Hand Tool Shop - How Big?

[Jake Hillestad]

Those of you that run a strictly (or mostly) neander-shop, I'm curious what the footprint is. I'm in the midst of deciding whether or not it is worth doing a little basement demo and reframing the shop area in our new home or if I can live with it as is. The lady of the house assures me there's no need for change :rolleyes:. I'm interested in the following and any other thoughts you want to throw out there:

1. Where is it located (basement, shed, garage, etc)?
2. How big is the space? How'd you land on that size?
3. What type of work do you do? Do you find you wish you had more or less space? Different layout? etc
4. What would you change? What would you add? Anything you have that you feel is a waste of space/time?
5. Pictures more than welcome.


Fire away gents.

[Kees Heiden]

My current shop is in a 6 x 3 meter garage. It also contains a motorbike, a small tablesaw and plane/thicknesser combo and a metal working bench. So, it could have been much smaller. My previous shop in the shed was only 3 x 2.5 meter. So the current one is spacious to me.

The handtool area contains a workbench, a sink, a metalworking bench and a cabinet full of tools made from old kitchen cabinets. Perfect!

[James Pallas]

Your tools and bench and work area around the bench doesn't take up much space. When you start putting together a project and getting it off the bench so work can continue is when problems arise. If your building dressers and dining tables you need a lot of room, at least double the space of your tool and bench area if your building boxes and picture frames not so much. my space is enough for my bench and tools. If I build something bigger I toss the car out of the garage for a while.
Jim

[Jim Koepke]

1. Where is it located (basement, shed, garage, etc)?
&2. How big is the space?

25'x25' two car garage.


How'd you land on that size?

It was there when we moved here.


3. What type of work do you do? Do you find you wish you had more or less space? Different layout? etc

Most of my work is just for enjoyment though some of my projects have been sold at the local farmers market. My shop stores most of the tools for my various types of work. Garden tools, auto maintenance tools, electrical and plumbing tools have their homes in the shop. It also stores some lumber, hardware and a lot of other things.

Less space? Is there really anyone who would want less space?


4. What would you change? What would you add? Anything you have that you feel is a waste of space/time?

My hopes for future additions are a bigger bench and a better tool storage arrangement.

jtk

[John Vernier]

I'm in a 1 car garage, 26ft x 10.5ft, and I have some machinery: an old Unisaw with a small outfeed table/router table, 14" bandsaw, drill press, 36" lathe on stand. I use a lunchbox planer which stows when not in use, and I don't have a power jointer at the moment. My workbench is 8 ft long and most of my hand tools live in a full sized chest on the floor, with a lot of storage shelving hung high on the walls. I also share space with the lawnmower and other garden implements, ladders, my bicycle, and too much lumber stacked against the walls. If I didn't have the machinery, the space would be big enough for me to have several large furniture projects sitting in the shop at once, with plenty of room to manouvre. As it is, floor space is a bit tight if I don't exercise some discipline, but that's my problem to manage. I hope to build a garden shed to store some of the extraneous stuff and some lumber, then I think I could tackle a kitchen build without tripping over cabinets. I might be able to take some more pictures later, this is what I have ready to post:
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The floorspace needed for hand work is really quite small. I would recommend trying to work in the space you have before knocking out walls.

[Bill Houghton]

If I could talk myself into getting rid of the tablesaw, and didn't do all the other non-woodworking maintenance on the estate (plumbing, electrical, cars, etc.), I could probably be quite happy with hand tools in my 11 by 11 foot shop.

[ken hatch]

I'm in a 1 car garage, 26ft x 10.5ft, and I have some machinery: an old Unisaw with a small outfeed table/router table, 14" bandsaw, drill press, 36" lathe on stand. I use a lunchbox planer which stows when not in use, and I don't have a power jointer at the moment. My workbench is 8 ft long and most of my hand tools live in a full sized chest on the floor, with a lot of storage shelving hung high on the walls. I also share space with the lawnmower and other garden implements, ladders, my bicycle, and too much lumber stacked against the walls. If I didn't have the machinery, the space would be big enough for me to have several large furniture projects sitting in the shop at once, with plenty of room to manouvre. As it is, floor space is a bit tight if I don't exercise some discipline, but that's my problem to manage. I hope to build a garden shed to store some of the extraneous stuff and some lumber, then I think I could tackle a kitchen build without tripping over cabinets. I might be able to take some more pictures later, this is what I have ready to post:
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The floorspace needed for hand work is really quite small. I would recommend trying to work in the space you have before knocking out walls.

