I have been spending a lot of time cleaning up my workshop and storage room.
Long-time readers will say that this sounds familiar – yes, I’ve been down this road before. I don’t have a lot of room for my creative projects, and that’s been an ongoing frustration.
I should caution you that this is a long read. Every time I tried to pare it down, it got longer.
Shown above is a Bosch quick-change chuck adapter and bit set, which I purchased from Amazon nearly 13 years ago. I was ordering some Bosch L-Boxx tool cases and organizers, and added this and anther accessory to get over the $100 threshold so that I could take advantage of a holiday season coupon.
After almost 13 years, I finally opened it. The adapter is made in the USA, and it’s interesting. I’ll likely donate that too, but in the meantime it won’t take up much space.
I am going through EVERYTHING.
I have this Durham 4-drawer parts organizer cabinet, plus more drawers in 2 sizes that I bought without matching cabinets.
They aren’t ideally suited to my needs, and so they’ve got to go.
I have a couple of Stanley organizers, some unused and others that I gradually moved contents out of. A couple are going to family members and the others will be donated locally
All of these Festool mini Systainers are empty. I used them well over the years, and some others are still in use. But again, my needs changed and I moved much of the contents into drawers – such as the Harbor Freight US General cabinet you can also see in the same photo.
I have 3 Packout tool boxes on the way out. They’re fantastic, but I moved the contents to Milwaukee cabinets. So what am I saving them for?
Honestly, I’m also thinking of donating all of my Packout organizers as well.
I bought Packout organizers because the pricing was economical. I bought more last season, as I needed “fillers” to boost me from $90 “buy more, save more” savings to the $150 discount tier. I have more than I’ll admit, but I think I can move all of the contents into Packout drawers, tool box drawers, or other storage options.
As a person, I shop for good deals.
As a person, when I buy something, put it to use, and then find my needs change, I am reluctant to make changes.
As a person, I hold onto functional products because I spent hard-earned money and don’t want to have to purchase the same thing again down the road.
But as a business, space efficiency, accessibility, convenience, and other such things are also valuable.
I’m not getting rid of all redundancy or inefficiency, but enough to give myself more breathing room.
My “individual” and “business” voices and mindsets don’t always make sense. I just ordered $137 on drill bits to fact-check a tool brand’s marketing claims, but I balked at the $5 shipping charge for 2 of them.
For a personal purchase, I would have waited until I could have exceeded the $50 free shipping threshold, and that was hard to shake even though I was making a business purchase.
I look at my spare or less-ideal organizers, tool boxes, and cases, and I still feel the cost. But if I wouldn’t buy it again today – as a business – why am I still keeping it around?
So, I’m trying to declutter without emotion, or at least I’m trying my best to suppress it.
Quick release drill chuck adapters like this one have been disappearing, presumably due to the rise in popularity of impact drivers with hex chucks.
“There’s post potential here!” Sure, but if it were truly interesting, wouldn’t I have posted about it sooner?
I have Craftsman and Dewalt stud finders which are very similar aside from the Dewalt’s wider size and deeper sensing range. Does anyone really care for a comparison between the two? I bought both at different times, and will likely be keeping just the Dewalt, at least until I can finally write it up.
Post potential has convinced me to hold onto more than I should have.
My personal tool kit needs to shrink, and that too is going to hurt.
I haven’t used my Craftsman Professional wrenches in a long time, or my low profile ratchets, or my Craftsman USA-made sockets. I have other tools that I prefer and always reach for more.
There’s nostalgia there and I don’t want to get rid of them. But what am I keeping them for? First I moved my Craftsman sockets and wrenches to spare drawers. I recently donated the tool chest and moved the tools overflow bins. Will I use them? Do I need them? But my kids! But they don’t make these anymore!
Those are good reasons to keep tools, but not enough for me. Every cubic foot of working space or storage space needs to be justified.
I also remember the pain to my wallet when buying them.
I remember the birthday gift cards from my in-laws funded my purchase of Craftsman Pro wrench sets, my trips to Sears stores to take advantage of sales, and saving up credit card reward points for more gift cards.
