Limited Space, what about you?

[Doug Jones]

For those of you that do not have a large (Jim Becker) workshop (just funn'in Jim), do you get frustrated when your waiting for one project to finish curing before you can start another? Ex; I put on my finishing coats of poly on the hutch , and while its curing I can't do a single thing cause of the poly curing (tackiness). I have all kinds of things I want to do but can't. Is anyone else in this situation, and if so what do you do? Or do you have a solution to my dilemma?

Happy 4th, and be safe.

[Rajiv Dighe]

I have my shop in basement. What I do is take the project out in garage, do finishing there & then leave it there to cure. I don't park my car in garage during summer anyways. that way, I can continue working on something else without having to worry about sawdust settling on tacky poly or any other finish.

--Rajiv

[Bill Grumbine]

Hi Doug

I don't know what large is to you, but when I moved into my present shop, which is 20' x 30', it was huge to me. It is small compared to a lot of shops, and it can get cramped at times, but there is no way to make it bigger, at least into the foreseeable future. Besides, a bigger shop means more heating and cooling expense.

I try to plan my work so that down time for drying finishes is limited to times when I will be doing something else, like sleeping, traveling, yard work, etc. There are times when I will finish a job (I do this for pay) and not finish it for a day or even a couple of days, until I get several other things that need finishing, and then do them all together. I am also in the process of setting up to spray, so that I can begin to use finishes that dry much faster, allowing me to reduce the amount of time that the rest of the shop cannot be used. There are times though, when I just have to grit my teeth and find other things to do. If you saw my place, you would see immediately that I never suffer for a lack of them, regardless of the timing.

I hope this helps you out some.

Bill

[Dennis Peacock]

Doug,

I have an 1,800 sq ft shop and still experience the same problem as you. I doesn't matter what size shop you have....If you don't have a seperate finishing room that is sealed off from the rest of your shop, it is just apply the finish and WAIT until it is cured before starting something new.

What I do is try to plan the work so that I can take some R&R time while waiting on the finish to dry. One of these days, I will have a dedicated finishing room and maybe resolve this wait time.

Not to worry.....a LOT of us experience this same delima.

[Glenn Clabo]

Doug,
I've been able to work in a huge pro shop...I've had a two car garage, one car garage, and now a shop in the basement. Like everything that has to do with this stuff...there's never enough space (or money) for wood, tools, or move that big bookcase you just built around in.

I just use it as an excuse to sit and contemplate...which I never seem to have enough time to do lately either...on how perfect it would be to have that old shop I used to make a living out of right out there in the back yard. But then...it sure would have been better if it had..........

[Noah Alkinburgh]

Really, that is what I started doing, of course they are tiny projects and it is hotttttttt!!!!!!!! I know how you feel though.

Noah

[David Perkins]

I took some time three years ago and searched garage sales and construction sites and gathered enough stuff to build a 8'X10' shed and insulated it and put a small heater in it. It works great in the winter takes very little to heat it and when not in use I shut off all electricity to it. I have less that $400.00 in to it.
David

[Jim Becker]

For those of you that do not have a large (Jim Becker) workshop (just funn'in Jim), do you get frustrated when your waiting for one project to finish curing before you can start another?

Haa! It only looks big in the pictures. While the perimeter dimensions are technically 21' x 30' right now, there is that stairway and DC closet in the middle. So, yes, it can be quite frustrating with multiple or large projects like my kitchen cabinets currently in process. (My lathe is unusable right now, for example, and my miter station has a pile of poplar stickered in front of it to equalize. My assembly/finishing area is effectively 12' x 10' so having my workbench (as well as my planer and jointer) mobile is a must to deal with this. In fact, all my tools are on mobile bases to be able to adapt. The way I've arranged things also helps for flow. since I added the other garage bay to the mix last summer, I can now rip full sheets of plywood (workbench as infeed support; outfeed table and router table, if necessary, for outfeed support) and accomplish most crosscutting of the same with a little creativity. But I have to think things through carefully as well as take advantage of technology, like Cutlist Plus.

As others have said, it really doesn't matter how big or how small your shop is. You will "always" feel cramped, yet somehow find a way to accomplish what you need to do. It's not the space or the tools, it's the craftsman that completes the projects!

[Terry Hatfield]

Doug,

I agree with everyone that said it doesn't matter how big the shop is if you don't have a dedicated fininshing room. Everything else must stop while finishing. I truly enjoy woodoworking and truly hate the finishing. I have plenty of shop room but I too wish I had a dedicated place to do the finishing.

Terry

sorry...couldn't resist the temptaion to post the pic. :D

[Bruce Page]

Doug,

I agree with everyone that said it doesn't matter how big the shop is if you don't have a dedicated fininshing room. Everything else must stop while finishing. I truly enjoy woodoworking and truly hate the finishing. I have plenty of shop room but I too wish I had a dedicated place to do the finishing.

Terry

sorry...couldn't resist the temptaion to post the pic. :D


Wow!

Terry, this is the first time I’ve seen your shop back together, the new floor looks great and I am keenly jealous!


Television is more interesting than people. If it were not, we would have people standing in the corners of our rooms. -- Alan Corenk

[David Blangger]

but I have a dedicated corner that I have streched a cable across with a plastic home made curtain. I haxe a window and exhaust fan in this area. This leaves me enough area to pull the curtain on smaller projects. But anything larger than a hall table I wait like everyone else.

