Let's see your Neander Shop!

[Hasin Haroon]

I love seeing other woodworking shops, neander or power, for the inspiration that they can bring to my own reorganisations of my shop. So post some images of your shop (neander or non-neander, despite the title).

I'll start with my basement workshop, which my wife very kindly allows me to have. I have half the garage for my power tools, but my basement shop is hand tool only and is closer to my heart:

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First up is my bench I built close to two years ago, some of you might recall it. It's a little too short lengthwise and well out of flat by now but it has served me well. I used Derek's tutorial along with videos from Frank Strazza to learn to do the houndstooth dovetails. The little diamond caps at the end are to cover bolt heads, which I think look rather ugly.
363204
In this corner I built in some shelves where a fridge used to be. The shelves store my vintage planes and chisels, and also vintage squares, bit and brace, hand drills, dividers etc. The bottom holds clamps and glue, epoxy, wax etc. I plan on building a proper clamp rack soon. The blanket chest is one I found in very rough shape at an estate sale. The owners were selling it's contents but never imagined anyone would want it...so I bought it for $5. Patched up the veneer, restored a couple legs and painted it, and it looks great right now. I store my newer tools in there, so it's full of Veritas tools pretty much. This wont stay here forever though, I plan on making an english style tool chest or a wall cabinet - not sure which yet. I also have a bench drill press here, an indispensable tool.
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This is my little mini lathe that I love. I use it to make mallets, marking knives/awls, chisel handles etc. I find spindle turning very relaxing, so it gets a corner in my neander shop. Those tall handles there are my diy carbide lathe tools - bought carbide inserts and 1/2" square steel stock, machined the profiles and tapped and screwed them in. With the exception of the detail tool, they work phenomenally.
363214
On the same side as my lathe, is my wood storage wall and my woodworking book stack on a stool. Think that's close to capacity yet?
363215
I scored a great deal on some maple on Kijiji (like craigslist, or gumtree) and so my next bench is taking up valuable floor space and encroaching on non-shop territory. Currently waiting on purchasing the tail vise hardware. You can also see my Veritas MKII sharpening system that I also got a killer deal on Kijiji for. I like the tactile feel of sharpening by hand, but the MKII works great too.
363216
And that's all really. As you can see, it's a very 'cosy' space, so I'm always looking for cool storage or organisation ideas. And here's a walnut coffee table I'm working on right now to conclude.

[steven c newman]

Make take a few pages for the Dungeon Shop......

[Brent Cutshall]

I'm too embarrassed to show mine. It's sad, but it works for me.

[Brian Holcombe]

Bit of a mess this evening, but here it is.

https://brianholcombewoodworkerblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/img_7147.jpg

https://brianholcombewoodworkerblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/img_7149.jpg

https://brianholcombewoodworkerblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/img_7148.jpg

[Hasin Haroon]

Steven, all we have is time ;)
Brent, nonsense, let's see it!
Brian, I love the airy aesthetic of your shop - the space has a very pleasant ambience. Love it.

[Jim Koepke]

Bit of a mess this evening, but here it is.

My shop area hasn't been that tidy since before I moved in. :eek:

jtk

[ken hatch]

My shop area hasn't been that tidy since before I moved in. :eek:

jtk

I was going to say: I could clean and rearrange for a month and it wouldn't match Brian's so I'll post a couple or three where it is messier than normal :p: IIRC the planing bench had just been moved to its current position in front of the joinery bench and stuff was strewn all over the shop along with needing a good sweeping up. That's my story and I'm sticking to it that this was a special case....MsBubba might disagree but what does she know.

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I'm not sure where the big red tool chest is, normally it is under the chisel and saw till behind the left end of the joinery bench.

ken

[steven c newman]

Here goes..
363246
View at the bottom of the stairs
363247
Turn to the left..
363248
Work zone, most of the time..
363249
Not the prettiest gal, but seems to work out alright..
363251
Tils?
363252
Tils
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Somedays, I can even see the top of the bench, and the til for the chisels...

[steven c newman]

Things are a bit full down there, right now, but this is the Five Cent Tour...

[Derek Cohen]

Bit of a mess this evening, but here it is.

Yeah Brian, a right mess ... :)

Nice hand tool set up.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Rick Malakoff]

363264My place is kind of hybrid half trailer and half stick built. this view is the mud room side looking east.

363257Outside machine area.
363258Trailer tool storage area
363260Hand tool work area in my big room (10 x 12), pass thru to trailer kitchen
363261Mud room storage
363262Helper

[Andy Nichols]

Rick:

Nice use of space....

Andy

[Mike Baker 2]

Here is my shop; my back yard. I don't have any pictures, so will have to post this video. Not necessary to watch if you don't want to; the preview pretty much shows you what I have.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xlc1zOvJKeQ

And here is a shot of my bench indoors where my tools live. I don't do much wood working here, mostly guitar electronics, setup and repair.