It is so difficult to part with good functional tools. I’ll keep some of them for my kids, but maybe just the irreplaceable ones.
I still have USA-made Crescent adjustable wrenches, with one still new in its packaging. But I don’t use them – I greatly prefer my Irega-made Channellock.
Do I have room in my tool box for adequate tools that I rarely reach for?
I need more space for creative projects, and quicker access to parts and supplies.
I have also decided to overhaul my workflow.
I don’t really take photos like this anymore. I’d like to, but it takes far more time and space than you’d think.
We moved a few years ago, and I have yet to find a setup that works. I can’t leave lights hanging from boom arms in place for days or weeks at a time anymore.
These images don’t seem that special, but they are incredibly challenging to take.
This was the Kobalt gearless ratchet.
While not as much of a pain to photograph as chromed hand tools, power tools have all kinds of nooks and crannies and require a ton of space to photograph cleanly.
If I have 3 hours, should I spend it testing and using tools, or photographing said tools?
Frankly, it’s become impossible to do both, at least given how I used to do things. What I need to do is significantly adjust my workflow.
So, I’m in talks with the local high school to donate a lot of my studio lighting equipment. Once I recover some more space, my focus will be on faster setup and a more efficient workflow.
Continuous – always-on vs flash – LED lights help reduce the time, as they provide “what you see is what you get” lighting for the most part. But, the light quality isn’t as good, and the intensity typically isn’t enough unless the lights are uncomfortably bright, which means a tripod or camera stand is necessary.
I started a stopwatch and took this image of my Felo bit holding screwdriver. This image took around 18 minutes to take, from start to finish. It’s not that good, but better results would have taken at least another hour just to set up.
I used small lights and the camera was handheld. This was the very first image. Larger lights would have required cleaning my workbench and setting up light stands or clamping arms, routing power cables, and maybe putting the camera on a tripod.
This photo, taken with my phone, took less than 3 minutes from start to finish. I’d say it’s passable, although I’m not proud of it.
I placed one of the small lights on the workbench, and I held the other. If it were daytime, or I spent a few minutes adjusting the lighting, I probably could have done a little better.
However, here’s what the closeup looks like when I crop the image.
And here’s the closeup-crop from the real camera as opposed to my phone. The focus could have been better, but for handheld I’m not upset.
That’s not too bad for close to 20 minutes.
These are my Paul C Buff Einstein flash units, sitting in a drawer collecting dust.
As an aside, if you look closely, it says these were made in the USA. I make it a point to buy USA-made equipment when possible and justifiable.
Clearing out this equipment will surely recover a lot of space as well.
I might have last used those flashes to photograph Craftsman’s Overdrive ratchets.
That final Craftsman photo session took several hours, not including setup, teardown, or image processing.
Maybe reducing space inefficiency might make it easier to keep lights on the workshop floor.
None of this would be a problem if I leased a large commercial space or built an enormous workshop. But, I like to avoid debt, as that could potentially change how I run things.
The largest ad deal I’ve turned down was a low 5-figure spend. Would I still turn that down today? Yes. Did it hurt? Absolutely. Revenue was down last year and further down this year. Turning down that money would hurt even more today. Luckily I can let my conscience make decisions for me. Everyone has a price. I don’t know what mine is, but I couldn’t accept money to promote a company that was no longer worthy of my business as a customer.
I got an email the other day from Google, saying that I can earn around 22% more if I enable certain types of ads. I can’t do that, despite “leaving money on the table” given the types of ads I and you would have to suffer through.
I’d love a big workshop with more space than I can hope to fill. But I don’t want to risk the compromises that it could lead to. At what point would I lose the ability to turn down deals? At what point would I be forced to be obsequious?
It hurts to turn down money – very much at times – but being able to say “no” is precious to me and guides a lot of the decisions I make. Avoiding unnecessary debt or expenses helps avoid pressure.
So, I need to be smarter about what gets packed into every cubic foot of the space I do have.
There were many times in the past when I didn’t have the tools I needed to work on certain projects. I rounded over edges with a Dremel rotary tool instead of a router. I cut wood boards with a jig saw and clamp-on straight edge instead of a miter saw or track saw.
