A New York Community Workshop - Shop of the Week
This week’s shop is submitted by Todd. Let’s check his place out and see what he has to say:
“I have a somewhat unusual workshop. I work at a place called 3rd Ward, which is a resource for creative people of many kinds, in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn. There’s a woodshop, but there’s also a metal shop, a computer lab, lots of desk spaces for graphic designers and the like, two recording studios, a gallery, and three photo studios (not darkrooms). The woodshop has a very elementary safety primer (which I teach), a furniture design class, a refinishing class, a basic introduction to joinery (which I also teach), and several more classes are developing. The idea is to collect creative people together and build a community so they might collaborate and learn from each other. It’s a good idea, and in practice it has its pros and cons. Here’s a link: http://www.3rdward.com”
“Some of you might be interested in our tools. We’ve got an old 14″ Rockwell Delta table saw that’s a great workhorse with no major issues, and it’s primarily the rip saw. We’ve also got a 14″ Martin sliding saw with 8′ of travel. We have two bandsaws, a 14″ Powermatic, and a big old monster made by IDunnoWho. Two drill presses, a big old one with a head that swings on an arm with two joints (like a shoulder and an elbow, so it has a very deep reach, about 22″ I think), and a small benchtop Ryobi that works just fine for most things. 12″ Dewalt compound chop saw. Combination disk sander/belt sander by Shop Fox that is total crap. Powermatic 8″ jointer, and Enco 15″ thickness planer. 5 workbenches, used for everything from glue-ups to writing documents. You know, workbenches. They’re just 4×4 posts with 1 1/2″ slabs of oak on top, and some bracing. They’re not dead flat, but they’re usually fine. There are also some portable power tools people can use, but I have found it easier and more reliable to have my own. I have a small storage space in an adjacent room, where I keep my rolling cart, some vertical sheet goods, some vertical hardwood, and a bunch of other stuff.”
“There are pros and cons, as I said. The biggest pro is that there are plenty of other people around to ask questions of. Several of the other regular shop users are guys with years of professional experience. The shop manager has worked in cabinet shops for 25 years, and he knows all there is to know about cabinetmaking, also a lot about many other areas of woodworking. He’s also not bad with metalworking and electrical and plumbing and etc. I work alone, and I have no employees, but it’s not hard to find someone to help me lift something. I can turn around and say, “Hey Eric, does this look stupid?” or “Do you have any 2″ cabinet screws, San?” or “How come my finish is dripping, Naresh?”
“The next big advantage is that the rent (actually “membership fee”) is reasonable and I don’t have to buy my own machinery. As a young guy (34) starting a business I’m not 100% confident about, it’s nice not to have a large capital investment in overhead. I don’t get scared if I have 3 weeks without paying work. It gives me a chance to do other things that will help me to learn what my own designs actually look like.”
“The third advantage is that once in a while I get work from other people there. Someone will call the front desk and ask if there’s a woodworker in the house who can make something. Or someone will need help with an installation. Or the situation where a guy did a bunch of design work on a project, which took longer than he thought, and then it was time for him to move away. He passed the fabrication to me.”
“In the con department: Chief among these is abuse of the machinery and the facility. It’s often because students or amateurs using the shop (sometimes for only a day or two) don’t know any better. For example, they rip a 12′ piece of 6/4 oak with the crosscut blade, overheating it and warping it. Often people do dangerous things, like crosscutting a long board with the rip fence. Kickbacks are way too common. No one’s hurt themselves yet, in two years, but I think it’s only a matter of time. Some of the regular shop users, professionals and semi-professionals, can be tough on the place too, like when they leave a dusty layer of overspray all over in the spray room. There’s even the factor of non-shop users who borrow things and don’t return them. We used to have dozens of small clamps. Now there are two. The rest, I suspect, are in the tool kits of photographers who have used the photo studios.”
“Another con is that, with people working together, come office politics. You know about this if you’ve ever had a job of any kind. People bicker when they spend time together, and petty issues blow up. Last, we’re out of space. Under financial pressure, the place has had to find space for more users and sell more memberships. It’s more crowded than it was, and it’s getting worse. There are more classes now too. That means teaching opportunities for guys like me, but it also puts a drain on the space.”
“My whole time there, two years, I’ve constantly considered moving out and setting up my own space somewhere. I always settle down to the idea that the pros outweigh the cons, and it’s better right now not to take a risk and burden myself with overhead. Next week I might change my mind, but right now I’m staying where I am.”
Kiwi Shed - Shop of the Week
This week’s shop comes from Hamish. Let’s see what he has to say:
“Thought you might like to see my little sheds that I use here in New Zealand, I have been really interested in seeing so many different styles and designs of peoples workshops. The thing I have noticed is the passion that people have in designing and building their own space.”
