Kevin’s Odd Little Workshop - Shop of the Week
This week’s shop comes from Kevin in MA. Let’s check his place out to see why he says its odd:
“My name is Kevin and I’ve been watching your podcast in Worcester MA. I’m sending you these photos of my humble and odd little shop for the shop of the week segment. I’m a beginning woodworker who lives in an old condo building. I love my round living room, but my round storeroom underneath it presents some challenges.”
“I’m trying to use every inch of the weird shaped space I have so I fabricated J-hooks out of scrap to hang stuff from the rafters. there was an inset in the wall where a basement window had been walled off with cinder block, so my Ikea boxes went there. The pegboard is attached to studs that go from the rafters to the workbench. The drill press and scroll saw were purchased when Lowes re-branded everything from Powertech to Kobalt for short money, the Ryobi table saw is usually folded up and has its own nook. The cart I built, a door and two sawhorses are usually dragged into a basement common room that I use for assembly. The Ryobi mitre saw stand and Porter Cable miter saw usually end up in a wide spot in the common hallway. And electrical power is via a long heavy extension cord that I plug in upstairs in my unit. I’m careful to only run one tool at a time.”
“I hate using good wood to make shop fixtures (I’m a Yankee, I’m cheap) and a lot of my tools are from a local used tool store, so the shop fixtures are a little crude, but its all sturdy and mostly recovered lumber or cull lumber pieces from Home Depot.”
“Its dark, dirty, cramped and doesn’t smell great down there, but there are few places I’d rather spend a day off. Thanks for sharing this, and keep the podcasts coming!”
Want your shop posted as shop of the week? Email me your pictures and your story!
This Old Shop ~ Circa 1962 - Shop of the Week
This week’s shop comes from Robert in Boise. Let’s check out what he has to say:
“With all the “new” shops that we have seen, I thought some of you might be interested in a wood shop that was built by my father in the basement of our Long Island, New York home around 1962. I still remember, as a young boy, holding a star drill as my dad manually pounded holes in the concrete basement floor to set the footers for framing the shop walls. I don’t know if I was really “helping” but my dad let me think I was!”
“The first picture shows my dad’s Craftsman table saw in the center of the shop. The saw had a “big” 7″ blade and “gravity feed” dust collection. (Sawdust just dropped into a big drawer in the cabinet base he constructed for the saw.)”
“As you can see from Pic 2, every tool in the shop had a place and my dad could always tell if a tool was not placed back where it was supposed to be! The chisels consisted of a large array of different sized flat chisels and gouges. Along the top were a number of “braces” for drilling holes as well as some antique specialized molding planes and spoke shaves. The “bits” available for the “braces” were located in drawers as seen in the Pic 3.”
“My father was primarily a “hand tool” guy, but did have a few power tools as seen inthe next Pic. Note how all the tools, with the exception of a router acquired in later years, are all constructed with metal cases—no plastic! Other power tools (Pic 5) consisted of a bench drill press, a grinder, a Unimat metal lathe, and a homemade disc sander.”
“In another corner of the shop (Pic 6) you can see a 1930s version of a multipurpose power tool. This combination tool was given to my father when he was a teenager. You can see the wood lathe and a removable “jigsaw” (now called a scrollsaw). This jigsaw could be removed and replaced with a very small table saw when needed. My father was still using this lathe in the 60s and 70s as you can see by the number of turning tools he acquired and maintained. To the right you can see his set of handsaws and block planes.”
“In the final work area of the shop is what he called his “metalworking” area (Pic 7). This area consisted of a variety of rasps, files, metal cutting tools, pliers, and hammers.”
“Many of my father’s older tools were inherited from his high school wood shop teacher. They formed a strong friendship when my dad was in high school and became lifelong friends. Many of these tools were originally stored in a tool chest (Pic 8) passed down from his family. The outside this tool chest looks pretty old and worn. Once opened you can see the entire inside was beautifully constructed of inlaid diamond shaped pieces of wood with the owner’s name dated 1890. Within the chest are several sliding panels and compartments which held an entire set of “wood” molding planes (not shown). The story is that this chest used to be hauled around New York City by wagon for custom cabinet work by the owner.”
“Mantown” - Shop of the Week
This week’s shop comes from Mike in Pittsburgh, PA. Let’s check it out!
“It all started in Aught-Five, when my lovely wife and I decided it was time to add on to our 3 bedroom colonial. With two little girls and a whole lotta Fisher Price stuff, we were starting to feel cramped. So I took advantage of my very handy retired-architect dad and we built ourselves a 1,100 sq. ft. three-story addition. During this project, I managed to reserve a 12′x12′ plot of space in the basement that has since been dubbed Mantown.”
“Mantown is on the cozy side and has a very low ceiling. But I put in double doors that open out under the deck. This allows me to get things in and out easily and to cut larger items on the table saw, which rolls into place when I need it. The doors and window also give me plenty of natural light to work with. I even thought ahead and had the window made with tempered glass, for when I accidentally put a pipe clamp through it. Also, rather than drywall, I put pegboard up directly onto the studs, an idea that seemed great at the time, but frankly I’m starting to think pegboard is overrated.”
