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.
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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
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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.
Daniel
Love posts like this.
Decluttering and organizing is needed in modern America. Not just with our shops and tools. You can see this by the growth of the storage unit business.
People have stuff, stuff and more stuff. It’s hard to part with the old stuff when we get new stuff. We box it up, put it in a drawer, basement, garage or storage unit.
It’s been my mission the past few years to declutter. Every time I work on it I am amazed at how much stuff I have. Do I really need 15 usb cables in a drawer? That back up hard drive I used on Windows XP More so, how about old micro usb, or mini usb? As I declutter my mind says, but what if I need to charge an old device someday? No….. it all goes. If I need to charge an old device I forgot about, I can get a cable delivered the next day by amazon for a few bucks.
Doing very well in all areas of the house with this with one exception. My tool obsession! LOL. I just can’t help myself. Sure I buy lots of tools and use the heck out of them. Very justifiable purchases, but I also have bins full of tool I bought, sitting unopened. I just had to have them! Can’t get myself to part with them either.
Maybe I’ll take a page out of your book Stuart and put some kits together and give away.
Half the fun of tool collecting is researching and finding a deal. The other half is the satisfaction of using them. Having the right tool for the job is awesome. I remember the days of having just a hand saw, screw driver and hammer. We found a way to get the jobs done. I’m spoiled now and I love it.
P.S. Lume cube has small lighting. Their mini panels are great and when paired with some stands from SnakeClamp.com , they don’t take up much space.
Stuart
I have small lights and can only use them for very small things. Lighting is difficult. For illuminating tools, you ideally want effect of a larger light source, with even diffusion. If using LED panels, you need strong diffusion or you get a horrible multi-point shadow effect.
If you go outside, the sun is a bright light source with very small apparent size, and that creates very harsh well-defined shadows.
With me, FOMO has been an issue. Years ago I wanted a Lego Technic set, but couldn’t justify the funds. It was discontinued and that was that. So what do you think happened once I had a little more buying power?
I also tend to have a collecting mindset. I *must* understand a product category and can’t leave holes. I learned this about myself 20 years ago.
I’m giving my son and maybe nephews first pick at the Transformers I bought 5-10 years ago, and the rest is going to Toys for Tots. I love collecting, but I’m realizing I’m not really enjoying the “find a place to store everything” aspect.
I LOVE shopping for tool deals too. ToolGuyd has helped with that, because sharing provides a lot of “wow, that’s a great deal!” joy without my having to actually take advantage. Most of the time.
When I was a kid, my parents would save too. Extra boardgames that we got for gifts or similar: “We’ll give this to you when you have kids.” We were a coupon-clipping household. There wasn’t money to buy the same thing twice.
When I got married, I had a tiny PhD research student stipend and my wife had a low starting salary. I had big tool needs and a small budget, and had to buy tools smartly.
Now, I have less tool needs and more wants, but haven’t grown out of the “but that has value!” mindset.
I put close to $140 on ToolGuyd’s credit card for drill bits to test out Dewalt’s DCD801 claims against Milwaukee, but the $5 shipping bit me.
I developed a new self-awareness a few months ago where I realized there’s a difference when arguments are emotional vs otherwise. I’m learning that the same is true with tools. I’m keeping ill-fitting purchased storage products because of emotional reasons.
I’ve seen a lot of garages, workshops, and work vans. A lot of people hoard.
I feel I’m in a unique position, as it’s pretty much in my job description to keep buying and trying different tools and exploring new corners of the industry without having to ask for freebies. But the mindset seems very similar.
These posts are uncomfortable, but I hope it’s what some people need to hear to improve themselves.
It’s been a process for me – I’ve been “lightening the load” for a while. I can’t just put everything on hold for a month. It’s also not like I can just stop buying – because of what I do things sometimes show up, and a lot of that is necessary for me to do what I do.
I’m testing the new Milwaukee dust extractor. My spare Festool has to go. “What if readers want to see a comparison?!” That voice has been persistent for a very long time, too.
Rog
Sunk cost fallacy is a tough one to get past, but I’ve never regretted going against those internal voices in the times I have.
James
This is so good and reflective of many of my own challenges. Thank you. Very helpful!
