It’s April and spring is finally in the air! Birds are migrating north again, days are getting longer, and lawns are looking a bit soggy from all the melted snow. This can only mean one thing for woodturners: it’s time for spring cleaning in the wood shop.
After a long winter during which you may or may not have been working on projects, the best thing for your shop and for your own mental atmosphere is a good shop tune-up. Depending on how much turning you did over the winter months, your tools and equipment might be dull from heavy use or dusty from sitting on the shelf. Your shop might be cluttered or full of wood shavings and sawdust.
However things look in your shop, there is nothing more helpful than some spring cleaning to improve safety, efficiency, and enjoyment as you start planning your woodturning projects for the spring and summer months.
Spring cleaning is no one’s favorite job, but it might be one of the most important things you do this season. Cleaning your shop helps improve your safety as you remove dust and clutter. As you do so, you will also be able to tell if your equipment is dull or has any other issues that might need attention.
You will also increase your efficiency in the shop. We’ve all been in environments that require us to move around cumbersome objects or work with tools that require persnickety handling, which can be very irksome. Once you have everything straightened, sharpened, and in order, your woodturning process will be smooth and seamless.
Additionally, when your shop is clean and clutter-free, your time at the lathe will actually yield better results, as you will be able to concentrate on creating stellar projects rather than worrying about stacks of blanks or dull tools. A clean shop will also increase your enjoyment while woodturning, both within your physical shop and with the items you craft.
As anyone who has attempted spring cleaning knows, the first thing to do is start with the simplest, most visible job. Clearing out the clutter will enable you to clean and organize your tools and equipment much more easily in the next several steps.
First, remove any scrap wood you’ve been hanging on to that you won’t realistically use. You might have a pile of small or oddly shaped blanks that you’ve stashed in a corner or around the edges of your shop. Go through these and decide which ones you might want to keep. Hint: if you’ve been storing a blank for longer than a year, it’s best to get rid of it.
Once you have decided which blanks you’re going to keep, organize your blanks by size or type. It is a good idea to set yourself a limit; find a small box or shelf on which to store small blanks you think you will actually use and dispose of any that don’t fit in that container.
Continue removing clutter by clearing off your work surfaces and tool rests, tossing out used sandpaper and other unusable supplies. Gather items together and place them where they belong. If an item doesn’t have a designated spot, set it in the middle of your shop.
Once you have finished clearing all surfaces and throwing out genuine garbage, you can decide where any “middle items” might fit in with your existing organization. If you still have anything that doesn’t seem to belong somewhere, decide if you need more organizational strategies (containers or shelves) or if the item should be removed from the shop.
Once your shop is clutter-free, turn your attention to the centerpiece of your woodturning enterprise: the lathe. Remove dust and shavings from the lathe bed, the motor, and the controls using a brush or vacuum.
If there are any spots where dust or shavings have collected to create a layer of caked crud on your machine, use a 180-grit sanding sponge or Scotch-Brite pad to scrub them off. If the layer is really stuck, you might need a scraper or putty knife to remove the grime. If you go this route, be careful not to dig into the underlying metal. These methods also work to remove any areas of light rust that may have formed over the past year.
Once your machine is smooth again, apply a layer of WD-40 or kerosene using a paper towel or rag to get everything oiled and ready to move smoothly. Some woodturners warn that the aerosol version of WD-40 can cause lung issues if inhaled too often, so you might want to go with a liquid version instead.
As you clean your lathe, make sure to move the tailstock and to clean underneath the carriage so that every part will move easily and work as it should.
The next step in your woodshop tune-up is to sharpen and inspect all your tools. If you are new to woodturning, you might not realize how often your tools need sharpening. High-speed steel (HSS) tools degrade quickly and need to be sharpened every 5-15 minutes when turning. Any time your tools begin creating sawdust instead of ribbons or making a different noise when you apply them to the wood blank, sharpening is in order.
If you haven’t sharpened certain tools for a while, now is the time to get everything up to snuff. You might also want to take this time to make sure you have a sharpening station set up so that your woodturning process will not be hindered by your need to sharpen your gouges and chisels every few minutes.
The exception to this rule is carbide tools. Carbide tools, like the ones we sell here at Hunter Tool Systems, do not need to be sharpened. Carbide tool heads will need to be rotated and/or replaced as they get dull, but they last 25-30 times as long as HSS tools. Some customers report that they use the same tool heads for a year or more!