“Mantown has a long way to go before being complete. Tool-wise, I’m just getting started. Delta 10″ contractor’s saw, Delta drill press, and a Makita sliding compound miter saw are the major tools. I also have been doing a lot with my Kreg pocket hole setup. The wall containing the miter saw is pretty much temporarily thrown together, but I’m working on a master plan for it to improve storage, utility and all-around coolness. I’m also planning to incorporate a router table into the right side of the table saw and am debating dust collection options while currently using a shop vac connected to the tools wherever possible. The alcove next to the interior door is handy for storage as well, though I had to make sure to position the shelves at the right height to allow a 8′ board to be cut on the miter saw.”
“Despite the size and small tool collection, I’ve been quite productive with the space, mostly building what needs to be built for the addition. In the pictures you can see an entire built-in unit and new fireplace mantle, made of a combination of ply and pine with a tile top (and, okay, Dad helped). My most recently completed project is a student desk and bulletin board for my eight year old daughter, with love from daddy.”
“I’ve started work on built-ins for our home office, and have so far put together a desk for my lovely wife, which will eventually become a full wraparound suite of cabinets once we get rid of that gawdawful wallpaper (and yes, a gadget station included!). The desk was actually one of my first projects, during which I learned things like paying attention to grain direction, book-matching panels, and how to stain wood correctly (all after the fact, of course). Building the desk was also a strategic move on my part to convince said lovely wife that Mantown is really “all for you, honey”. So far it seems to have worked. Wait till I tell her I want to knock out that wall behind the miter saw and make it bigger!!! I appreciate any commentary, especially suggestions on how to turn my 7′ ceiling into a 9′ ceiling.”
John’s Basement Woodshop - Shop of the Week
This week’s shop comes from John. Let’s see what he has to say:
My shop is 46′ long and 17′ wide at the widest part of the shop. When I added the shop to our home I had a sub panel installed for the shop. I have four 220 outlets and a bunch of 110 outlets. The lighting is T-8 fixtures and they really light the space up. My situation is ideal as far as basement shops go, as I have a straight shot from the garage right down to the basement. I have no corners to navigate, which is very helpful when moving sheet goods and finished projects. The pictures of the shop were taken after I put the shop back together after a brief lay off, that is why the shop is so clean. I did something crazy….I sold off my old shop tools to get back into the golf business. (Custom Clubs and Club Repair) Well, the itch for my shop did not go away and the golf market is not doing all that well, so, I sold off the golf shop stuff and put the wood shop back together. One good thing about buying tools after you sell everything off is you only buy the tools you are going to use. I had a lot of tools that I sold off that I rarely, if ever, used. I now have a great little shop with a great inventory of tools, and I love getting to spend time in there.
Here is a list of some of my tools:
Delta Unisaw Grizzly 20″ Planer (Man oh Man was it ever fun getting that down the stairs); Delta 13″ two-speed planer; Jet 14″ Band Saw; Yorkcraft 6″ jointer with a spiral head cutter; Delta Drum Sander; HF 2hp Dust Collector; Old Craftsman RAS; Makita Miter Saw; Leigh Dovetail Jig; Quick lift router lift; Lots of Jet clamps (Thanks for the heads up on those Marc!); and lots of other miscellaneous tools and stuff. As you can see from the pictures I have lots of benches and counter space. The assembly table and the outfeed table were just quick and dirty 2×4 tables, until I can make the Assembly table that I watched Marc make, and I would like to do a little better outfeed table that would incorporate some storage into it. I would also like to build a little cabinet for saw blades, dado sets, wrenches, etc. under the right side of the table saw extension table. Currently, I have my router set up in the extension table of my table saw; I would like to build a free standing router table soon. I purchased my workbench from a friend. I plan to make some changes to it. I plan to add an Emmert Clone as a face vise, and a Veritas Twin Screw as a tail vise. A wood shop produces a never ending list of things to do. All of which are a fun part of the hobby.
CrackPotWoody’s Basement - Shop of the Week
This week’s shop belongs to Gregg, aka CrackPotWoody. Let’s check it out!!
It’s been a long process getting a shop that I feel is workable and productive. I’ve gotten more serious over the past year or so, since we built our new home. I like having the shop in the basement, it’s close by, year round consistency of temperatures and humidity, and I’m lucky to have plenty of room. The shop is finally getting close to where I want it to be, and I’ve even been able to get a few projects out the door along the way. There’s even one in the works (2 cherry night stands) on the assembly table.
I’ve added a few pieces of equipment and accessories over the past year. I’ve had the Grizzly contractors saw, 6” jointer, and belt/disk sander for about 10 years. I just added the Incra fence and router table/lift to the saw this year. The Ridgid planer was bought from the 2007 woodworking show. I’ve added dust collection, an OSS, Mitre saw, PC dovetail jig, Steel City mortiser, and most recently, a craigslist find of a 16/32 drum sander. I’m sure I’m forgetting many other things, because UPS is always at my house. Next big thing on my list is a new band saw to replace the 10” craftsman, and maybe a jointer upgrade. Additional electric and a lighting upgrade are a must too.
The assembly table (4’ x 6’) was inspired by David Marks design. But I went about the process a little different then most others do. Rather then using sawhorses to make the dead flat surface to construct the torsion box on, I built the base first. I then leveled the base out to get a dead flat surface and then used it to construct the torsion box on. I have the height set to match the table saw, so it can also serve as an extra outfeed table for anything really long coming off the saw. As you can see, nothing fancy for the base or for that matter any of my work tables. They’re built to get the job done.
It’s still a work in progress. A few more workbenches to make and new lights and electric, and its still just almost there. So maybe a shop is never really complete. Thanks for taking a look. And watch soon for CrackPotWoody.com.
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