Samuel V.
My condolences on your uncle’s passing. Perhaps your decluttering and reorganizing will find some time to make the marble run he planned as a tribute to him.
My brother-in-law’s father passed earlier this year, so this article hits home for me as well. The family spent many days going through the property finding many unused things, like at least 3 sling blade weed cutters. There were discussions on which tools to keep in the (extended) family and which ones to include in the estate auction. It’s made my elderly father start talking about all the tools on his family farm and how he doesn’t want good tools to go for pennies. Will anyone in the family take the drill press, the cherry picker engine lift, etc.?
Grief and mortality make us face difficult choices and hard things. Making those choices and doing hard things without getting stuck or frozen in fear of those choices is the goal. I wish you the best as you work through your choices and appreciate all that you do and share with your readers.
Stuart
Thank you, I appreciate it. My aunt and cousins have been going through his things, and finding… stuff.
I don’t know if he had regrets about the marble run, because he seemed to have a lot of joy talking about it over the years.
With myself, I find I enjoy the journey for some projects, and that includes the thinking and planning stages, but for others I want to skip detours and get to the destination.
I test, analyze, explore, compare, and shop for tools for a living. But I can’t just run down to the garage, turn on my router, and make something fun. Anything and everything in the way of that needs to change.
Back in grad school, as part of prep to be an instructor at my final department, I took a questionnaire about how I learn, and I was very firmly in the “scientist” side of the chart. It’s been difficult to inch more towards the “engineer” or “doer” side. I plan, plan, plan, do, but that leaves too much room for interference.
It’s a challenge I know others face, or like me ignore for too long, hence the post. Well, we’ll see how things go.
Robert
Stuart, I was generally impressed with the quality of your photography. Why not trade investment in the mechanical realm of photography (i.e., the physically constrained space and lighting) for investment in the post production realm? Adobe Lightroom is the best known, but CyberLink PhotoDirector 365 and Skylum Luminar are cheaper and probably adequate alternatives.
Stuart
Thank you!!
I have paid licenses to Photoshop, Lightroom, Capture One, and Affinity Photo, and Davinci Resolve Studio on the video side.
Post-processing can do a lot to bring out the best of an image – especially if you capture RAW – but can not create something out of nothing.
You *need* proper exposure (or reasonably close to it), sharp focus, wide depth of field.
It’s like cooking or baking. Let’s say you forget to add salt to a batch of cookies. Adding salt to cookie batter provides for enhanced flavor. Adding salt afterwards gives you a salty flavorless cookie.
I’ve always strived for clear details, and it’s so much harder than it seems.
Even something like this is challenging:
That session wasn’t too bad – 26 photos over around 20 minutes, not including post-processing.
You can do a lot with inexpensive clamp-on lights, or a window and white foam core reflectors.
I had lights hanging from boom arms attached to floor-to-ceiling poles, and was able to swing them out of the way. My home is not built the same as my previous apartment, and the poles did not work well at all.
Here’s a re-edit I just did of the same image from 12 years ago:
It’s better to get the best possible image right out of the camera, and work from there.
Here’s the difference that small adjustments to settings (camera lens aperture) and lighting angles can contribute towards:
There is not much you can do via post-processing to make the first image look like the second.
I bought this knife a few years ago for review consideration, but quickly didn’t like it, and so I returned it. Before I did that, I took some photos. The top image shows no post-processing aside from whatever Capture One does to all RAW images, and the bottom images shows a couple of tweaks to exposure and color balance.
*That’s* where you can exploit the power of post processing. If the image is out of focus, the shadows are messy, details aren’t clear, there’s not much you can easily do.
If you look closely at the pivot, you can see reflections of the two light sources.
Artistically speaking, the image is a bit flat, and there’s no separation between subject and background. There’s tons that could have been done better. But my goal has typically been to clearly show technical details, in this case the back-of-blade grooves (jimping), wood grain inlay, and blade steel damascus pattern.
I think it’s better to strive for “passable” vs “perfect” if it means saving time and making progress. If I can’t do perfect, which has been the case, I lose momentum, which also isn’t good.