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More tool and clamp storage wherever I can get it.
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Saw on left is a Millers Fall. Plastic handle. Bought it for a dollar just because it was a Millers Fall. Not high enough quality to be a user. I have a couple of Disston in rehab, and a Warranted Superior. Blade on right is one of the Disston. Center is a Nicholson.

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[Allen Jordan]

Took this picture a few days ago. A bit messy since I'm in the middle of a project right now (making some bat houses).

http://i.imgur.com/CGJyuYJ.jpg

[Jeff Zihlman]

What are the sizes of your shops? It looks like most of you all do a lot with a modest amount of space. We're in The process of moving and I'm very interested in what others feel is a minimum or optimum space requirement to run a hand tool only shop. project size runs the gamut. Our previous home had almost too much space available which really just led to a ridiculous amount of unorganized sprawl.

[Rick Malakoff]

Rick:

Nice use of space....

Andy

Thanks Andy!

[Rick Malakoff]

Jeff, I had a garage that was 16 x 24 and 9' ceiling with doors at both ends and that seemed to work very well. I would look at all the things that was wrong with your old shop and go from there.

Rick

[Jeff Zihlman]

Jeff, I had a garage that was 16 x 24 and 9' ceiling with doors at both ends and that seemed to work very well. I would look at all the things that was wrong with your old shop and go from there.

Rick

Thanks Rick!

[Kees Heiden]

https://youtu.be/Of2vVJLiQ5g

[Hasin Haroon]

Lovely shops everyone. Jeff, my shop is around 14' x 9', 8' ceiling. In my opinion, the more space the better. Maybe later on you'll want to add a bandsaw or thickness planer to the fray for quicker jobs, who knows?

[Derek Cohen]

I don't have a "Neander shop", not in the sense intended here. I have a shop that uses both hand and power where it works best. Power for roughing out; hands for joinery and detail.

I'd like to make the bench the centre of the shop, but I only have a double garage, and it shares space with my car (rag top, and it stays out of the West Australian sun in summer and the rain in winter). My wife's and son's cars live outside (heh).

So the bench goes up against the far wall, along with cabinets above it for hand and power tools. On the wall hang marking tools and guages ...

https://s19.postimg.org/z6iwp9j1f/8_zps2cbbd7a2.jpg

To the right of the bench is my sharpening station, just a hop and skip away. This is an old picture (before CBN wheels on the grinder) ...


https://s19.postimg.org/kngd1lfab/SharpeningCentre1.jpg

To the left of the bench there is another fold-out bench, guarded by a ferocious bench dog. Beyond her are more cabinets ...


https://s19.postimg.org/n0tpev4bn/AWRentrysmall.jpg

In the far corner ...


https://s19.postimg.org/ip53puxer/3_zps8d9b0350.jpg

More recent pics of the small bench look like this ...


https://s19.postimg.org/6831gfrmr/shooting-table1_zps6tkqxyjq.jpg


https://s19.postimg.org/ponr2ymqr/shooting-table2_zpse8ghj3q5.jpg

For contrast, this is where the work starts ...


https://s19.postimg.org/rt3iqayzn/Workshop1Jan2014_zps14713867.jpg


https://s19.postimg.org/yxlbzc68z/Workshop2Jan2014_zpsd2d0120b.jpg


I'll leave the cabinet doors closed :)

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Hasin Haroon]

I really like your tool cabinets in your shop Derek. I would've had just the one shop, in the garage, but we get water from spring snow runoff as the Garage was built in the 60's, apparently before people realised the importance of proper grading. I'm stressed out enough about constantly paste waxing my table saw as it is, don't need to add to that with my unplugged tools!

One question about your bench - do you find the position against the wall inconvenient for traversing across the grain when planing? Or is your bench a bit deep?

[Derek Cohen]

Hasin, my cabinets are simply pine edged in jarrah, or MDF panels framed in jarrah. I save any decent wood for furniture. Everything is crammed in, and I have tried to keep as much space free by using the wall as much as possible.

The bench is not placed against the wall. It stands out about 12" from it. At the rear of the bench, against the wall itself - not attached to the bench - are tool trays ...

These pics were taken shortly after I built the bench.

https://s19.postimg.org/84w3a0qsj/Accessories6_zps8638aa42.jpg

https://s19.postimg.org/bpwk6zkpv/Accessories2_zpse8d3cf61.jpg

https://s19.postimg.org/ihmz9u9pf/Accessories5_zps682b3f94.jpg

https://s19.postimg.org/cj95zlqqr/Accessories10_zps952503f6.jpg

It is a little fuller than that these days ...

https://s19.postimg.org/byu4wwxib/Tailvisea_zpsvnal6yby.jpg

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Brian Holcombe]

Derek, looks sharp!

Thanks gents, after a good long day I finished another section of this shop. Been working to hide away some of the cruddy areas to better display my efforts to prospective clients.

https://brianholcombewoodworkerblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/img_7163.jpg

https://brianholcombewoodworkerblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/img_7164.jpg

[andy bessette]

Nice work fellas!

