Organizing My Shop - 5 Shop Organizing Projects 

I doubt if you read all your comments. However there is a process called 5S it’s a lean manufacturing process we use in the aircraft business. It’s a method of organization and simplify your shop. You can do it by process or task! There are several positive tools that can help. 5s stands for Sort, sweep, simplify, standardized and sustainable. It really helps especially if you have several people working in the shop! Saves time and money and increases productivity!

Thank you for not having a annoying intro before your videos and saving time for millions of people. Right to the chase.

Thanks for all the great videos and for what it is worth, I really appreciate you keeping them "clean" even when the pegboard drives you crazy :) I do some volunteer teaching with teenage woodworkers and I really appreciate that I can refer them to your videos. You are a true inspiration in particular to my female students so thanks for what you do.

You keep your memories. I can only speak for myself, but I think you rock 🤘🤟🤙

Nice way to start a new week. I am really happy for you and what youa re building. My shop was a barn with a rocket stove in New Zealand, now it is a tent in Hawaii with a breeze.

yup, a shop is AWAYS changing/evolving. I just spent the last week RE-arranging mine, for probably the 10th time since I built it 5yrs ago, but some how I actually managed to not only organize things better and give everything a permanent home, I also gained floor space by being able to clear out a corner for my table saw to roll in to, FINALLY getting it out of the middle of the shop. it's SO nice to be clean and organized again. LOVE your shop, wish mine was even half that big :)

I never thought about looking at my shop as evolving... But I think I like it and I think it's an excellent way to think of any shop moving forward..

It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who likes to have everything organized. It makes it so much easier to find things and also has a great aesthetic geek factor. The Rockler drawer organizers remind me of Legos. Thanks for sharing all your creative organizing ideas with us!

Shop organization is the key to getting anything done and finding & using your stuff. You could put out a whole separate channel on this subject. Thanks for showing many of us how to change our bad shop habits into workable approaches to having accessible tools and usable work spaces.

Nothing more satisfying than getting the shop organized. Speaking of which.....

Hang your pegboard and cabinets using French cleats as well. Makes it much easier to hang them yourself and very easy to remove or move if you need to. It is a heck of a lot easier to find studs and hangs a cleat level than trying to do the same while holding a 4' x 8' board off a ladder. Very strong.

April you are so inspiring. I LOVE YOUR VIDEOS

Pre-drill your holes the width of the screw shaft (not the outside of the threads) before you put a screw in... it will keep you from chewing up your bits, and keep the wood from splitting immediately or in the long run. Also, screws aren't for everything - people fall in love with them because they don't have to swing a hammer - but - nails have better sheer strength. Bang a screw from the side in a vice and it will break instantly - you'll have to bang all day on a nail to break it via metal fatigue, by bending it back and forth repeatedly. Pre-drilling a hole applies for nails too. They are both basically wedges - little log splitters.

Awesome ideas. Soon as I finish putting up the osb on the inside I'm gonna take a weekend and make a bunch of cleats.

Getting organized equals efficient time management and more creativity and more spontaneous ideas and let’s the mind concentrate on the task at hand , amazing how 1 less trip to the hardware store makes life better! Keep improving and be inspired!

cool shop , nice work, awesome dogs, you got it all .

There is something special about your first pegboard. Glad you saved it.

Some very good ideas. That segment with your pegboard, totally worth the price of admission. Most of us do crazier or stupid risky things, but there's no video. Thanks for sharing yours.

that reaction to the table saw being turned on for the first time in that shop was truly awesome! actually watched that 10 seconds or so of footage a few times. seriously made me smile and laugh. that reaction kinda describes that feeling u get when a machine like that gets powered on!!!

Gradually getting there....looking great....👍🏼😊

Those wall cleats really offered a huge help!

That peg board hanging tho .... Working alone meant building jigs and learning how to combine those to get the best use outta 'em buggers for YEARS for me. Once it started to pay off though, I usually wouldn't want to bother around with clumsy helpers any more about three or four years into it (did it for 30 plus years now ...)

