Following up on the last episode, where I revealed recent changes made to my shop to improve work flow and efficiency...at least in theory...,today's show is a closer look at some of the "accessories" and little shop helpers I've added all around it.

We've all heard the cliche "it's the little things that matter". In this case, it really IS the little things that make all the difference...in how I feel about working at my various tools.

As much as we want to justify buying all kinds of new fangled jigs and shop accessories the one issue we run into eventually is where to put them, and more importantly, how will we find them when we need them the most?

Being organized shouldn't just refer to having a set of well thought out plans to build a project. Being organized should also refer to where and why things are laid out also. I don't know the statistics off hand but I think it's safe to say that many of the shop accidents that occur regularly each year, both big and small, probably have to do with someone not taking the extra time to use a safety accessory simply because it wasn't close at hand.

Surprisingly, it doesn't cost a lot of money to get well organized, nor does it take a lot of time. The accessories I talk about in today's episode took me longer to figure out exactly where to place them than it did to purchase OR put them in their new homes.

You don't have to go as far as building fancy cabinets or caddies (although that could be fun) when you decide "now I'm ready to be organized", being organized is a state of mind and a way of life. The payoff at the end of the day will make a huge difference in how we work in the shop.

Of course the second half of being organized is remembering to put things back in their place...but that's for another episode!

Magswitch and accessories

Bench Dog Feather-Loc Featherboard with Bar

Bench Dog Push Bloc Push Stick

Tormek Rotational Base

Micro-Jig Grrripper

Fast Mount Shelving System

All of these are also available at Amazon.com too!