Packing up shop in preparation for a move

[RedBob]

I'm sure I'm not the first, or last to move home and shop, but I've gotta say it is a tremendous amount of work. Particularly the shop. I've been working out of a comfortable, oversize two-car garage for 8 years and, like many, have been acquiring tools, supplies and wood. Well, the packing days of reckoning have arrived. Days..

I wish I had been a little less attached to every cut-off and scrap of wood and sheet-goods I produced.

I wish I had long ago thrown out the old cans of finishing materials, the inherited buckets of nails, screws, nuts, washers and odd bits of hardware(Dad was a pack rat too) and broken tools.

I'll be moving into a basement shop next Sunday. Fortunately, the movers will load the truck and unload at the new location. These are some heavy boxes. Unpacking and rebuilding the shop will take weeks.

I don't plan on ever moving again, but I am going to try my best to be less of a pack rat in the coming years.

...Really...... I mean it! I can change!

Ya, right....



Bob

[clockman]

Remember the auctions to help the less fortunate woodworkers is coming up soon, so you can auction stuff off for a good cause.

[AHill]

I highly recommend that if you need to disassemble any tools, you keep all the hardware in a Ziploc bag and label the bag with a Sharpie. You can either duct tape the bag to the tool, or keep all those bags in a separate box. One other thing is to find all your owner's manuals and keep them in one place. When I moved back to SoCal, it had been so long since I'd assembled the tools, I needed the manuals just to make sure I didn't forget how to set them up. If you are keeping them in storage for awhile, it's also a good idea to put some wax or a light coat of oil on them to prevent rust. Same goes for hand tools like planes or chisels (the rust prevention part).

I saved all my finishes and transported them myself. Professional movers generally won't move flammables, and Lord knows how much you have invested in solvents and finishes.

Good luck on your move. Will you have a dedicated shop in your new place?

[Jonny Rocket]

RedBob said:

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Unpacking and rebuilding the shop will take weeks.

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Yep. I moved in June and I am still working on it.

[RedBob]

Will keep the auction in mind, Clockman. Thanks, for the heads-up.
Though, as Jonny Rocket relates, I'm betting I don't have stuff unpacked in time for a holiday auction.

Thanks for the pointers, Allan. I DID gather up all manuals and packed them away in a box. Then I made a preemptive trip with a load of shop 'stuff' that included those nicely organized manuals....
But I have yet to partially disassemble my 8" jointer.
I have to grab an electronic copy on Grizzly site.

I'm moving shop into a great big basement that has high ceilings(for a basement) and is reasonably dry. Even has a separate room that might be great to set up as a finishing room.
I've really enjoyed my current garage shop, but looking forward to the new digs. And the prospect of being half mile from the water? Very

Bob

[Robert Adams]

We are going to be moving in a couple years and I'm slowly building more rolling boxes and other storage for the shop. That way when the time comes most of the stuff will be in boxes on wheels and just rolled out of the shop and loaded up.

The last thing I will load will be materials. Want to keep as much as possible as wood costs as much pr more than the tools...

Sad part is packing up the house is the easy part. The shop and garage make up the bulk of the items and value as well. A friend of mine and I were talking one day about insuring our shops. Few understand when we tell them that the shop contents are insured for 4x or more of the house contents as the shop costs way more to replace than the house...

[Bill Wilson]

RedBob said:

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I'm moving shop into a great big basement that has high ceilings(for a basement) and is reasonably dry. Even has a separate room that might be great to set up as a finishing room.
I've really enjoyed my current garage shop, but looking forward to the new digs. And the prospect of being half mile from the water? Very

Bob

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Sounds like a good set-up. Is it a walk-out basement? That would be ideal.

[Dumb_Polack]

I'll bite.....where you moving to? North Shore???

[CLETUS]

A little late for you....


But I think the best way to handle a move is to have a dumpster outside your house or shop and start purging all of crap that you shouldn't have saved.


I was overwhelmed thinking about the prospect of moving. We purged the house, basement, shop and pole barn this summer. I felt so relieved afterward... Not to mention, I gained about 1,200 sq ft of space!

[paulmaine]

Place your name and address on the outside of all boxes should anything get lost. When we moved across state lines a delay by the feds moving equity money between states meant my shop had to be unloaded and stored a few days. In storage we lost a few boxes.
I would not wish moving on my worst enemy! Eventually it is worth it.