Hi April, very ingenious, absolutely brilliant especially since it is money-saving for larger tools and enables us to use left-over wood. Thank you for all these great ideas, innovations, and for all the time and effort you are investing in making these helpful videos. Peace be with you, Ciao, L

As my mentor and dear friend that taught me so much over the years, was never to detailed about the cluttered shop floor, you'd ask him where something was, his reply invariably would be, 'Oh, it's hung over there on the floor somewheres' So nice to see your progress with the shop. And love the happy dance when you powered up your table saw.

Pegboard slips, knocks tools off their stations, they hit the floor. April's reaction? "Darn it!" Kudos.

Hey April! Big inspiration to get organized. I have a great tip for your stencils. Use clear plastic drawer liners, its a much larger sheet, really cheap so you don't take as much time laying out all the layers of tape. Then cut out the parts you want to paint instead of around them, this way you can use the negative space to put the paint into and the plastic protects the surrounding materials. Usually I'll cut out the stencil while its stuck to the material, the drawer liner glue isn't so strong to peel paint so you can just peel it off after you paint your logo! Hopefully one day I get my shop going like this!

I love watching shop projects and getting anything organized feels so nice!

April, you are such an independent person! That is so great showing that you were determined to do it on your own, before calling for help! I love self deprecation!

you can get a bunch of TP-LINK plugs that can be controlled from your phone or an Alexa (Amazon) app/device. You can set up profiles that let you group the various plugs to work together. I have mine hooked up to the lights and garage AC

So glad you kept that hanging part in there! That’s me not asking my wife for a hand sometimes not wanting to bug her. Love your channel and much respect for your skill!

I found an old overhead projector at a garage sale years ago, and then purchase transparency material for my inkjet printer. Makes putting logos on walls or other large areas easy. My old shop & studio had huge logos on the wall and it only took an afternoon to paint.

The shop is really coming along will look forward to more videos and I still love your enthusiasm especially the look on your face when you fired that table saw up for the first time. Keep up the good work and thank you for taking us along with you.

I love your attitude and perseverance. You have inspired me to begin building projects on my own. I am no where near your level, but appreciate all of your videos and ideas. Thank you!

Shop tips are always great!!! In my shop (which is a small shed) my ceiling joists are low enough that I have attached peanut butter jars to them hanging down!! Though like I say they are low enough to reach by hand, but high enough that I am NOT smacking my head against the plastic jars hanging from them!! Then using a label maker each jar is marked to what is inside them......i.e. 1/2" Pex Rings, Auto Fuses, Wire Nuts and so on!! It is nice because you can see right into them too to KNOW what is inside of them as well!! Though I do still use coffee cans on slightly larger parts like bolts, nuts and such. Peanut Butter jars are amazing for storing washers, sheet metal screws and so on!! Another thing I did too, is I have small shelves for all my "new stock" nails and screws. These are boxes of drywall screws for example that came in their original retail packaging!! In that area I have about 6 shelves, and each box is placed on the shelves with their content label exposed, so I can just walk to the shelf, read the label (to find what I need) and then take and use the item I am looking for!! And these are usually only COMMON SIZE HARDWARE, like 3" deck screws, or 1-1/4" drywall screws, and so on, the I find myself using more and more all the time!! So when a box gets close to empty it is usually replaced first!! And I always know what I have on hand at just a glance, because the shelves are sorted too by shortest to longest!!

Hey April. I appreciate the head up on the remote outlet cut off thingy. My shop lights are plugged into the ceiling, and so on 24/7. I grabbed the remote from Amazon and now I save half the power bills. Cheers April.

Like the French cleats and the bit holders. That remote control L's cool. Someone wants to be top dog. Thanks for the video.

Something about being a woodworker!!... i found the same, setting up my (tiny) shop, perfectionism really gets in the way of finding a place for everything! you want to engineer the best solution to store every tool and accessory you have. Love your videos April, you are motivation that challenges my procrastination.

Thanks for the clamp shelf project idea, my husband and I cleaned up our garage so he could have a workshop area and we needed something to hang all his clamps. This worked great. We both enjoy your how to youtubes. Thanks.

