How do you organize your PG Materials?

As I add more material options to my vault, I’m realizing I don’t have an easy way to know how much I have of each, they are kind of just stacked on top of each other, like acrylic types together, hardwoods, and so on. Anyone share a neat way to organize multiple materials for quick visuals and usage? I know I can get a giant shelf, but they would still be stacked on top of each other… Plus, I know I can use a spreadsheet but I’m more of a visual type of person…

Also, I have my unit in my unfinished basement with all of the supplies. One of the draftboards appeared warped although it was in the middle of the stack… are the PG materials easily affected in a basement environment? Its insulated, just not dry-walled. Thanks!

https://community.glowforge.com/search?q=material%20storage

Lots of previous discussion.

As for “basement environment”, it’s hard to say without knowing your basement, but in general humidity is a wildcard, and you want to lay your materials flat when storing. Keep your humidity under control and don’t stand them up on edge, and most materials don’t warp too much.

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As you get into it you’ll find that it’s surprising that wood doesn’t warp more than it does. It’s one of the biggest challenges with working with natural materials. The advice from @evansd2 is spot on, keep the humidity low and stack flat to improve your odds. Temperature fluctuations can be a problem, so keep them away from windows and any significantly changing heat/cold sources (furnaces, HVAC vents, etc).
Next steps, buy a Humidity meter (ideally combined with a temp meter) and keep it right next to your materials so you know what’s happening to them. Even basic ones will often have a reset-able min/max reading so you can see how the environment changes over time without camping next to it.
If the humidity gets too high, plant a dehumidifier close by, ideally one you can set to automatically maintain an ideal level and with a drain hose so you don’t have to constantly check/empty the reservoir.
“Stability” is the key word. But again, tempered by “realism”, wood is cool because it’s … wood.:wink:
One last thought: turn over your inventory. One of the nicest ways to avoid warpage is to let the folks at the store worry about it. :smile: Buy as you need it (if possible).

Good luck!!

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Yep, I lay them flat. It may have been a bad board but time will tell. Thanks for the link, my search only yielded one or two of those listings.

I’m not hyper organized, but this is my setup. They are grouped by type with some of my most-used materials having their own cubby. It’s more full now than it was then, of course.

Also, it has not come crashing down. It’s holding up really well.

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Oh nice, thanks for the visual! Yes, I’m thinking the thin shelves would be a great way to organize them and have labels, etc. I didn’t want to invest a lot of time trying to customize or refurbish something, and currently I am without a job so can’t go shopping at the moment… but now I have a better idea of what I can look for ~

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Totally get it. This didn’t take a lot of time beyond the assembly of the base, but I did have to drill holes for the legs on the tabletop as they weren’t where I wanted them to be. The whole thing was about $180. You can find cheaper options, of course, but I wanted it to look like furniture and not a workbench in the middle of our house. :slight_smile:

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Yes! Thankfully my station is out of view, but the sturdy, horrible, green tile-topped table is hidden from most eyes and only took $20 from my budget LOL. I will have to find some decent items for my “assembly” area upstairs where I do my gluing/putting earrings together/etc because the basement isn’t the best view.

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Well, there you go. I do any assembly on a fold-up white table that I tuck away when it’s not in use. The truth is that I have an entire office/craft space, but that workspace is covered with stuff. :wink: I am in the midst of a re-org!

Flat file cabinets. Open shelves are fine, but flat files are the ultimate. :slight_smile:

Find a used one from a local design/architecture firm/furniture liquidator… can get them cheap!

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What does “cheap” mean to you? I’ve never seen them for cheap, but maybe I’m not looking hard enough!

I got mine for $100. More likely to find a 5 drawer 3x4’ unit for 300ish.

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$100 isn’t bad. I haven’t found any that cheap. I don’t have room for any more furniture at this point, though.

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Yeah they have a pretty big footprint. That being said I am nowhere near full for materials, and you’ve seen how many different hardwoods I work with. I probably have 15 different species on hand plus acrylics and leathers (to be fair the leather doesn’t live in the flat file, they are rolled up). Anyhoo.

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Now that we no longer have a cat occupying our workshop :frowning: we can actually use it for a workshop. I don’t have nearly as many materials as you do, though, and I probably shouldn’t unless I start selling things in a deliberate manner.

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Material sickness. It’s a real thing. I just bought some figured walnut from Kim Oberlin just because it looked cool.

No idea what I’ll do with it, but come on look at that grain.

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You could do something like this. Ours is most of the base to our guest bed and we built a support for the rest. A standard size is 54" wide, the same as a double bed.

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Hah. We already have drawers under our bed, but that’s a clever idea!

@evansd2, those boards are sexy (I don’t say it often, but sometimes it has to be said). Good choice!

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I ended up picking up a cheap sturdy wood dresser from Goodwill, then had my hubby reuse the drawers to make thinner shelves. It will work for now as long as I don’t need more variety!

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Clever!

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