got my first pillar drill, I started drilling and making tool racks and holders etc.etc. Making tool holders instead of making 'real' things felt a bit of a waste of time, but is has helped me immensely. Find yourself switching to autopilot and reaching for the rack very quickly.

Hasn't solved everything. You Need to be close to the rack / toolbox for it to work well. I try and stop at the end of each segment / phase of what I'm doing and tidy up a bit before moving on.

I like the suggestions of find your level of mess/clutter and work within that - don't exceed it.

 

[t8hants]

I wish to tidy, I want to be tidy, I try to be tidy, I spend hours tidying up, but within a tenth of the time it's a tip again. I've given up fighting nature, I'm not tidy, but as an old workmate once said, "Never mind nipper, a tidy bench is a sign of a worker with time to spare, it makes good camouflage from the boss"!

 

[Doingupthehouse]

Keep it tidy except for a nice level of plane shavings kicking around. Plane shavings make the workshop feel right!

Doesn’t feel right when you sweep them off the bench with your hand and discover that nice sharp marking knife that got buried, DAMHIKT #-o

 

[Tasky]

When I'm out mechanicking, bolts, parts and tools must all be kept:
- To hand, so they can be used.
- Organised, so they can be found.
- Tidied, so they are not in the way (mine, or the other mechanics).

Now this can just mean all the bits in a box, or a row of screwdrivers in my 'pen loop' pocket, or putting each socket back in its slot when you swap for another.

Given how many of each tend to get used, that can be a lot of small bits all over the place. It takes but a moment to organise and I work faster this way. I still have stuff out and all around, but you'd be able to find something as easily as I would. Not so with some of the other mechanics' work areas!

I'm the same with my woodwork and other such activities, so I will really benefit from having a tool well.
It doesn't need to be pristinely tidy and OCD organised, so long as you can work properly.

 

[John15]

I've got a small workshop so it's essential for me to put things away and sweep the floor each day. Not so sure about producing quality work but I do my best!

John

 

[Beau]

Not esential but clearly it helps.

I like to think I have made quality work and I am the first to admit much of the time my workshop is a pigsty but trying to do the finer work in a mess just ends up with bumps and scratches to work IME. I will get things spick and span before commencing the work but when in the "zone" not much gets put away. I can tolerate and work with this to an extent until you get to the later stages of cleaning up the work and finishing and then I think it is esential to have a tidy bench and workshop.

Clearing the bench also helps me to have clear head about the work.