My single car garage is being used for my little shop (home shop) and I'm gradually building up my tools (thanks to HF) and now needing a place to put them all. Since we are renting the home for a couple of years, I can't do too much to the walls, but I can make it work. Your ideas here are great!

Work flows better when everything is organised. Greetings from UK.

Oh, please, who are you trying to kid? Shop organization projects like this are the most fun you can have in a shop. Even your shop build series is basically just a "I wanted a more organized shop, so I started by building a whole new shop..." Shelves! Clamp racks! Drawers! Pegboard! Hooks and hangers! Workbenches! Carts! Tables! French cleats and casters everywhere! If you don't love that stuff, you're not a real woodworker. I must say, I truly envy all of that space you have in your shop. Enough floor space to lay out whole 4x8 sheet goods, and enough wall space to not only push all of your table tools up to it (drill press, miter saw, router table, band saw, whatever else you may have), and to hang whole sheets of pegboard, but you'll have enough left over to hang posters and art work. That shop is literally bigger than my whole apartment. It's beyond awesome. Just out of curiosity, are you just naturally clean-mouthed or do you censor yourself when you film? If I made videos like this, they'd probably be unwatchable because the audio would be one long, continuous of expletives. Even when something good happened it'd be all like "Bleep yeah! Who's the bleep now, pegboard?!" Or words to that effect.

Nice job on the easy/simple organization. I use Yard Butler Wall Mount Hose Hangers to organize extension cords and air hoses.

Such timing!!! I happen to be reorganizing my garage today. Your video has caused me to rethink my layout.

I've been using those ZAP remote outlets for almost two years now and I've got to say, they're great! They've withstood a 3/4hp fan, a window A/C unit, and a strip of eight light bulbs. All being switched on and off several times per day (all on their own outlet of course) I even use them when i'm doing light tinkering with anything electrical that I want to keep my hands off of. Programming two outlets onto one button can be super handy too!

As a female amateur woodworker, I've really looked up to you April for your skills and work ethic and have always humbly thought, "Hey, that April girl seems like she'd be fun to have a beer with." But then I saw your Song of the Lark painting (one of my favorites) and now I wonder if we're soulmates? Just thought it was a random thing to see in one of my favorite wood worker's videos. Anywho, keep on keeping on! Your shop is a dream!

My opinion:you do a very professional job on your videos! Enjoyable to watch and listen to AND informative. Thanks.

:D Nice job... To mount the pegboard, screw a couple short 1x pieces to the wall where you want the top of the pegboard to be. then hang the peg board on those, or get fancy and do it like your router bit holders. Or heck, just put a couple wood screws in the wall part way and hang it like a picture until you get the frame screwed to the wall. Also for screws, nails, and hardware, I up-cycle peanut butter jars. Keeps the dust, bugs and rodents out. And if I need certain screws or what not for an offsite job, just take the jars of screws I need and throw them in my tool box/bag/bucket and No Spills!

You had a Tim Allen moment when you turned on the table saw! Shop looks great.

New shop looks huge! Congrats. I don’t know what I would do with all that space lol I’m in a TINY 8x10 “shop”

I will be building that clamp hanging apparatus. Thanks!!!

When the pegboard fell, I can't help myself but just laugh when you bow your head down knowing how much work you put the pegboard together

Haha awwwww, the pegboard scene was a bit hilarious, even though i'm sure it was frustrating in the moment. At least you caught it on film, that's always the bright side for us when things go wrong, lol. Makes for good content!

As I was watching the pegboard fiasco I was thinking "she needs to use French cleats for that, surely she knows about French cleats?" Well soon enough I find out she does. Still can't figure out why she didn't use them there. Man do they make working alone a lot easier when hanging awkward stuff. Great ideas though and I am glad you are getting everything organized. I hate it when I know I have something and can't remember where I put it.

When you run out of pegboard space add 1x4 boards around the board, add double centers, then add doors, add peg board to inside and outside of doors. You just added 2/3rds more space with locking doors to keep out those borrowing hands. I am a Machinist, Horologist, Numismatist, jeweler, and gemologist, gunsmith. All my tools are in zones as needed. I've move so I bought a 8000 square foot building. My next project is to do the same thing again. This time I'm adding small pocket drawers.