If you are using carbide tools, this is still the optimal time to make sure all your gouges and chisels are sharp and ready for turning. Sharp tools will ensure that your cuts will be clean, and your pieces will require less sanding.
Once you’ve attended to your lathe and tools, check your sanding and finishing supplies. Now is the time to replace worn sandpaper and organize grits for easy access.
You will also want to check your finishes to make sure they are all ready for your completed woodturning projects. Most wood finishes expire within 1-5 years, so if you have any finishes around that you haven’t used for a while, check for thickening or sour odors. A skin forming on the liquid can also indicate a finish that has gone bad. Water-based finishes will usually last longer than oil-based finishes. Shellac has the shortest shelf life, so if your shellac is older than 6-9 months, you may want to invest in a new can.
Once you have ascertained that all your finishing and sanding supplies are up to date, group them together in a designated spot so that you will have easy access to these commonly used materials.
Another item that is often overlooked when it comes to spring cleaning is safety equipment and gear. Hopefully, you have some kind of dust collection method in your shop, whether that is a simple shop vac or a more sophisticated air filtration system (or maybe both!) Inspect all dust collectors to make sure all the parts are working properly.
Check the hoses and ducts for clogs or leaks and make sure that there are as few turns or kinks in the hoses as possible so that airflow is not restricted. If you do find clogs, make sure to remove the dust and shavings carefully, knocking the dust from the filter before you remove the bag. This is also a good time to replace filters.
Lastly, you will also want to make sure that your personal safety gear is in order. Check your face shields and glasses/goggles for cracks; a cracked face shield should be replaced immediately, as the integrity of the plastic has been compromised. You don’t want to be injured by the very gear that is supposed to protect you!
Remember to also check any respirators or hearing protection you use in the shop. Filters in respirators should be changed after 30-40 hours in the shop, and they should form a tight seal around your nose and mouth. Hearing protection should also form a seal around or in your ears, depending on whether you are using earmuff cushions or earplugs.
While these might seem like unnecessary pieces of equipment, protective gear can help ensure that you will have many more years of perfecting your woodturning craft.
If you are following along with this guide, your woodshop should be just about ready to go! Once you have cleaned, de-cluttered, sharpened, and inspected all tools and equipment, pause for a moment. Think beyond just cleaning and consider if your workflow is truly optimized with your current set-up.
Consider these questions to help you evaluate your current process:
If your answer is not a resounding “yes!” for each of these questions, you will want to think about how to adjust things to make sure your workflow is, as we mentioned earlier, smooth, and seamless.
Don’t get discouraged at this point if your woodshop is not as efficient as you feel it could be; it does not mean your shop needs a complete overhaul. Make small tweaks to your layout to see if a cabinet moved there or a workbench swapped out here might just make all the difference you need.
If you need some ideas on ways to set up your shop or things to include in your shop, check out our previous blog post, Setting up Shop: A Guide for Woodturners.
In this last step, make sure that you are ready for the projects you have planned for this spring. If you don’t have any plans yet, now is the time to sit down for a few minutes and dream about what you might want to work on!
Set aside any blanks you know you want to use for upcoming projects. Labeling them with sticky notes is a good way to ensure that you don’t forget which blank, or even which project, you had in mind. Now is also a suitable time to check your inventory and make sure you have what you need for summer craft shows or gift-giving.
As you look to the season ahead, you might also take this moment to decide on a new skill or project you want to try, making sure you have all the necessary equipment and tools for this new endeavor.
Spring cleaning doesn’t usually get anyone jumping for joy, but a clean, tuned-up shop can give you a deep feeling of satisfaction. It can also lead to better results in your woodturning and a more enjoyable time in the shop as you move smoothly around your equipment, picking up nicely sharpened tools and easily accessible finishes.
If the shop cleaning task seems daunting, you might consider tackling each of these steps one at a time. Then again, some people like the idea of setting aside an entire afternoon or even an entire day to get everything in order, not stopping until everything is just so.
Whichever method works best for you, a few hours spent tuning up your shop now can lead to months of smoother, more enjoyable turning. Take the time this spring to reset your space and get ready for your best work yet.
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