[Allen Jordan]

Derek, it's neat seeing the veritas shooter on the #52 shooting board. I like your plane display cabinets too.

[Andy Nichols]

363432The handtool section of my shop is around 22' x 15' but keep in mind, it has wheelchair access all around the bench. I could get by with a much smaller area if I ditched the wheelchair ;-)
Plus the bench is 10' long so it skews the view a bit...

Constantly changing the area, adding/subtracting things, so the photos may look a bit different depending http://www.sawmillcreek.org/webkit-fake-url://457ddf78-9f6b-4699-8a5f-33464d7d2fe4/imagepng363427363428363429363430363431

[Jeff Zihlman]

Andy,
I really like that shop. Dig the flooring (and everything else).
Jeff

[James Pallas]

I would call this a space not a shop. I have another space in the garage with a large Knapp job box for tools. For the most part I work on the pictured bench.
Jim

[Frederick Skelly]

Thanks gents, after a good long day I finished another section of this shop. Been working to hide away some of the cruddy areas to better display my efforts to prospective clients.

Brian, LOVE those doors! What is the fabric behind the wood? I reminds me so something my Dad used to put on model airplane wings.

[Brian Holcombe]

Brian, LOVE those doors! What is the fabric behind the wood? I reminds me so something my Dad used to put on model airplane wings.

Thanks Frederick! This is kozo paper (mulberry bark paper) it's a type of washi paper.

[Keith Mathewson]

That is indeed beautiful work Brian

[Jim Koepke]

For the most part I work on the pictured bench.
Jim

Jim, I like the ambidextrous bench. Have been giving it some thought myself.

jtk

[Kees Heiden]

Before and after. I hope you can see a difference, because it took me all morning to clean it up and I've thrown away several bucket loads of rubish.

363445

363446

[Brian Holcombe]

That is indeed beautiful work Brian

Thank you!


Before and after. I hope you can see a difference, because it took me all morning to clean it up and I've thrown away several bucket loads of rubish.

363445

363446

Looks nice!

[Archie England]

Kees,

That's a bad precedent for the rest of us.

[Dave Anderson NH]

Well Kees, just remember that a clean shop is a sign of someone with too much time on their hands.

[Brian Holcombe]

Well Kees, just remember that a clean shop is a sign of someone with too much time on their hands.

I wish I could agree. :p

[Kees Heiden]

Don't worry, I'm busy making a mess again! I really couldn't work like Brian. I have no idea how he manages to keep his shop that clean and ordered!

[steven c newman]

It would seem that Igor has returned to work?
363453
Must have rode in on his broom....other half of the shop is a bit crowded, right now..
363454
Getting there...

[Andy Nichols]

Thanks Jeff, the floor always gets noticed....



Andy,
I really like that shop. Dig the flooring (and everything else).
Jeff

[Bill Houghton]

I'd show you pictures, but it's too small to get my wood-and-brass 8x10 digital view camera in there.

[James Pallas]

Andy, You have a very nice well appointed shop. I would like to have a place like that to work. Probably would be hard to get me away from the shop once I was in it.
Jim

[James Pallas]

I wish I could agree. :p
Brian It should be obvious to everyone by now that you have "Jeeves" in the background with a little broom and a silver dust pan that catches the shavings in mid air and immediately puts them in a sealed bag.:p
Jim

[Andy Nichols]

Thanks Jim:

This is my 3rd attempt at a workshop that's disability friendly/accessible....it's an old horse barn, now has a raised wood floor and the machine room is separated from the hand tool room.

When I'm able, all my time is spent in the shop, since being wounded, my hobbies are few.

I still build a few rifles/pistols, load ammunition and shoot, but even that is greatly reduced, and hunting is hard, but hand tool wood working is just a short trip to the shop.

I call it distraction therapy, and it's a great solace to know it's there even when I'm not able to do it...

Thanks again for the compliment, it took a long time to get to this point,
Andy


Andy, You have a very nice well appointed shop. I would like to have a place like that to work. Probably would be hard to get me away from the shop once I was in it.
Jim

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Brian Holcombe ruined it for all of us with his clean and organized shop. (Just kidding). Here is my roughly 12x14 shop. The house was built to fit the lot and so it is not square, which makes furniture placement hard. The wall to the right in the photo showing the plane cabinet is actually angled, so one side of the shop is 16' and the other is 14'. The air compressor is in the pointy corner made from the angled wall.

The bench isn't finished. The wood sitting on top is two halves of the vise chop for the LN chain drive vise. The pattern is for the leg vise. There is a longer half of the top on which the patternmakers vise will hang.

The plane cabinet and saw till was a found object. I posted a thread about that. I converted it to plane storage. The inside light stays on 24 hours a day to abate humidity. It works very well. No rust since that was done.

