First you need to make a mess

[jim_mex]

Betty - I'm envious of your dedication to really straightening out your shop. Great work!

These last few days I have made a really big effort to attack my place with some success. For the first time in ages I can actually walk through my shed from the front entrance through to the back door which opens out onto the yard where I do most of my work. I filled 3 large sacks with bits and pieces of wood to burn, threw out in the garbage a load of small offcuts of MDF which won't burn and finally ditched some scraps of steel angle and box section I've been accumulating over time. I did save some large pieces of box section steel for a new metalwork project I've been thinking about for a while. I'm planning to design and build a small rocket stove oven to burn all those scraps of wood! This will not only help me to get rid of future wood scraps but also save me purchasing charcoal each time we fancy a BBQ

How long I can keep the shed organized remains to be seen ...

[will8989]

The thing is now to keep it that way! And to find that pack of #3 blades I put someplace.

[vgraf]

Too clean. Hurts my eyes! 😅

[jim_mex]

Hi Betty - did you find those blades?

Finding small packs of scrollsaw blades was always a problem for me until I adopted a novel solution I picked up from someone else, possibly on this forum.

I cut lengths of 3/4" diam. (actually 7/8" ext. diam) thick wall PVC water pipe sourced from any plumbing supplier to 5 1/4" long. I then glue an end cap onto one end using the appropriate Gold adhesive. After stuffing my blades inside I push fit a second end cap and finally label the tube with an indelible marker. I usually leave the tubes on a shelf where I can easily go through the labels to find the blade I need. I've also seen folks who attach them to their scroll saw stand or to a shelve or even wall mounted using spring clips.

Whatever mounting/storage method works for you, once you adopt this method you shouldn't lose your blades again. Of course you do have to put newly purchased blades into appropriate tubes as soon as you receive them from the supplier for this system to work!

blade storage.jpg

Cheers!

[will8989]

Sure did. I had a stack of receipts to take to my office, and when I picked them up the blades were under there. I have my blades in containers mounted on a peg board. I didn’t even knew I had this pack until I started cleaning up.

[RJweb]

Ok Betty, I figured it out, you post late night in the middle of night, because you wait for your neighbors to go to sleep so then you use their wifi, lol, RJ

[will8989]

Good one! But upside, it is the middle of the afternoon now!

[tgiro01]

Wow - Betty, what do you charge. I have things to do and I'm in the process of cleaning my shop, just to have room to do it. My problem is that I get the work bench cleared and then start working on projects again. I really need to do the workbench last.

[will8989]

It was a challenge that’s for sure. I didn’t start anything until I was all finished. It’s nice to have a clean area to work in! My biggest challenge was all those pieces of scrap wood that I just might need “someday.” They burned well in my son’s woodstove. And I did get through all the patterns.