“I started my own business in June 2007, just making work benches and now have expanded to garage and wardrobe systems. I have had no training in joinery or woodworking but have studied in Draughting. Watching The Wood Whisperer has been very interesting. If you noticed I took Marc’s design of the assembly bench to the max size. Its been really handy. Cheers. I will continue to expand into wood working over time. Keep up the good work USA.”
Here is a little more info from Hamish:
The saw is SCM SI-16W Rise & Fall Tilt Arbor Sliding Table Panel Saw
3.2m cut capacity, scorer unit, auto brake. 415v/3ph/50hz.
1500mm rip capacity
3200mm crosscut
5.5hp main motor / 1 hp scriber motor
overhead guard which i have taken off for easier cuting of 2.4 x 1.2 panels
The other big machine is a KD 54 Hot melt Edgebander, this will glue on pvc or wood edging to board or timber, trimmes and cuts egding in one go. very handy. The other machine is a Blum Mini Press which can drill hinge holes into the doors and also has removeable head which can be replaced with a 8 drill spindle head allowing you to drill muiltable holes in a work piece.
The jointer is a toolline 6inch buzzer with 1400mm table good for long pieces of timber only single phase but fine for what i use. I have a little thckness under bench 12inch. handy but only entry level. In the other cabinet shed we have a a horizontial drill press for caming and dowling and compressor and hand tools and very important fridge for lunch. Also as for the question on the legs to by benches I flat pack the benches and send around the country this allows for them to be easily removed the bolted back on. I also have a very Loving and Wise Wife who fully supports me in my work and does keep me from getting to carried away in buying to much stuff. Thanks for the questions hope this helps
Garry’s Recycled Hardwood - Shop of the Week
This week’s shop comes from Garry who writes: Your shop of the week has inspired me to take a few pics. I built this place mostly with recycled tropical Hard Woods. This shop, including the front porch and full bath is 35 x 16 and sits on a slope of about 35 degrees. The support posts underneath are TEAK logs some being 9 feet tall and 16 inches in diameter. The floor structure is ALMENDRO. The finish floor is t&g CENISARO. The walls are framed from MELINA and covered with FIBERBOARD on the inside with a wains coat of ROBLE. The exterior walls are covered in Board and batten ROBLE and MELINA with 6 coats of marine varnish. The doors are TEAK. The roof trusses are framed with recycled TEAK poles from a beach Rancho I built years ago Illegally. The government forced me to dismantle it so having a huge stack of TEAK poles became the inspiration for the shop. On top of the TEAK rafters Is CANA BRAVA. On top of that is CLAY BARREL TILES I brought from Nicaragua. Hope you enjoy and I do have guest rooms.
Bob in Georgia - Shop of the Week
This week’s Shop comes from Bob in GA. This is what he has to say:
When I first met this 12 1/2 X 17 1/2 (ID) block building, it was in shambles. The roof was nearly gone and the unpainted block walls were dirty and moldy from neglect. The inside concrete floor was turning to powder from exposure to the elements from the near missing roof. The door did not function and many of the windows were broken. I almost made the decision to bulldoze it down.
After learning a little history about our property, we found out that this building served as the small town fire house back in the horse and buggy days. The wagon itself was kept in this building and the horses were kept in the stable located nearby. Armed with this knowledge, I decided the building would not be torn down, but rather restored and made to look like a country store which would house my woodworking hobby. Much work went into the building over a 3 year period to bring it to what you see in the pictures. I widened the sidewalk making a platform that allows me to roll my tools outside to work on nice days. This makes clean up really great and adds work space as well. Although the shop is small on space, I keep it well organized which makes it adequate and safe to work in. I have grown to love my little corner in the world and would not trade it for triple the space, even if I had that choice.
Mike in Arizona - Shop of the Week
This week’s shop belongs to Mike, let’s check it out:
Here are a few shop pictures, we finished it’s construction about 6 months ago. It is about 1400sf inside and has a 200a service to it. I have a 10hp three phase converter as well. Building it allowed me to carefully place outlets, lights, fans etc. It is basically livable with AC/heat, it has a 1/2 bath and at the end we included a separate guest house (mostly to get the drums out of the house, per my wife’s endless requests). It is pretty full at this point with the recent addition of a JLT panel clamp, which was very worthwhile because having a dedicated clamping area has been well worth the sacrifice of space. As you can see I have a large Festool area set up with 4 MFT’s, which has been where the vast majority of the work takes place. The shop is very long (65′) so I was able to place all the tools that need dust collection at one end in order to minimize pipe runs. The undersized Oneida 1.5 hp collector I have needs to be replaced but I have not got around to that yet. This has been the first time we have had a garage in about 9 years, when I began woodworking, and it is awesome to have the dedicated space. Thanks for your witty, experienced contribution to our beloved craft.
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