The sharpening area/disaster area is a separate room. The stove is used for cooking finishes, heating glues, and on Thanksgiving it serves as an extra baking oven. I unplug it when not in use for safety. I decided not to clean up for the picture. This is actually pretty bad. I am doing multiple projects and what can I say- I always end up with no time for cleanup.

Turn your our head sideways. iPhone pics never load right.

363507363508363509363510363511

[george wilson]

nd,the big problem is I just have been such a tool pig,I don't have places to put things! Not even with all those shelves I made.

[Brian Holcombe]

Malcolm I really like that wooden chest of drawers!

[Archie England]

Brian beat me to it; but, your tool drawer cabinet (looks like a Gerstner but much taller) is super good looking!

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Believe it or not, that was sold at Sam's Wholesale Club years ago- like 1990. It is like the ones Grizzly sells. Nothing spectacular, but gets the job done, and looks good if you need to put it somewhere other than the shop. (Like when I used to have the kitchen shop.)

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Also- all that stuff on top of it goes on the red shelves but I am in the middle of two projects so they are being used.

[Keith Mathewson]

Here you are, the tool section is about 500 square feet.
I don't know why they display sideways

[Keith Mathewson]

Here's a couple pics of the rest the shop, which allows me to have handtool corner. All together around 5000 ft.²

[Keith Pitman]

https://youtu.be/Of2vVJLiQ5g

The sound is not too good!

[John Schtrumpf]

Here's my shop.

[Hasin Haroon]

What a beautiful range of shops!

[Jim Koepke]

Keith, I really like all the molding planes. It looks like you have a full set of H&Rs.

jtk

[Phil Mueller]

Pretty much all the space I have. A few more tools in drawers in the closet beyond the door...

363568

[Mike Holbrook]

363605 363606 363607

The wife is letting me use the larger garage for a shop at the home we are moving to. The garage is about 26'x26'. There are two closets on the left side of garage, one has water in it. Even with my Mini in there I still have a good amount of space. I have rubber "horse stall matts" from our kennel that I plan to cover the floor with, some of them are visible. There is a third small room on the far end of the same wall, with room for a shelf or two, but mostly used for bike, paddle... storage. The door out the back of the garage goes to a 10'x16' porch, that I plan to enclose. There is a deck with roof above it. I have moved a few power tools and a few of my hand tools, unfortunately my tools are spread between two locations at the moment and I have to carry some back & forth. There is a "carriage house" above the garage.

[paul cottingham]

My shop area hasn't been that tidy since before I moved in. :eek:

jtk

I was going to say the same thing....

[Keith Mathewson]

Thanks Jim. The evens are from Clark and Williams and the odds are from Matt Bickford. Matt also made me a set of snipe bills, side rounds and a couple of wood shoulder planes.

If you ever want to come up to Seattle and use them you are welcome to do so.

[Tom Trees]

Thought I'd post some pics for the laugh, normally I pick better days to take some.
Sorry to those offended....
Some day I'll have a clean shop, its just that when I do, I always find more wood, its like a curse :rolleyes:
If it's not wood, its another machine. what to do, what to do !
I know there's another good few doors from what the paper says, depending if those folks get planning permission to rip the front down
Looks like I'll be in that huge skip before long....again.

Nice to see even Brian isn't susceptible to this affliction
I'd like to know what you plan on doing with those bits dude, 'tis probably for another thread though.

You cant see the lumber with the wood in the way, but I'm getting close to having all this stock in a more organised state.
These are the offcuts with putty that had to be hacked off, jointed face and edges for the saw and about ready for cutting the putty/molding off the other side
So that's two rounds of planing and sawing before I can start stacking it.
The tablesaw is a mighty tool for non through cuts, near to the height of the putty, so the remaining timber can be snapped and that stock prepared again.
Won't be long now before I have some space

Great looking shops folks
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[Derek Cohen]

Tom are you related to Steven? :)

Regards from Perth

Derek

[steven c newman]

No...........

[Tom Trees]

Who knows?....
We could all have originated from the first few dusty neanders, who picked up a stone and argued about
the virtues of BU vs BD
My rocks better than yours :p
Tomas

[Rick Malakoff]

If your following this thread your a distant relative, if you have posted here your are first cousin!

[David Eisenhauer]

Oh Tom T.............Lordy, Lordy, Lordy. Stephen is a rank amateur compared to you.

[Tom Trees]

Does he like climbing into skips in the evenings too?
I thought I saw him actually make something :)
Tomas

[James Pallas]

Tom I can't stop laughing! It is obvious that lawn mowing is not on the top of the list. It would be a day's work to get the mower out of that tangle. I couldn't see a horizontal surface large enough to put a dime on without covering something else.
Jim

[David Wadstrup]

Hi Brian,

Would you mind telling me how you're able to post such large photos? I get a failed to upload message any time I try to post ones bigger than a thumbnail.