Mike
One of the things I’ve learned is that modern cameras have great noise reduction, and modern software has even better noise reduction. I’m not afraid to go ISO 1000-2000 if that gets me the shutter speed and depth of field that I need for a photo. As you said, continuous lighting is what you see is what you get. But I also traded down from studio flashes like the Buff White Lightnings to Vivitar 283s and 285s off Ebay, mated to inexpensive slave triggers. Add some good stands (that’s the great thing about light stands and tripods, good ones last forever, I’ve used mine since 1986), umbrellas and smaller soft boxes are all the gear I need, especially when I can use higher ISOs. The bigger hassle is a smooth seamless background.
Stuart
I tend to crop, often heavily. There’s no escape from having to be careful with lighting. Illuminating the inside wall of a socket (above), or wrench for example, practically takes dark magic.
Even with modern noise reduction, that doesn’t bring details back, and it often becomes obvious when cropping.
Images like this, for example, requires deliberate lighting. No amount of ambient light and post-processing (in-camera or otherwise) can fix things if the light isn’t right.
What I need to do is find a middle ground – good enough when that’s all I need, and better controlled imaging when it’s called for and more easily achievable.
A lot of my older gear isn’t conducive to this anymore.
The Einsteins are fantastic when paired with softboxes that portable flashes are simply too small and underpowered to fill.
Before that, I used Paul Buff triggers with a Canon Speedlite and Cheetah softbox.
The advantage of continuous lighting is that I can use my phone where I don’t need better lenses or sensor resolution, and that should help speed things up too. I can’t do that with a flash, at least not without figuring out complex triggering.
Plus, if I eventually fulfill my promise of getting back into video, I’ll need continuous lighting there, either ambient or otherwise.
The high school sounded giddy about getting all of the softboxes, flashes, and related gear, which will make it easier to part with.
JoeR
I cannot thank you enough for this decision (below), only wish it did not come with an income dip for you. It is the reason your site is my first bookmark (after the family stuff like banking, medical, insurance, etc. of course-happy wife, happy life!).
“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.”
Stuart
Thank you! I might not always be able to “leave money on the table,” but I’ll keep doing it as long as I can. I like to think it makes a difference. From a publication or media business standpoint, it seems like terrible decisions. But it’s worked well so far, or at least I think so.
ToolGuyd has regular readers (commentors and non-commentors are all appreciated), and first-time or less regular visitors. Everyone is valued, but it’s the regular folks that fuel ToolGuyd’s passion, if that makes sense. Without the community or passion, it’s just “a job.” I can leave money on the table and say no to ill-fitting opportunities if it contributes to a better experience for everyone. It just feels right to do.
Matt_T
I’m good on shop space, for now Lol. Optimizing a small van is my constant challenge. I could sink time and money into a larger van but am trying to avoid it.
It sounds like you’ve been overproducing on the photography. It’s something you have to stop yourself doing when you’re capable of way higher quality work than your customers require. It’s that or do it for personal satisfaction and eat the additional time. Which is something I still do but not near as much as I used to.
An Iphone pro with decent lighting will likely take good enough pictures for your audience. Maybe upgrade your shop lighting or build a covered patio.
The time and capital for 3D printing looks hard to justify unless you’re prototyping, or manufacturing products with it. Even generally speaking making stuff that can be bought is iffy from a business standpoint. Latest example for me I was going to build a pipe rack for the shop. Last weekend I found a Bora wood rack, reduced to $30 from $50, that’ll be good enough and take 10 minutes to put up. If I knew it existed I’d have paid full price for it months ago.
Kay
Start binge-watching Hoarders while you organize! As a clutterer, it helps me get past the cognitive distortions that pop up whenever I am reluctant to get rid of things
Stuart
I’ve come up with all kinds of questions to test whether to keep something or not.
The difficulty is that there’s inherent value, rather than emotional connection.
Getting rid of inefficient organizers and storage products, as well as photography lighting and equipment is a late-stage space-recovery step for me.
I have a woodworking filter mounted to the ceiling in the garage. I kept the small fine particulate filter and smaller Jet air filter I used in my apartment workshop before moving. They’ve sat for 10 years. I’ll be giving them away this weekend.
If I have to buy something again, so be it. That’s a mindset I’ll have to get used to.