David

[Kevin Gerstenecker]

I just can't get enough looks at Terry's shop! I like to call it the "Operating Room"! :D
That has to be the neatest and cleanest shop I have ever seen. Of course, SWMBO asked me when she saw it, "Why doesn't your shop look like that?" I have a very clean and organized shop, but it can't hold a candle to Terry's. I told SWMBO that it's a good thing I don't have a shop like that, or she'd never seen me again! ;)
As far as the finishing things goes, I am like the others, I just wait until the finish tacks off good before making any dust fly. Something to consider though, when using Polyurethane, I have been using Minwax Polycrylic for a few years now. It cleans up with water, dries to the touch in about 30 minutes, and it picks up much less dust than it's oil based counterpart. You can also recoat in about 2 hours, so it speeds up the entire finishing process, so there is less down time between projects in progress and in the finish stage. With other finishes, there is no way around it without a dedicated finishing room, so I just do something else in the meantime. It would be nice to have a "Clean Room" for finishing, but then again it would be nice to have a LOT of things! :D

[danny haber]

Of course I have the same problem as most everyone else does, space! What I normally do is to do what ever I need to do in the shop that day and do my finishing as the "last" task before shutting off the light and going inside. By the time I go back the next day, the piece I finished the previous night is dry and can be
moved to a spot away from my work area until I can apply another coat that night. Remember, I don't own spray equipment so all my finishing is usually done with a rag and I cut most of my finishes with it's solvent. Just works for me and the results are what I like. Yes, it does take longer but this is my hobby so atleast to me there is no rush......Danny

[Doug Jones]

Mr. Becker hope you didn't take offense to using you as an example in the original posting. I know envy is a sin but between you and Mr. Hatfield's (like Kevin says that shop screams sterilization) shops as well as a few others I haven't seen, I sure could use more space.

So, what I am basicly hearing is, unless you have a dedicated finishing room, there is no solution to my delimma reguardless of how big a place you have. I guess I'll need to do a number of projects and then finish them all at the same time. Or wait for the lottery to start paying off so I can build that finishing room (I wish). Although I did like the idea of hanging a curtian in a designated corner for small projects, might try this one.

I'd like to thank everyone who par-took in this thread. To hear that almost everyone is in the same situation that I am, helps me to understand that you can't rush a good piece of work. (I'm still working on this patience thing). And once again, Mr. Becker I was just funn'in.

[Steve Clardy]

Doesn't matter how big a shop starts out at, it usually ends up being too small. Through about 4-5 of my shops getting progresely bigger, [current one is 40x64] you always seem to fill them up. I still have to wait for the dust to settle to spray, then wait to dry. Current plans are to ad on a 16x64 addition down one side, and put in a 16x16 spray room, and room enough to move my mechanical tools, parts, and vehicles over there so I can free up about a third of my current space. That way I can drag in some more stuff and fill it back up again. :rolleyes: Steve

[Byron Trantham]

My shop is in the basement. About 20x20, give or take. Everything I put in it had to be seriously considered in terms of floor space and/or wall space. I don't have a finishing room either I sprayed a 15' by 7' bookcase and did it in the garage as has already been mentioned. Like the others, I try to plan it so I can keep working while the stuff dries but it doesn't always work out. Again, as already pointed out, I am/have moved to water based, fast drying finishes. Generally I can put two or three coats on in one day but not always.

Philosophically, I have dreamed about having a bigger shop but its like having a faster computer, tomorrow they will be faster. A bigger shop today will be insufficient tomorrow.... :D

[Jim Becker]

Mr. Becker hope you didn't take offense to using you as an example in the original posting...And once again, Mr. Becker I was just funn'in.

No offence was taken! I was just 'splainin' that my shop really isn't all that large and in fact, is quite cramped as my projects grow. (And there is no way that LOML is going to let me take that last garage bay...nor would the Kubota be happy with getting kicked out into the weather with my Tundra and SWMBO's Prius!)

Now about that "Mr Becker" part...Mr Becker is my father for many folks and having reached 73 years old, against many odds, I might add, he deserves the title. You're making me feel much older than my mere 46 seasons, especially when only the last 5 or so involved woodworking! :D

[David Blangger]

You're making me feel much older than my mere 46 seasons, :D

Gosh Jim,

My Dad was raised in Donora Pennsylvania. So my question is how did you age so rapidly? My Dad still looks young at 72 :D :D

All kidding a side you do earn the title of *Mr. Becker* You have been a lot of help and an inspiration to many of us. IMHO your contribution on this forum has helped this lurker quite a bit.

David

[Bob Janka]

... So, what I am basicly hearing is, unless you have a dedicated finishing room, there is no solution to my delimma reguardless of how big a place you have. I guess I'll need to do a number of projects and then finish them all at the same time. Or wait for the lottery to start paying off so I can build that finishing room (I wish). Although I did like the idea of hanging a curtian in a designated corner for small projects, might try this one.

Doug (& everyone else),

Don't forget that once you add a finishing room, you will need to keep expanding it so that it can hold *2* projects at once, then *3* projects, and you get the picture. This reminds a lot of managing disk space or bookshelves: There is almost NEVER enough disk space or shelf space for EVERYTHING you WANT.

Whenever you expand your storage/work/finishing space, you see "holes". You then think, hmm, what would fit in that hole? You acquire said object and hole shrinks or even disappears after repeated applications. End result = Lots of space, all filled in.

Good luck to everyone as they wrestle with this law of storage motion. Remember the 3 laws of entropy: 1) You can't win. 2) You can't break-even. 3) You can't get out of the game. :) :)

Cheers,
Bob