Thanks,

David

[steven c newman]

Right now..more like climbing into a Skiff...
363833
Been raining hard all day today, too...
363834
Good thing I brought the desk project up the stairs..
363835
Creek is running through right about where I usually stand....

[Allen Jordan]

Hi Brian,

Would you mind telling me how you're able to post such large photos? I get a failed to upload message any time I try to post ones bigger than a thumbnail.

Thanks,

David

He hosts them on a separate image site, which can upload any sized picture. They get sized bigger when displayed here than Sawmill Creek's built-in image hosting. When uploading an image, choose "From URL", and uncheck "Retrieve remote file and reference locally." . Now go to an image hosting site like imgur.com and upload your photo. Copy the "direct link" URL and paste it into the sawmill creek image URL box.

[David Wadstrup]

Thanks Allen!

[michael langman]

Bummer Stephen. If you could find a low spot and drill hole for sump pump. But that doesn't work in some situations.

[Jim Koepke]

Now go to an image hosting site like imgur.com and upload your photo. Copy the "direct link" URL and paste it into the sawmill creek image URL box.

The problem with this is eventually with changes over time the links are broken and then there are no images in the post. For many that isn't a problem, but for some instructional posts, it can render them useless to future readers.

My recollection is SMC has a 1.4Mb limit to uploading image size. It may be necessary to run a copy of an image through an image handler to reduce the size before posting. My method is to take a screen shot of the image, my understanding is Windows can do that now, this allows for cropping and at least on my computer also makes a smaller file that can be uploaded without a problem.

All of my images in posts are hosted on SMC and even with a few glitches due to site software changes they have all been retained.

Bob Smalser has some great instructional posts. Many of his images are stored off of SMC. Many of them are no longer visible due to broken links.

jtk

[Allen Jordan]

The problem with this is eventually with changes over time the links are broken and then there are no images in the post. For many that isn't a problem, but for some instructional posts, it can render them useless to future readers.

My recollection is SMC has a 1.4Mb limit to uploading image size. It may be necessary to run a copy of an image through an image handler to reduce the size before posting. My method is to take a screen shot of the image, my understanding is Windows can do that now, this allows for cropping and at least on my computer also makes a smaller file that can be uploaded without a problem.

All of my images in posts are hosted on SMC and even with a few glitches due to site software changes they have all been retained.

Bob Smalser has some great instructional posts. Many of his images are stored off of SMC. Many of them are no longer visible due to broken links.

jtk

I have an account on imgur that should last as long as this form persists, but you do have to be wary of temporary image hosting (avoid photobucket at all costs).

[Jim Koepke]

I have an account on imgur that should last as long as this form persists, but you do have to be wary of temporary image hosting (avoid photobucket at all costs).

The problem may be if imgur changes their server or structure then it disappears from SMC.

It would be great if SMC could allow cutting and pasting images into a post.

jtk

[John Schtrumpf]

..It would be great if SMC could allow cutting and pasting images into a post.
jtk
Actually, your browser would have to allow and implement the copy and paste. Before SMC could do anything with it.

[Mark R Webster]

I am more a hybrid woodworker than exclusively a neander. I decided to pick up the shop and share some pics. My shop is a two car garage 23’ deep by 20’ wide. I converted the standard garage door opening into a walk-in door and a roll up single car width door. This type of door allowed me to keep the 8’ ceiling and provide additional lighting where the typical door usually sits when open. Other highlights are the chop saw moveable cabinet with raiseable wings and dust control. I live near the ocean and rust is an issue, so I incorporated a Golden Rod device into the hand tool wall cabinet to control the rust which has been very successful. I keep the doors closed most of the time. I still need to build a base for my Parks 12 planer and want to replace the existing Kreg router table I am using with a more efficient cabinet. My dust collector is barely adequate at 1.5 horses but does the job. It happens to be made by JDS Tools. I used PVC and haven’t had any static electricity problems. I have a shed for wood supplies just outside the back door of the shop.

[Andy Nichols]

Very nice shop, well done.

Andy

[Mark R Webster]

Here are some more pics.

[Archie England]

Mark, that's really nice. I especially like the wood stored separately.

[andy bessette]

MW--very neat and tidy. Nice photos.

[Mark R Webster]

Thanks guys!:)

[Brian Holcombe]

Beautiful shop Mark!

[Mark R Webster]

Thanks Brian!:)

[Tom Trees]

What a lovely shop Mark
Really spacious and bright
Looks to be productive and relaxing at the same time :)

Tomas

[Mark R Webster]

Thanks Tomas, It has been a long time coming for me and your right.... at least for me "productive and relaxing" :D. Perfect for my "working retirement". I had a shop all my working life but when I retired and moved to a new location it allowed me to get rid of what I never used and upgrade what I did use........start over and redesign. :)

[Matthew Hills]

Mark, what does your wood supplies shed look like?