John, not to hijack but....I really like your English bench.

ken

[steven c newman]

Working in Dungeon Shop.......90% hand tool.

[ken hatch]

Jake,

My shop is in a standard two car garage with a small (6'X10') tool room attached. I do mostly hand tool work with sometime lumber prep by the machines. In the shop are two 8'X2' work benches, one 6'X20" sharpening bench, a large floor tool chest, wall mounted cabinets and tool tills, lumber stores, 3 hp dust collection, 8" joiner, 18" band saw, 20" planer, a floor mount drill press, and a 3hp cabinet table saw. In the tool room is a mini lathe, my grinders and a Tormek, the saw sharpening vise and station, and a large standing mechanic's tool chest.

A photo looking from the left side of the main bench, part of the tool chest's lid is in the foreground. Not in the photo is the drill press to the right and the sharpening bench to my left and the lumber stores.

http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh222/VTXAZ/currentShop170411_zpsagn8c2ru.jpg

Would I like a larger shop? Sometimes while working on large pieces but 90% of the time not so much. About the only thing I would really like to change is the overhead door. Carriage doors with a door and windows would make the shop almost perfect.

ken

[Malcolm Schweizer]

My current shop is located downstairs in what was originally a second sitting room. I have a zero lot line house with ground level openings on both floors due to being built into a hill. My shop has an exit door to the street, which is convenient.

My house was built to fit the lot, so it is not square. I hate that. It makes layouts difficult because corners are not 90 degrees. My shop is 16' on the long wall, and the opposite wall is 14' long. The side walls are roughly 12'- I think the short one is 11' and the long one 12'. It's a bit too small even for handwork because I use really long wood and build surfboards and boats. The boats are built on the porch or at another shop that I have access to.

I'm trying to buy the house next door, which is 24' by 32' and it would be a dream shop with all sorts of blasphemous power tools! If it were just a hand shop, I would say my dream hand tool only shop would still be fairly large because of the boats. I need 20' length minimum.

If I could change my existing shop, I'd make the darned thing square- but that's impossible since it's 18" thick stone wall construction. If I had 14' by 16', that would be beautiful. When we bought the house, the plan was that the master would be my shop, and this room would be the master bedroom. The master is roughly 16x17. Wifey was all for it until she realized how cool that master bedroom was, and that it looked out over her patio garden, and I lost.

When planning your shop, start with the workbench, then figure where the tool storage would be, then plan it so that you have at least 3' all around your bench. I'd call that a minimum. That means 3' to any obstacle, like a drill press or a tool storage unit- not 3' to the wall.

My $.02

[John Crawford]

The lady of the house assures me there's no need for change :rolleyes:.

"Darling, what I'm most concerned about is noise and sawdust. I think with a little framing, it will keep everything contained in there much better." Perhaps drop some shavings around the house before this.

[David Eisenhauer]

I have a 24'x26' free standing building I use for my shop. I have lots of power equipment that I am slowly getting rid of and will have more room to spread out as this progresses. My shop's dimensions work for me as for running stock through the various machinery, but it is the third shop I have set up and was aware of a few inches here and there on equipment placement being difference makers. As stated above, the problem lies in space for assembly/glueup with larger projects, and in my case, shutting down the shop for woodworking on spray-finish days. I have always been glad I did not have a basement shop with the requisite carry in/carry out issues, plus the lack of natural light and ventilation through windows and doors.

[David Ryle]

16'x16 originally a farm blacksmiths shop,the remains of the forge and chimney are still intact. Mostly hand tools,also a table top thicknesser(aka 'the screamer..it's bloody loud)'a band saw and an old table saw that I use exclusively for ripping lumber and to be honest I should really give the thing away it sees so little action.