You could have hung that pegboard by yourself simply by screwing scrap wood directly under where you want it, that will support the weight while screwing it in, then remove the scrap wood. I have hung large shelving units above my workbench, by first screwing in a 2x4 to support the weight while screwing in the shelves. I admit, I did get help to lift them onto the 2x4 and to hold the shelves to the wall because they were very heavy, but they were easy to hold in place with the 2x4 under them. I left the 2x4 on the wall to hang tools from.

April, I love you videos. I have the same problem with my garage door and the lights above it. Thanks to you I now have a great solution. Thanks! Keep up the great work.

Hi April. It looks great. You can temporarily mount a board horizontally where the bottom of the peg board will be. You will be able to rest it there while you mount it and you don't have to worry so much about having it move around. I'm mounting some cabinets by myself this weekend and that's the method I'm using.

Your enormous shop is coming together along with your organization. I actually got a little hungry when you mentioned "bread nails".... lol... just kiddin. You're very talented and dedicated to this fine hobby of woodworking. Continue on. Good luck. Work/Play safe is what I always say. BTW, the pegboard ordeal was great. Happy it didn't get you hurt.

Genuinely inspiring... (as he looks around the dreadful mess that is his study and workbench)

Your new shop is coming along well. I’m working on shop organization as well. While it takes time, energy and money getting the shop organizes, as you said, makes me happier to work out there. Enjoy your new shop.

Some really clever ideas there. Thanks for sharing. Excellent

Great work! Thanks for taking the time to make, film, edit and share

I sure do like your french cleat storage.

Please keep us posted on how the Rockler cord reels work out (8:50). I've been looking for one with heavier gauge wire like the 12-ga., and I was going to order one until I read several reviews on Amazon and on Rockler's own website. Some reviews were positive but many were negative about how they fail in a relatively short time frame (one actually reported a fire), and the warrantee is only a year so after that you're out $100. Love your shop!

I'm in my last shop now, the one most likely to survive my coming dirt nap. You reach a point in life when you know for a fact that one has more yesterdays behind than tomorrows ahead, and that forces a change in perspective. I no longer lavish time on details and appointments to my projects, most of which are for my own shop use anyways, instead I find it challenging to simply stay on task and see a project through from start to finish, most often they are shelved for a while until I gather up the enthusiasm to carry on, so as a result I've got several in various stages of completion- or disarray depending on one's perspective. No regrets though, I've had my share of triumphal moments and near defeats, the distillation of which can be summed up thus: *Good enough, satisfactory, sufficient, acceptable, suitable, reasonable, agreeable, adequate, usable, all right; these words do not necessarily mean compromise in any endeavor, just a point at which nothing further of substance will be gained by additional effort. Don't let perfection be the enemy of good enough.* - Beachside Hank ☺

Love the cleat idea for hanging stuff and that clamp rack is a great way to store them. I know what I am building soon. Thanks for sharing your organization skills 👍👍▶️ on girl

Awesome video! Another way to handle the light issue is to use a home smart hub like Smartthings and then a general smartthings sensor on the door. You can then have it turn the light off automatically when the door is in the open position (the sensor on the door). You already have the smart socket, just need the hub and sensor. You could even add logic around how much light is in the room or if you are even in the room. lots of cool options.

I like using the french cleats for pegboards, just put a spacer at the bottom. Doing it this way, hanging them is a one person job. BTW love the router bit storage.

I think I might have made a mobile french cleat tool rack like you wood scrap box. That way you could move the power tools around the room and it would fit flush against the wall when you didn't need them.

Great video, great work! I love those remote outlets. They work so good with a bedside lamp. You don't have to fumble around stretching for the light switch or walk across the room to hit the wall switch, you just push the little remote button at your bedside and off to sleep you go. A must for bedtime readers.

Bravo to u for not cussing up a storm when that peg board came crashing down! Ha u have more will power than I! Awesome vid tho with great ideas, thanks!