[Mark R Webster]

Hi Matt, Inside or out? I will try to get some pics today for your if you like. The short answer is.. it was just one of those Tuff Sheds from home depot on a concrete slab. I added a little shelving on one side for lumber and slide-in and store sheet goods on the other. The inside is about 10 feet long. I try not to store much more than I use but you know how that goes. Here is an interim pic.
363921
As I get older I can't remember what I have stored in which stacks, piles or in the backs of cabinets and deep drawers, so I try to only keep tools and wood that I actually use or will use. That is why my shop may look a little sparse. It drives me crazy to have to step around and over stuff :( and if you are in the middle of a larger project, for me, things get pretty crowded. I am fortunate that I have as much space as I have. My wife has been a good sport, allowing me to convert the garage into a shop Before I retired I had a lot more tools and wood. I had collected tools my whole life, even had a whole set of early Bedrocks less #1-2. I found many of the old tools just sat.. Over the years companies like Lie Nielsen and Lee Valley started making some great tools so I sold a lot off and reinvested in a smaller number of LN and LV quality/type tools. I still love the old stuff and enjoy restoring though.:D

[Matthew Hills]

As everyone else, shop space is at a premium. My lumber is currently on gorilla racks along one wall of the shop, but I've been thinking the shop flow might be better if I could move that out to a shed. But keeping it accessible (as opposed to a clutter-catcher) would seem to be the trick. I'm curious how others use a shed -- wood on racks or stored on-end; how do you access the wood; how to use the space efficiently. I'm wondering if a shallow, lean-to style shed with entrance from the long sides might work better for this.

My shop area is mixed-use, occupying a bit less than half of our garage. My goal was to keep power tools in a compact cluster that had some utility as-is, and allow the tools to be pulled out if needed for more expansive use. I'd like the bench and handtools to always be available for use. (this picture is a bit old; currently have a bunch of family-related items stored near the bench -- this should

Handtools are in a pair of cupboards up above the right end of the workbench. One for planes and the other for layout, joinery saws, and chisels. My most-used tool is probably my double square, which is in a holder underneath the shelf in the layout/chisel cupboard. Still building these out (plan some more cubbies for specialty planes and also an area for rasps). I do sharpening on the opposite side of the garage (closer to utility sink). I do keep a strop in the plane cupboard and will use that to touch-up. Workbench is roubo-styled, with metal vises on face and end. I don't use the bench dogs too much, but use the holes frequently for veritas planing stops or gramercy holdfasts. Both work very well.
Lumber racks are on the opposite side of the garage. If doing much woodworking, I'll displace the car and make a temporary table with sawhorses in the middle of the garage (good for assembly or pulling-down boards).


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Matt

[Archie England]

I really like your plane till, Matt. That's got be a project for me soon. At the moment, I store them on a shelf just under the bench top (and on a separate tool tower, aka junk bin holder, and in a cabinet).

[Mark R Webster]

Nicely done Matt! I am fortunate in that I can leave my larger tools where are. Although much is movable. I used to have the Frid style bench in front of the tool cabinet but found for my methods, I like having it behind me these days.
Anyway... here are pics of the wood storage shed. I can store lumber up to about 9 feet long on the left. I can slide 4x8s in and out on the right. Some vertical storage is on the end. I do like to keep new current project lumber in the shop stored vertically as the last pic shows. The shed storage is not perfect, things get covered up and while I have tried to secure the panels in various ways they tend to fall to the left during access at times. The shed is nearby and unclutters the shop.

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[Hasin Haroon]

Inspired by all of your beautiful shops and also procrastinating on a difficult part of my coffee table build, I decided to add a tool wall to my neander shop. 363945

I wanted everything to be easily accessible: i.e. not have to move any other tool when trying to retrieve a certain tool. So far I'm really enjoying it in use and as someone that finds tools beautiful, enjoy seeing my tools out in the open.

[david beck]

Wonderful thread, thanks for starting it and thanks for all you are so kind and take time to share.

[Mike Baker 2]

Hasin, love the tool wall.

[Megan Fitzpatrick]

[QUOTE=Brian Holcombe;2704572]Bit of a mess this evening, but here it is.

If that's a mess, I'm never showing mine.

[Brian Holcombe]

I'm neck deep in kitchen cabinets at the moment, so it is worse still.

[steven c newman]

Just a bump.

[Brian Holcombe]

Well, I've made some changes around the shop. I see clients in my studio so I am always mindful of the shop's appearance. Also, sometimes I just get really tired of looking at ugly corners of the shop. Spend enough time in one place...

https://brianholcombewoodworker.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG_8708.jpg

https://brianholcombewoodworker.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG_8707-2909978751-1510808051217.jpg

https://brianholcombewoodworker.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/fullsizeoutput_2f9.jpeg

Eventually I'll work out the remaining walls to be something a bit nicer and probably put a wooden ceiling in (with lift out panels).