[John Vernier]

John, not to hijack but....I really like your English bench.

ken

Thank you! I like it too. Very straightforward to build and I haven't found much it can't do.
I took a few more pictures of the shop today so you can see most of the workspace. Not that it is a perfect exemplar, but I think it shows that a lot can happen in even a fairly modest space. My great shame is the stack of lumber in the first picture, which takes up the spot where a piece of furniture being built ought to sit. I will have to sort that out...
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[Joe A Faulkner]

I can't answer from experience since my shop has power tools as well as hand tools and from time to time I use sheet goods, but what would I want in a hand-tool only shop?
In no particular order:

1. At least 14' of wall space for a lumber rack. When I go to a mill, I generally buy 30-40' of something that I won't use right away and another 30-50 of something I need
2. Room for a 8' x 2' workbench with no less than 3' of clearance on all sides.
3. Room for an assembly table or second work bench (currently a 3' x 5' bench that doubles as an outfeed table for the TS). It could be against a wall, but I'd like to access it from at least three sides.
4. 8' or so of wall space for wall mounted tool cabinets, saw tills, clamp storage
5. A sharpening station
6. Room for a couple of saw benches
7. Room for a stool, trash can, shorts bin.
8. Natural light and lots of it.

You get the idea. Think about what you want in terms of workstations and storage stations and the type of foot print they require. Make some rectangles to scale on graph paper of these work areas. Laminate with scotch tape and cut them out and then start laying them out on graph paper and see what configurations suit you. You can also spend countless hours browsing shop tours where you will find everything from guys with beams on the floor, to guys with 3' benches on apartment balconies to dream shops in fully restored, climate and dust controlled carriage houses, one-room school houses or inner-city factories.

[Jake Hillestad]

Thanks for the response so far - it has been enlightning. The photos have been real helpful as well.

Little more information on my part.

The current shop space is a 12' x 12' basement room and includes a pressure tank in the corner for the well. I can't do anything to change to 12' width but I could quite easily take out the current wall at the end and extend the shop about 8' but then I'd inherit the furnace. This would leave me a 20' x 12' area which I think would be more to my liking. This will be strictly a hand tool work space, with one exception being in the future I'd like to have a PM 3520B down there. Would also be nice to have enough floor space somewhere to have 50 bdft or so of lumber stickered to acclimate before working.

Obviously I've got to mull it over a little more before going forward (and wait for someone to go on vacation for a few days.....).

Keep posting, I'd love to see more perspectives.

[Phil Mueller]

Well, I am confined to 11'x11' of the room occupied by furnace, water heater, sump pump. There is a short wall not in the picture where some clamps live and some wood storage. Through the door in the picture is a small storage room where a few not so frequently used tools live. The workbench/cabinets on the left was inherited from the previous owner as was the peg board wall. The workbench on the right is 6'x2'.
Obviously very little space to store wood. Any large stock has to be broken down outside before it comes in.

There are a few bench size power tools tucked away in nooks and crannys behind the bench, but they get limited use these days.

As has been already said, it's fine for most of my hobby stuff. Assembly space can get a little tight. And with a space this small, I find I need to sort of clean up and reorganize in stages of the project. Just not enough room to keep everything out...so a lot of clear the bench for planing, then put that stuff away, set up for chopping mortises, then put that away, cut tenons, then put those tools away, etc....

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[Brian Holcombe]

I'd take the extra space if you can get it, I've never wanted for a wider bench but I've often wanted for a longer bench. Given the space I would replace my current bench with something around 9'-10'.

[Scott Archi]

My "shop" is about 4'x4' with an area I can vertically store wood approx 2x2' . Might take the cake for tiniest shop but I own no power tools and anything too massive gets taken to my parents house where I can work on my dad's garage. My bench is 4'x2' so I've got basically 4x2' to walk around and work in.

Having this small of a workspace has allowed me to work on smaller projects. Tool totes, boxes, end tables etc. I use it because it was the only room in the apartment that I could work wood in. I only own what I need and not much more.

I have dreams of owning a nice big shop but those days will come once I get a piece of land.

[Christopher Charles]

I'll ditto what Brian said. I used to work in a ~12X20 garage and now have a double. And while it is an embarassment of riches, it can feel small when working on furniture sized projects (that and I have a bunch of wood stored in the same space...). Though it is doable, 12x12 would likely start to feel small fast.

Best,
Chris

[Prashun Patel]

Mine is in my basement. I would rather have good access all around my bench than have it be bigger. Being able to work from multiple sides makes work holding more flexible.

