The 1st Annual Great Messy Shop Smack Down!!!!!

[Dick Wilson]

Ok, enough pussy footing around I am sick and tired of John Keeton getting all the glory for having a dirty lathe area. I think it is high time for all Creekers to put him in his place. Hopefully this thread will settle the question. I am willing to be the first to step out on the limb by contributing a photo of my lathe area to show John that he is a mere piker when it comes to a "messy" shop.DSCN0411.jpg A short description follows: First off, I have been turning Walnut. That is a pile under the turning smock. If you look closely at the bottom of the grinder bench you will see white sticking out. That is a 5 gal. waste tub. The pile continues on back to the Shopsmith. It is hard to see in the photo but there is a large box of sand under the lathe. The top of the box is totally covered in shavings to the point that the pile is coming up through the lathe bed and the banjo and tail stock are leveling out the shavings.

I was in my shop on Friday last. I turned on the shop lights this morning and took this picture of what greeted me. The photo is not photo shopped or staged (I have been accused of that in the past - a pox on you ). I expect and demand that all Creekers follow the same rules. Cheaters will have to donate their favorite tool.............to me. I know some of you all are pretty sneaky but do the honorable thing.

So get out your camera and post. We need to put this nonsense to bed once and for all.

[Brodie Brickey]

I've got a messy shop but it isn't because of shavings. The re-org is going well. Some pictures will be forthcoming for that.

[Harvey Ghesser]

You win, Dick!!

[Fred Belknap]

Looks like a little sweeping compound to me.

[Dick Wilson]

You win, Dick!!

Win nothing!!!!!!!!! I can't win when I am the only entrant. Some of you folks better fess up Now!!!! Don't worry about John's feelings. He has a thick skin.

[Matt Hutchinson]

Okay okay, I'll bite. Here's my shop as it is this morning. This is as about as cluttered as it gets, as I have been feverishly finishing pieces with no regard for the areas outside of the lathes' work areas. That said, I have certainly had greater volumes of shavings, especially under the big lathe. And just you wait until I start roughing the 1200 lbs of cherry you see in the last photo. I might even start to rival Mike Mahoney.

Hutch

P.S. A couple years ago I let the shavings pile in my driveway build up to a point where it took 3 pick-up truck loads to the yard waste dump to get rid of it. Never again.

[David DeCristoforo]

Oh great. I clean up my shop, repaint my lathe, polish up all the steel within reach, refinish all my tool handles and then you come along with a "messy shop" contest. Crap. Well, it's a moot point anyway because once Jeff Nichol weighs in, you are all goin' down anyway...

[Harvey Ghesser]

and the current champion is.....(drum roll)

Matt Hutchinson!!(loud applause)

[Reed Gray]

"You know it is time to clean up the shop when you have to get down on your knees to turn." The late Roger Michaelson, one of our local turners.

robo hippy

[Dick Wilson]

Okay okay, I'll bite. Here's my shop as it is this morning. This is as about as cluttered as it gets, as I have been feverishly finishing pieces with no regard for the areas outside of the lathes' work areas. That said, I have certainly had greater volumes of shavings, especially under the big lathe. And just you wait until I start roughing the 1200 lbs of cherry you see in the last photo. I might even start to rival Mike Mahoney.

Hutch

P.S. A couple years ago I let the shavings pile in my driveway build up to a point where it took 3 pick-up truck loads to the yard waste dump to get rid of it. Never again.

Dang Matt!!!! First challenge out of the chute and I am hosed And this folks comes from a friend of mine in Grand Rapids. Some friend. If I had shavings from 1200 pounds of wood my big concern is would I be able to crawl to the downstairs phone to call 911.. Matt doesn't want to boast too much but he has a Bobcat all gassed up and at the ready

[Dick Wilson]

Oh great. I clean up my shop, repaint my lathe, polish up all the steel within reach, refinish all my tool handles and then you come along with a "messy shop" contest. Crap. Well, it's a moot point anyway because once Jeff Nichol weighs in, you are all goin' down anyway...

Serves you right David. You caught Keeton's "Cleaning Fever" and totally put youself out of the contest. Remember that next time John starts another thread about this "clean or unclean shop" crap.

[Roger Chandler]

Dick,

I can honestly say..........I cannot compete with that...........nor do I care to do so!

[John Keeton]

I take it there is no apprentice division.....?? Doesn't matter - even if I gave up what little scruples remain and threw to the wind all the OCD within me, I can plainly see the competition here is just too stiff! I'm out!

[Michael Mills]

Dick, we are on your side. I know it is difficult but listen to the encouraging words of ..
Hutch……. “A couple years ago I let the shavings pile in my driveway …Never again.”
Dave …….”I clean up my shop, repaint my lathe, polish up all the steel…..”
You can do it….we can tell you are trying…. You admit to having a smock to keep the shavings away AND a five gallon bucket. It’s OK, really it is. We all fall prey to temptation at some time. But it isn’t too late….just a bucket full to start …then later two buckets full. The bucket lies almost consumed but the cloak of neatness is ready to protect you. Be strong as you venture forth and take heart from those who have gone before you.
Have you noticed that the farther you get from that evil spinning contraption the cleaner the shop is?
Always be aware the hypnotic effect of the devil which spins.

[Matt Hutchinson]

Matt doesn't want to boast too much but he has a Bobcat all gassed up and at the ready

How I wish. Oh, to have a turning "compound" like Mark Lindquist, with massive machinery and piles of of wood everywhere.

*breaking out in song* "To dream the impossible dream....to reach the unreachable star!"