[ken hatch]

Brian,

Looks great, sometimes wish mine was as nice. Of course I do not have clients visits to concentrate my clean up and origination efforts....Who am I kidding, mine would look about the same if the Queen was on her way over:p.

Anyway here are some recent photos of the three main benches:

371627

Main bench.

371628

Prep and assembly bench.

371629

Sharpening bench.

ken

[Carl Baker]

Awesome shops guys! I dream of the clean and beautifully organized shops most of you have created. Most of you have cabinetry and storage nicer than anything in my kitchen, let alone the shop! That said, I am an absolute sucker for make-shift creative solutions and reuse materials, tools and such. That's reflected in my shop mostly out of necessity, I admit, but I like to think it builds character (and we certainly have a couple of characters here).

Oak cabinet / laminate work table was left by the previous homeowner; it does the job. I put up the pegboard in a desperate attempt for tool organization and the thought that I wanted to SEE them all. Not sure that dream was ever realized. Most of the tools reside in a small pine toolbox my dad made me as a gift along with a really large old pine tool box that I found at a garage sale. Absolutely full of tools that were all in pieces and varying states of wear and tear. The seller had no idea what was in it, and to be fair, it was in such disarray, I didnt either. What I could find was rough, but after getting it all home and unpacked and rebuilt, the chest is my main tool storage, and the contents yielded a complete Stanley miter box with dull but very nice Disston back saw, a Stanley #7, a couple of spoke shaves and handsaws that became users with a little work, a cool Shelton vise (which is now my tail vise), and the list goes on. I should've paid three times as much for it, but the seller was simply excited that someone was ready to tackle the task of putting his grandfather's tools back to work. All of that description and no picture of it... sorry.

Bench top is reclaimed poplar pallet material that was roughly 3.5" x 2.5" (only slightly smaller now). I hand planed three sides of each board just to get them glued up and flat. The underside of the bench top is still rough sawn and all over the place, except where it rests on the base of pine framing lumber. I read all of the debates of tool wells versus no tool wells and was all convinced that I didnt need a tool well either... until I realized that I didn't have enough of the poplar to do the whole top.... hello tool well!

Thats the story of everything in the shop. One man's trash seems to be my treasure. I have not one single Neander-tool that is younger than I am, and a lot of them that are over twice my age (43). Admittedly, I am just now transitioning from rust hoarder / tool repairman to actual wood worker.

[Carl Baker]

Steven's dungeon and Rick's combo shed / trailer make me smile.... I love them. But Andy, your shop is incredible. I love your bench and storage ideas (little milk paint drill cabinet is just as cool as it gets). In addition to the great workmanship and organization, the amount of natural light in that space is tremendous. You must get a lot of work done because I feel like that's a place I wouldn't leave very often!
Good work!

[Jake Hillestad]

Brian,

If you don't mind sharing, what is the foot print of your shop?


Well, I've made some changes around the shop. I see clients in my studio so I am always mindful of the shop's appearance. Also, sometimes I just get really tired of looking at ugly corners of the shop. Spend enough time in one place...

https://brianholcombewoodworker.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG_8708.jpg

https://brianholcombewoodworker.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG_8707-2909978751-1510808051217.jpg

https://brianholcombewoodworker.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/fullsizeoutput_2f9.jpeg

Eventually I'll work out the remaining walls to be something a bit nicer and probably put a wooden ceiling in (with lift out panels).

[Jim Koepke]

Went through this thread again and noticed my shop isn't shown.

It is a bit of a mess. Clean enough to be healthy, messy enough to be happy.

Here is a straight in view from the door:

371687

Here is a pan to the right:

371686

The first bench is used for oilstones, parts, planes, chisels and other over flow items:

371685

The drawers contain sets of twist drills, chisels, spokeshaves, small planes, rasps, files and a lot of other items including hardware.

In the back corner is where saws, more gouges, more parts and a few other things are stowed:

371684

This is a close up of the carving tools and a few other items:

371683

Moving to the right is the plane storage wall:

371682

Next is the power sharpener and water stone bench:

371681

Finally we get to the wood rack:

371680

There is a lathe and a bit more storage behind the wood rack

jtk

[Brian Holcombe]

Brian,

Looks great, sometimes wish mine was as nice. Of course I do not have clients visits to concentrate my clean up and origination efforts....Who am I kidding, mine would look about the same if the Queen was on her way over:p.

Anyway here are some recent photos of the three main benches:

371627

Main bench.

371628

Prep and assembly bench.

371629

Sharpening bench.

ken

Bah, your shop is quite awesome Ken! Thank you!


Brian,

If you don't mind sharing, what is the foot print of your shop?

I'm not sure, maybe 250 sq ft

[Andrew Seemann]

OK, I'll bite.

Neander side of the shop.
371716

Tool cabinet.
371717

Frid bench.
371718

Sharpening benches.
371719

Gratuitous pic of plane cabinet.
371720

Assembly bench. Doubles as outfeed table for saw.
371721

[Jim Koepke]

OK, I'll bite.