I also find it critical to have good, open, convenient wall storage. Being able to put your planes and chisels and gauges back onto the wall instead reduces bench clutter for me.

I sharpen outside the sharp near a sink.

An assembly and clamping table is helpful and ergonomic but you can really do much of that on a temporary set up or floor when you need it.

[steven c newman]

Have worked in an enclosed front porch at a house trailer..
Have worked in a 2-1/2 car garage..
Have worked on the open back porch at a rented house, with the 2 x 4 railing as a bench top.

Have worked in the 1/4 of a large pole barn, the part which had a concrete floor.
Currently work in the Dungeon Shop in the basement I share with a Laundry Area. Have of the basement is just storage for "stuff". Oh, and, the Furnace and waterheater. Small power tools, and a few hand tools. Bench's top is about 5' long, and the 12" or so in width. If the desire is there to work with wood, one makes do with the space they have. Don't let the lack of a huge shop prevent you from making something out of wood.

[Phil Mueller]

Well put Steven.


If the desire is there to work with wood, one makes do with the space they have. Don't let the lack of a huge shop prevent you from making something out of wood.

[Jake Hillestad]

Have worked in an enclosed front porch at a house trailer..
Have worked in a 2-1/2 car garage..
Have worked on the open back porch at a rented house, with the 2 x 4 railing as a bench top.

Have worked in the 1/4 of a large pole barn, the part which had a concrete floor.
Currently work in the Dungeon Shop in the basement I share with a Laundry Area. Have of the basement is just storage for "stuff". Oh, and, the Furnace and waterheater. Small power tools, and a few hand tools. Bench's top is about 5' long, and the 12" or so in width. If the desire is there to work with wood, one makes do with the space they have. Don't let the lack of a huge shop prevent you from making something out of wood.

There will be a shop and wood will be worked. Just looking to eliminate as much "shoulda done this..." as possible. Once its set up I'd prefer to use it - not spend time coming up with work arounds or redoing things I could have done "right" to start with.

[Prashun Patel]

Phil and Steven,

Jake never said he was discouraged from working because of limited space.

I'm sure you don't intend to infer that real men do it a certain way.

[Dave Anderson NH]

My shop is our full basement. SWMBO once asked if I'd like to build a shop building in the yard and I told her no. The convenience of padding down there in sweats and slippers on a cold NH winter night to throw on a quick coat of shellac along with not having to heat or cool a separate building or pay taxes on it out weighs the advantages of a separate building for me. Since I'm in a split entry gambrel I have south facing natural light through 2 good sized windows in both my bench room and my machine room. The bench room about 16' x 22" has my main 24" x 84" bench, a 24" x 48" sharpening bench, and a 32" x 74" assembly and finishing bench with clamp storage underneath. I lose a 4' x 4' area along the long outer wall for a platform with a wood stove on it for additional warmth. My main bench is accessible from all 4 sides, a feature I find absolutely critical to be able to work efficiently. The assembly bench is accessible from one end and both long sides. While more room is always welcome in any shop I'm pretty well satisfied with what I have.

[steven c newman]

Prashun......And you put words into my mouth. Never implied a durn thing, about anyone else's shops. merely stating what my route to a usable shop was....Sold the house trailer, bought a house with that garage...lost the house, went into renting houses for a place to live. Had to downsize to match the area I could use. Friend of mine had the pole barn, and let me use the space in it, and we both used all the tools in that unheated pole barn. He sold the place, I had moved to a place 20 miles away. Moved from that back porch shop to the new rented home,and went with hand tool work, as the room was NOT there for larger power tools. Shop is right under my first floor bedroom.

I went from a "NYWS" type of shop, building and selling furniture......down to the Dungeon Shop, and making items for friends. YMMV, but I am having fun.

As for that "Real men" comment? That would be YOUR idea, NOT mine.

[Prashun Patel]

My apologies. I should not have implied or inferred. Sorry Steven.

[Kurtis Johnson]

Don't laugh…

http://imageshack.com/a/img923/9822/7Y0Vky.png (http://imageshack.com/a/img923/9822/7Y0Vky.png)

I suppose it's a "hobby", though I don't like characterizing it like that. More at serious creative outlet. The shop is not fully realized yet. It's kind of on hold due to having a small child with special needs and a very busy job. It will be a cabinetry shop and for very light carpentry.

