A Shop with the "Wow" factor

[Jason Tuinstra]

Hello everyone. I have no idea how I got to this site - ever have that :p - but check out this guys shop!!! It has to be one of the nicest I've seen. Okay, Lou you're still king of the hill, but this one comes close.

Anyway, I thought some of you might get a kick out of looking at it. http://www.johnrussell.com/Finished-Workshop.html

[Peter Pedisich]

He should really start thinking about upgrading his jointer.:D

[John Renzetti]

John Russell does have a great shop. He does superb work. He's really a good guy also.
take care,
John

[Peter Gavin]

And the bench realy needs some attention. I wonder where he hides his hand tools.:cool:

[Rob Russell]

Must be a Connecticut thing - John's also a Nutmegger (and a Fog'r, although that's probably pretty obvious from the pictures).

[Dennis McDonaugh]

Nice layout, I think its cleaner than my house! Doesn't he seems to have very few clamps for such a well equipped shop?

[lou sansone]

wow!! really nice shop. Thanks for the nice complement jason on my shop. I think one of the nice features of SMC is I really don't sense a lot of " mine is bigger and better than yours" going on, or if so, it is restrained. I haven't had time to completly look through all of his shop info, but it is really pretty nice. I have a little less sq feet on the first floor than he does, but he seems to make much better use of his space than I do. I think one of my big space hogs is my 12 foot lathe ( but I guess that is to be expected ). I also really like the wood floors in his shop.

The only other thought I have at this time is that it looks like he bought almost all of it new. Although I have many similar machines as he does, I did not really spend all that much on my shop because most everything was used. Both types of shops have their +/-'s. When you have to buy everything new, you are going to drop a lot of $$ now way round it. But you are going to have it all at once or almost at once if you have the money. You are also going to get the best stuff out there and some of the best designs going. When you try to assemble a shop piece meal and by constantly trading up to better vintage machines you don't have all the finincial issues, but the churn of bringing heavy machines ( some over 3000 lbs ) in and out is a pain. The other down side of vintage machines is the fact that some end up being junkey designs which you may not realize until it is too late, or they may be good designed machines, but woooped to death like my italian planer. Thanks for passing this on.
lou

[Jim Becker]

I Felder it is a pretty good shop!! :D :D :D

[Dev Emch]

WOW! That is a nice shop. It even has wood floors! And did you see how neat and clean everything is. I am embarassed to even look into my shop now.:(

Lou is right. You can have the shop built and all the new machines installed. This is the most expensive way of doing it. Or you can keep the shop as a "work in progress". Each way has its advantages. But keep in mind that virtually every example of the "build and buy it now" shops will de-evolve into the second type of shop. Things change. Shop layout changes. Machines come and go. Its already happening with this super felder shop.... He bought the huge bandsaw on ebay and restored it. So who only knows what will follow him home next year?:)

[Jim Hager]

Man that thing looks like a showroom for an equipment company. What a setup he has there. I'm lucky to get in the door of my shop without something bashing my toe on the way in. I ain't never gonna keep mine that clean, sure wish my wife would though:D but I'm sure that ain't gonna happen. I make sawdust much faster than she can clean it up. Nice tour.

[Christian Aufreiter]

Wow, John has an excellent taste. My shop should look like that one day. I'll do the best I can. :D One thing I'd change is the blade guard on the Format 4. IMO a overarm guard is a must on such a saw.

Christian

[Steve Clardy]

Very nice!! He's spent some money in there.

[Eddie Watkins]

The interesting part is if you look closely the walls are made of what appears to be maybe BC grade plywood. The shelves are put up with plain metal supports you can buy anywhere yet it is so well done and well kept that it looks awesome. The tools are awesome by themslves but the shop itself just proves that if you do things well and take care of them they don't have to cost a fortune to be really nice. John Russell spent the money where it counted IMO. Great shop.

[Scott Coffelt]

Take a look at some stuff on his site, really interesting bedroom set for a girl.

http://www.johnrussell.com/This-old-house.html

[Vaughn McMillan]

Pfff! My shop radio is MUCH better than his. :rolleyes:

OTOH, who needs a radio when you can listen to the sweet music created by all that great machinery?

- Vaughn

[Sam Chambers]

Next time, he ought to opt for machinery with the bright [B]blue paint! Honestly, that color hurts my eyes....but it wouldn't if those machines were in my shop!

Now I really don't want to go down to my dingy little basement woodworking cave for the weekend...

[Dev Emch]

Well, one look at this shop and you know that he can ask $75 or so dollars per hour shop time:D Two items are missing however! Where is the maka mortiser and where is oliver single end tenoner?

[Michael Gabbay]

You guys just wait. When that Power Ball hits, bam, I'm all over a new set of tools! :D

I'll now go back to dreaming......

Mike

[Tim Marks]

It is interesting looking at the projects he has pictures of... porch renovation and bathroom reconstruction to fine crafted furnature. Quite a range.

I am guessing he started off as a general contractor or remodal carpenter, and has branched out into fine woodworking?

Pretty nice stuff in that shop.

[Boyd Gathwright]

.... Thanks Jason, for showing us the "WOW" factor. Looks very nice :).



Hello everyone. I have no idea how I got to this site - ever have that :p - but check out this guys shop!!! It has to be one of the nicest I've seen. Okay, Lou you're still king of the hill, but this one comes close.

Anyway, I thought some of you might get a kick out of looking at it. http://www.johnrussell.com/Finished-Workshop.html

[Byron Trantham]

As a take-off from Crocodile Dundee II, "Now that's a shop!" :D