Neander side of the shop.
371716

Tool cabinet.
371717

Frid bench.
371718

Sharpening benches.
371719

Gratuitous pic of plane cabinet.
371720

Assembly bench. Doubles as outfeed table for saw.
371721

Howdy Andrew and a belated welcome to the Creek.

For some reason your attachments aren't working. Sometimes a reply with quote works.

jtk

[Andrew Seemann]

Howdy Andrew and a belated welcome to the Creek.

For some reason your attachments aren't working. Sometimes a reply with quote works.

jtk

I'll try again. I'm still trying to figure out how this posting stuff works. Let me know if these are visible.

Neander side of shop:
371748

Tool Cabinet:
371749

Frid bench:
371750

Sharpening benches:
371751

Plane cabinet:
371752

[steven c newman]

Looks good from my house....

[Phil Mueller]

Carl, you don’t give yourself enough credit. That’s a really nice looking, perfecly functional and well organized shop you have. Thanks for sharing.

[Jim Koepke]

I'll try again. I'm still trying to figure out how this posting stuff works. Let me know if these are visible.



Looks good here too.

jtk

[Carl Baker]

Thanks Phil! Appreciate the kind words. Some of my post is tongue in cheek; I’m proud of it and it works for me. It’s certainly a work in progress but it works!

[Christopher Charles]

Hello all,

Great thread! Here are a couple of my shop, a recent one with the Scrap Dragon sleeping and the other with it in action :)

The shop fills the better part of a two car garage.

Best,
Chris

371975

371974

[Oscar Wasström]

This is my little hideout. I live in an apartment and was lucky to find out there came two storage rooms with it.
I'm dreaming of a bigger shop, but it'll have to wait. I have access to a machine shop at school, thats where i do most work but it's nice to be able
to do a thing or two at home.

The little booth limits the size of work i'm able to do, imagine running a NO.8 jointer in there :) It's a good place to do restorations of old tools though! I run the electrolysis on
the balcony and do everything else down in the booth.

I took the picture just after i had made a couple of doorsteps, it gets messy just by thinking of working in there.

383393

[Allen Jordan]

Oscar, that looks like a really nice setup. Seems to have everything you would need.

[Shane MacMillan]

383444

Work in progress. Need to get a cabinet made to store everything to help keep the work bench cleaner.

[Zach Dillinger]

Here's the shop as it is today. Still some painting to do and some boxes of hand tools to sell / give away, but other than that I'm happy with the first floor. So much better for photography than it used to be.

383446

383447

383448

383449

[Osvaldo Cristo]

[...]

https://brianholcombewoodworkerblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/img_7147.jpg



Brian, please do not take me wrong as per your history in these forums (fora?) I am the first person to acknowledge you know what you are doing, but I cannot see the rational behind to have carpet in the woodworking workshop. I never had saw that anywhere in the world... even for a sewing shop I has seem people preferring hardwood floor instead of carpet.

What are your reasons to go to carpet?

Thanks in advance for your answer!

[Allen Jordan]

I imagine short carpet would be much nicer to stand on, and with a neander shop the cleanup would just be a quick vac job.

[Paul Bent]

I'm betting the carpet is glued down already and anything beats concrete.

[Brian Holcombe]

Brian, please do not take me wrong as per your history in these forums (fora?) I am the first person to acknowledge you know what you are doing, but I cannot see the rational behind to have carpet in the woodworking workshop. I never had saw that anywhere in the world... even for a sewing shop I has seem people preferring hardwood floor instead of carpet.

What are your reasons to go to carpet?

Thanks in advance for your answer!

Don’t knock it, ‘til you've Tried it. :D

The carpet was there before I was so I left it, it’s gotten positive response from friends and students alike.

[Nathan Johnson]

I put my bench in the basement on carpet and pad and I love it.
Bought a cheap-o vacuum and a plastic sheet for when things need to get messy.

[Patrick Walsh]

I’ll second Brian on the carpet thing. I personally have rubber commercial gym mat in my home shop. At work old hardwood floors.

A great reason to have or leave the carpet. Brian was teaching me via FaceTime to setup my first Japanese planes. I was hours into one plane and I somehow as happens from time to time in a shop dropped the blade on the floor.

The blade I spent hours working to perfection got a small “but large chip” on one corner or maybe it’s called the meme. Maybe the meme is the small opening to the right and left of the blade in dai. I don’t know.

Anyway I was heartbroken and forced to sharpen away plenty of good steel to repair the blade to its previous hard earned perfection.

At least one or two times a year a chisel takes a spill. Not such a big deal when it a LN and much less fragile steel and or I don’t care the same about it. But when my first Japanese chisel took a spill off the bench my heart dropped with it. Thank god this time I had arranged rubber mats on all four sides of my bench.

[Brian Holcombe]

Thanks Patrick, it’s saved me a time or ten as well.