I saved and I shopped deals in order to be able to get what I needed. I still do that for higher ticket items.
I remember the hurt to my wallet when I finally bought smaller-sized ball peen hammers that cost as much as a 16oz.
I am not about to become a minimalist, but it feels good to shed inefficiency and excess.
This has been an ongoing process, but something happened recently to greatly accelerate things.
I tried to make robot wheels once, and they were wobbly. I now have the tools to drill perfectly centered holes in plastic circles. But my plastic stock is not easily accessible and I don’t have clearance in front of my drill press.
Another modular tool box system test stack will be headed my way sometime soon. I tend to feel guilty about passing along samples too quickly. I’m going to test it, and once I’m sure I’ve learned everything I need and answered all of your questions, it’ll be donated.
If I have to drag it outside for some harsh sunlit photos, so be it, rather than my waiting around until I can clear at least 100 square feet of space for uncluttered and well-illuminated indoors photos.
I have been wishing I could replace my table saw with a hand tool workbench with a shelf on the bottom for a portable table saw for when I need to make repeatable rip cuts too narrow for my track saw. I might just do that.
It’s time to change how I do things.
This is all a very awkward discussion, and it seems to only have gotten clunkier with every proofread and edit. I know a lot of you are in the same boat.
I built up my tool set when money was tight. I still save and I budget, but my “needs” are covered and my “wants” can wait if need-be.
If I donate my Packout tool boxes and organizers and realize in a year or two I really do need them, ToolGuyd can buy them again should the definite need arise.
I think that a lot of us build up our tool sets and capabilities gradually.
I’m trying to be very deliberate in what I keep and where it will be kept. The excess is going to good places, which makes it easier. I think I can keep a box of my old USA-made Craftsman tools, and maybe some others. But the excess needs to go
I need to be driven by intent.
There’s a voice inside that screams “don’t you remember how much they cost?!” but I need to ignore it. I can save up and rebuy tools and whatever gear, even if not easily.
The monetary cost is in the past. The cost with respect to storage capacity and efficiency is impacting me today.
Will I regret donating perfectly good Stanley or Milwaukee Packout organizers, Systainer tool boxes, or my Festool dust extractor? Maybe. But is that because of present and future value, or past expenses or nostalgic value?
It’s hard to break the cycle.
A long time ago tool testing and functional projects pushed my creative projects to the backburner until they took over completely. I can’t really stop testing tools. I’m optimistic that shedding inefficiency will help clear a lot of the obstacles that I have yet to find other solutions for.
On top of all of that, and on top of the website look and layout redesign that has been on hold, I’ve got to figure out a way to adapt to modern content consumption trends, the decimation of web traffic, and the threat of AI and content mill noise. I’m not going to worry about that too much right now – making more room in my workshop – and life – for creative projects will come first.
I’m not sure if it makes things better or worse, but none of this is even talking about test samples – nearly all of my headaches are from purchased tools and equipment.
I’ve got just under 2 months before the holiday season, and I’d love to clear my workspaces and backlog by then.
One of my uncles died a month ago. For decades, he’s talked about the marble run he was going to build someday. I think he really enjoyed planning it out and talking about it, but he never built that marble run. That hit me a bit hard, as it was very sudden.
I really enjoy thinking about and planning out some projects, but there are others I really just want to work on today and tomorrow, rather than a hypothetical “someday.”
No longer being familiar with modern 3D modeling and assembly software is an obstacle. I’m working on that – see I’m Relearning 3D Modeling and it’s Been Painful.
Space and storage inefficiency is an obstacle, and now I’m working on that to a much greater extent than before.
It seems weird to consider things like organizers and extra tools as obstacles rather than solutions. As my individual voice screams “I could use that!” my business voice says “that doesn’t fit the vision for right now,” and I calmly add to my donation pile.
I emptied a lot of boxes and bins into crates and 27-gallon containers “to sort through later.” That’s not going to be fun, but everything will either have a place in my work and storage spaces, or they won’t. If I wouldn’t buy it today, it’s got to go – with some exceptions.
