“Is Your Workshop Prepared for a Disaster?”

[Onboard]

Long ago I was told that “it’s easier to obtain than to maintain”. I’ve seen confirmation of that adage many times over the years, and I’m sure you have made similar observations.

I imagine that the collective of woodworkers is all over the board when it comes to having done an inventory of the contents of their shop. Just read a good article on doing such an inventory primarily for insurance policy purposes. It includes a downloadable pdf Workshop Inventory form, and also has a link to the 5s method that can be applied to the shop environment.

[PaulMarcel]

I just took a video camera and did some slow pans then opened every drawer and narrated anything interesting. It's also good since it can be a reminder of what you had if you get robbed. Otherwise, I might forget about the mini sombrero...

[Rick LoDico]

I just updated my inventory list last week. Problem is, if the house burned down the inventory would too. I don't know of a way to get this on the internet so I guess I'll just have to keep a copy in my truck. I have pictures and video online though.

I just emailed it to myself. Now it's in GMail and I can access it anywhere.

[Dave]

I just updated my inventory list last week. Problem is, if the house burned down the inventory would too. I don't know of a way to get this on the internet so I guess I'll just have to keep a copy in my truck. I have pictures and video online though.

I just emailed it to myself. Now it's in GMail and I can access it anywhere.

I had a boss that once told me to record all of my tools at work and keep a copy at home, and record the entire house including the tools and keep it at work. The chances of loosing both at the same time are pretty slim. That is of course if you don't work out of your house.

[jHop]

I just emailed it to myself. Now it's in GMail and I can access it anywhere.

As long as you open it periodically, you don't need to do anything more to the email. This is a marvelous time we live in, when you can do a simple trick like this to keep inventory lists. Plus, the email server puts date/time stamps on the email, so (heavens forbid) should something happen, you can show proof to insurers or police exactly *when* you did your last inventory. I did this to a few spreadsheets I created and tweaked at work, since they were larger than the floppy disks I have (remember those?) and I didn't have a thumb drive to transfer them with.

You also have the capability now of storing your video log and attached inventory lists on your computer, and paying for an online backup service. While this is overkill (price is way higher than a basic piece of paper seems worth), it's an option.

(By the way, when I read the topic title, I jumped immediately to "my workshop *is* a disaster.")

[PaulMarcel]

Rather than leaving the document in email, you could also upload it to Google Docs associated with your account. Just click 'Documents' on the toolbar way up top when in your GMail account. You can upload any file format; those GDocs understands will be viewable online besides being downloadable. Seems more organized than leaving it in an email (although I had a lot of stored emails before GDocs came out that I had to transfer )