The planer is a Delta 22-101 light refurb project. The sharpening station will be built soon. It's got a very heavy granite surface plate so I'm making sure the engineering is good first. I'll use that to tune hand tools, etc. The bench will be next. Stock is well seasoned.

I'd love a dedicated shop. Probably won't happen, and that's okay. Some of the best design can happen when there are significant limitations.

[James Pallas]

Jake Take all you can get. 400 sq. ft. Would be a nice size for a shop. A nice bench area, sharpening space so you don't have to put stuff away, an assembly space, a smal joinery bench if you like, room enough for tools and lumber and an area to set saw horses for long rips. Room enough so you don't need to move things around to continue a build. I don't have that much now about half that. I either extend into the garage or spend time moving things to work. I had a 2500 sq. ft. shop for a long time but at my age I would be spending all my time cleaning it now. My 200 sq. ft. is not enough.
Jim

[John Schtrumpf]

I work in the living room of my apartment. When I spread out, I probably have around a 4' x 8' area.

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[Andrey Kharitonkin]

On more apartment workshop here! I'm just starting out and I'm a lucky man - my wife still allows to use second bed room as a workshop. Initially it was used as a storage room when renovation took place in other rooms... let's just say last room renovation takes longer than expected.

It is about 7' x 11' and some electric tools kept in other room. After two years it looks like this:

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I'm still in production of means of production, so to say, and learning how to work with hand tools at the same time - workbench, drill press stand, tools wall cabinet, wooden square, shooting board, some jigs.

Would be nice to have room more like square than like corridor maybe... It seems the most critical thing that dictates dimensions is how to arrange the tables.

[Eric Keller]

this is a very interesting thread. I have split off my hand tool work from my machine work since I added metalworking to my shop. The hand tools are in a different room. I'm currently rearranging the wall between the two rooms, I hope I did it right. There will be a little less room for the hand tools, but it seems to be an ok split. I find my hand tool envelope is not much bigger than 4-5' on all sides of my bench. It's a pretty typical Scandinavian-style bench.

[Matthew Hills]

I'd recommend taking a look at Bob R's old video blog.
Here is his shop tour video:
https://logancabinetshoppe.wordpress.com/2009/10/10/episode-9/

Jim Tolpin shop tour is also interesting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyJXaDBEoJA

Patrick Edwards shop:
http://woodtreks.com/category/tools/workbench/

Matt

[steven c newman]

Dungeon Shop has just two work areas..
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One for saw work..
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And one for bench work. Bench is a bit full, right now.
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Basement shop means I have areas overhead to stash a few things...mainly clamps, and a couple extra saws....and..
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A few drills. Right when I get to the bottom of the stairs, I have a little bench set up..
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With most of my screwdrivers stored above it..
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I do have a large storage area...
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Be surprised what all is in there. I do have to share the space with the laundry Room....There is another bench set up..
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More for scraps and powertools. That 1x6 is to keep things from bouncing off that shelf, and onto the floor.

There was an old, falling apart, dresser in the basement, when we moved in.....it is under the plane til, and holds my hammers and files...

Well, that was the $0.05 tour....

[steven c newman]

And, I think everyone has seen the bench, right?
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nothing all that fancy, just a workbench.

[Kurtis Johnson]

Jake Take all you can get. 400 sq. ft. Would be a nice size for a shop. A nice bench area, sharpening space so you don't have to put stuff away, an assembly space, a smal joinery bench if you like, room enough for tools and lumber and an area to set saw horses for long rips. Room enough so you don't need to move things around to continue a build. I don't have that much now about half that. I either extend into the garage or spend time moving things to work. I had a 2500 sq. ft. shop for a long time but at my age I would be spending all my time cleaning it now. My 200 sq. ft. is not enough.
Jim

I know this is a late response. Thanks for the encouragement! It's good to know much can be done with little, and I'm glad I have the space. Problem is, I'll still have to park the car in the garage. Thus the peripheral resting places along the walls for the stationary power equipment. So things will have to move around, and often. However, the Sante Fe will have to stay out during key builds, despite the fact our homeowners association frowns on that.