Frank’s Work Shed – Shop Tour
My woodworking shop was the first major project after my retirement in early 2003 and I am relying upon it to serve as the home base for most my projects for at least the next twenty five years. I designed and built the shed almost entirely by myself, and it was very satisfying project. I only hope that some of my future projects will be as rewarding.
The shed fits well into my city suburban lot, leaving room for a good sized vegetable/herb garden, decks, patios, flowers, shrubs, and even some grass. The building blends into the neighborhood, and I liked the roof and colour scheme so much that, two years ago, I re-shingled and re-painted the house to match the shingles and paint on the shed. One constraint was that the wall close to our neighbour’s house had to be low and could have no windows. The restriction was turned into a feature by having a large roof overhand protecting storage racks on the 40 foot wall (33 foot workshed and 7 foot adjacent garden storage shed).
The interior space of the shed is 431 square feet which sounds like a lot to non-woodworking folks, but when you have to fit a lot of benches, machines, supplies, and tools into that space, it fills up quickly. The main way to combat this, is to make almost everything in the shed mobile. The building’s outline makes the best possible use of the limited space and, furthermore it fits our odd-shaped lot well. The shape of the shed is what I call a “squat T” having a squarish middle section with wings protruding to either side at the top. The middle area is approximately 16 feet by 16 feet with a cathedral ceiling that peeks at 10 feet. This section, coupled with the double doors at the front, provides sufficient space for the manipulation and processing of sheet goods and lumber.
The relaxation alcove at the north end contains, a wood stove, some easy chairs, a chalk board, floor to ceiling bookcase, and a drop-down drawing/drafting table. It feels quite different than the rest of the shed and is a great place to relax. My grandchildren and I particularly like reading stories here in front of a roaring fire –and it’s even better when, as was the case yesterday evening, we had just come in form an hour of tobogganing. The remaining wing contains benches, parts storage bins/drawers, and hand tool storage.
The shed was designed so that two people can work together on projects. Mobility and distinct work areas are the keys to this. I want my shed to be a place where friends and relatives feel welcome and I very much enjoy working with others. As a child, I was always welcome in the worksheds of my Dad, my Granddad, two of my Uncles, and one of my Aunts. Together, they instilled a love of woodworking in me that I, in turn, passed on to my two daughters, and now am starting to pass on to my grandchildren. From some of the photos of the shed interior, you can see that little children have already been contributing art to the walls. Several joint projects with friends, children, and grandchildren are in the planning stage and three are currently underway.
I have had a workshed or access to someone else’s workshed forever. The first one I could call my own was a distributed shed occupying the closet, storage locker, and balcony in the apartment we rented after Margaret and I were married in 1966. Since then, we have moved many times and lived in three different countries. Each of our homes has always had some sort of shed. All these sheds had good aspects and bad, but the worst thing was always inadequate tools and lack of good organization. The later meant that, even when I had the right tool or part, I often could not find it. Finally, I have the shed of my dreams, with all the tools that I need (well there is always something new that I want but that is not the same as “need”) and, even better than that, everything has a home and I know where everything is! So, with a good layout, good tools, good organization, and good friends and relatives to share it, my woodworking shed is perfect for me. May I continue to have the good health to enjoy the shed for many years to come!
**Frank put a lot of work into his shop tour, and what was posted here was just an abbreviated version. If you want to see the full tour, download this handy PDF and check out even more pics and details: Frank’s Full Shop Tour PDF
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Wow !! I read the whole 19 page PDF version and all I can say is very impressive. Beautiful job on both the shed and the job describing it on paper. It truly makes one feel as if they are getting a live tour. You are an organizational inspiration and you have given me some great ideas!
The shop and your notes sound very inviting. But I take it you are somewhere up north. ( ? Canada)
How does one apply to be one of your grandchildren so we can hang out in the shed ?
Yes, I am in Toronto, Canada.
If you liked the 19 page tour, you may also want to look at the 260 page journal entitled ‘The Story of a Woodworking Shed/Shop’. Stuart Ablett (who is a Canadian living in Japan) has agreed to let people download a PDF version of my journal from his web site.
To do this: simply
(1) connect to: http://www.ablett.jp/frank/
(2) open the document: FrankPellow-v2.1.2.pdf
(3) select the “diskette” icon in the top left of the Adobe Acrobat tool bar in order to save the file to your computer
If you download this file, I would appreciate you sending me a note to tell me that you have done so (fpellow AT sympatico.ca) and, of course, I would also like to receive any feedback that you might have about the document.
I’ll have to go with runningwood’s response here…Wow!! That pdf tour was great. I really got a feel for how the shop layout feels and works. You’ve done a tonne (that’s right, tonne in Canada ;)) of work maximizing the space. Nice job and thanks for sharing.
D
Thanks, I appreciate your feedback.
phenomenal! thanks for sharing. this is definitely inspiring, and brings many ideas for future possibilities. seems like the entire setup works pretty well for you – and that’s what it’s all about.
Thankyou Sharon. Yes the shop does work very well for me. I do find myself constantly tweeking things to make the place work even better but, if I were to build it all over again, I would not change the basic building very much at all.
Frank,
Nice shop… I’m going to keep some of your ideas for my next shop.
Frank