Those remote control switches are great. We’ve been using them for years to turn on and off our bedroom lamps and they’re also great for switching on/off your Christmas tree lights so you don’t have to go routing on your hands and knees under the tree every morning and evening... lol

I was watching ask this old house and all of a sudden you showed up on my phone and now I'm so blown away by your style and just how you organize things I'm definitely a follower...😊😊😊😊

For the pipeclamp pads, I use magnets. That way, if I need to remove them for any reason they come off easy. Organizing feels so good when you make time to do it. Nice work.

Oh I love the cleat hanging method, very simple to just bring all of the tools you might need to where you need them! Good video :)

Wow, gr8 organization system. W/ a layout 4 all the tools & bins 4 screws & nut, will save time & more productive. Thx 4 sharing on the internet. Keep on DIYing.

I have those same remote outlets and I absolutely love them! They are one of those things you never think you need until you have it and then you cannot live without it. One thing I did was stuck velcro to the back of the remote and onto the wall next to the switch so I can always find the remote.

ahhhhhhh.......lip balm! Tools come in many shapes and sizes!! Nice cleanup!

Love the clamp holder!

Lots of great ideas, specially the rack for pipe clamps.

Looks great April

Sweet puppies! I have that tool box and use it at work. thanks for sharing. it is motivational. time to get me organized.

I often have to do tasks by myself in my shop. I would suggest with the pegboard if you tacked those legs to the wall temporarily with some brads that would have helped hold them in place until the pegboard was up.

In Southeastern Louisiana all my tools rusted within the first year I moved here from the deserts of California. Even precise calipers, Router bits, Forstner bits, handsaws, etc. that were in cases rusted even though they were stored inside my air-conditioned home. Condensation on cold metal was the culprit. The second problem I see with your stowage system that wouldn't work for me is all the uncovered hardware becomes covered with dust that hardens over time because the dust absorbs moisture and it has to be scrubbed off before use. I'm not criticizing, I'm pointing out to others that they have to stow according to the clime they live in. (Did I forget to mention the little spiders that seem to come from nowhere and are everywhere?)

April: Here's a tip for when you're alone and struggling to hang up long items like that pegboard: First, mark your bottom line, then tack a 2x2 to it and then level it. Secure it with screws or nails. Then just place your long item (pegboard) right on top of the 2x2 and drive in your screws. I used this method a lot when I was doing T-111 barn siding on buildings years ago. It makes the job faster and a lot easier. Love your show too by the way!

I have a similar remote outlet that I thought was a good idea for turning a small shop vac on that stays connected to my mitre saw. That is until yesterday when I came home from a shopping trip to find the vacuum running after the outlet was triggered by random radio signal from somewhere. I'm glad it was a short trip otherwise the vacuum motor may have burnt out or even started a fire. I really like the solution for the router and forsner bits!

Thanks April! I have a passion for organizing and I see some great ideas that I will use in my shop!!

I bet it feels great to get organized! Good job. One tip on the stencil, is cut it out in relief (remove your logo part) and then use a can of spray paint on it. It would be quicker, but the results may not be quite as good.

Welcome to my world of 'doing it myself'! I do know you had the right idea with that peg board!

I learned long ago to "mount" everything on the walls of my shop with french cleats (I prefer to call them freedom cleats)....I find that I am regularly moving stuff around and this makes it very easy to do so. Although its great to have everything out and accessible, for those of us without dust collection that can be a nightmare to keep everything clean.

For that pegboard install look up the Rockwell jaw stand... life changing!!

Your hard work and drive are inspiring April

I love these small project, always inspires me to organize my spaces better and more efficiently.

Thank you so much.. I'm a newbe with good workshop space and no creativity. I hope to learn so much from you.

So much nicer when everything is organized!

Hey April, You have a tall ceiling height in your shop I could see a Library ladder working well in your shop and I would love to see you make one. I know Rockler sold kits for them.

Luv your organizational ideas and skills.

Always a bright spot in my day when you post a new video

What a fantastic shop that is going to be!...Look forward to continue to follow your progress with it....

Good video ! Dogs were funny , peg board scene was funny. i recommend a micro switch at the end of the shop door trac to control the light automatically , when thecdoir is open and hits micro switch it opens lighting circuit and light goes off. door closes , micro switch closes , and light goes on. whala super cool.