Creeker Visit: Ian Barley (UK)

[Jim Becker]

This past week I was engaged in a number of business meetings in the UK and Belgium and due to an early Monday start, I had to fly on Saturday afternoon. That left me with time on Sunday to "do something", so I arranged for my second visit with 'Creeker Ian Barley. I must say, that it was a great day...the weather was wonderful and Ian was an incredibly generous host. We spend a long time at his new shop (a pictorial tour is in-store for this thread!), had a nice meal and even did a little "tourist exploration" before I headed onto the Tube and on to my hotel.

If you don't know, Ian makes chairs. Specifically Adirondack chairs and really good ones, at that. He sells a lot of them and is both a good business man and a woodworker who is always thinking ahead about how to be more efficient...important when you are growing your business while still trying to stay pretty much a one man operation.

On my last visit, Ian's shop was in a quaint old barn building that he had filled in the cow-dung troughs before moving in the equipment. About a year ago, he moved into new space (to him) that really seems to work well for his operation. While still not large, it has height and light...something that he leverages very well as you'll soon see. There is a small office (which doubles as a "heat chamber" during the cold months) and a small storage closet. A loft area above these also comes in handy for storage of shipping materials. He also has a storage shed elsewhere on the property for raw lumber storage--which is largely palletized "shorts" in oak or other durable species.

So, here's the tour, starting with the dust collection system located just inside the big, roll-up door...

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Ian has a knack for finding really great tools that often have been "gently used" prior to landing in his shop--and the price is usually attractive and compelling. (You'll see a number of these finds in this thread) Most of them have been placed with the purpose of making processing of material and chair components quickly and consistently...something he does in bulk to support later batch assembly of chairs. Here's an example of a great tool for cross-cutting to length. The material is placed in the machine using a stop system. One's hands are removed and BOTH of them need to simultaneously push two buttons on the left and right front of the machine to make the cut. This makes a clamp engage the material and the spinning blade to up-cut from the base of the machine. Because of the way things operate, the spinning blade can never be exposed to one's hands.

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Here's an overall view of the shop from outside of the roll-up doors. Ian is getting ready to show me his planers which are on mobile bases of a sort...pallets. In fact, that's pretty much how he reconfigures the shop when a tool is needed--engage a pallet jack or the electric lift and move what needs moved. He also uses things like lift tables and the forks to provide infeed/outfeed support when needed. Very efficient.

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This big planer is the "heavy weight" when it comes to knocking rough lumber down to near-final thickness. It's a work horse tool.

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Final finish milling for many straight components is done with this Logosol that Ian found used and in excellent shape. It's a four surface machine and handles both final thicknessing (top and bottom finish planing) as well as edge forming with the two spindle shaper heads. This is a kewel machine...and another picture will come of the "business parts" here in a moment...

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[Jim Becker]

As promised, here's a shot of the Logosol "innards" showing all the heads. Did I happen to mention this is a kewel machine?

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One of the things that transitioned from the old shop to the new is Ian's assembly assembly, as it were. This is a three station area where he is all jigged up to put together the chairs quickly and consistently. He's been adding pneumatic clamping to help support even more efficiency in this effort. Note that all the electric and air tools required for each workstation is readily available hanging above that area.

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After the move to this space, Ian had, umm...more space...so acquisitions like this wide-belt sander and pin router have a place to live. The spacing might seem close to many folks, but remember, he's rarely working with material more than four feet long.

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Along that same wall, his new big Axminster bandsaw (rumored to be Jet with different badging), edge sander and shaper with feeder live, ready to work with just a little position adjustment from time to time.

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Another really interesting "tool find" was this dual sander with a belt on one side and a flap-wheel on the other. The "flapper" really works well in smoothing out the radiused edges of chair arms where the end-grain mills a little less smoothly.

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[Jim Becker]

One of the most interesting tools in the shop is an "old iron" dual head, horizontal drilling system. This one gets used to simultaniously drill screw holes in seat slats and features a pneumatic clamp and drilling action. Now, it doesn't get used every day (!), so rather than take up floor space, Ian went vertical!

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And when you want to use it? You pull out the electric lift and bring it down to play!

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Here's a close-up of the two head system of this very neat tool...

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And one of the new wide-belt. Good stuff!!

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I mentioned the pin router earlier. Ian purchased a nice one not long ago...it's a very heavy machine. These things use templates to cut identical shapes--one example in Ian's work is the chair arm profiles. Up until recently, he was using MDF templates, but is now working with these polycarbonate ones which give the advantage of being able to see the workpiece while you are cutting. We had a really interesting conversation about the "future" of cutting out these parts in even more efficient ways... ;)

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[Jim Becker]

If you remember from the first post in this thread, I mentioned that Ian was fully taking advantage of "up" in this new shop. Here's a shot of the vertical storage system he implemented along the other long wall...it holds raw materials and finished components as well as some other things. You can also see his "collection" of various "movers"...all of which have a purpose.

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After the multi-hour shop tour and conversation, we adjourned to a local eatery for some refreshments and continued dialog. We certainly were not hungry anymore! And Ian...THANK YOU for your wonderful hospitality!!!

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Oh, we went on to visit Hampton Court...'some neat Neander woodworking stuff there, but unfortunately, no photography allowed.

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Here's a free bonus picture from later in the week. This is a group of human forms carved from wood in the Brussels' airport concourse...they are just abstract enough to hold the imagination and realistic enough to make you glance a second time before you realize they are not real people!

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On my last day in London, I had a few hours to kill before heading out to Gatwick, so I did the Buckingham Palace tour right around the corner from Victoria Station. I'm very sad photos were not allowed inside...there are a great many examples of incredible furniture inlay and veneering, including burls that are so outstanding that they can make a woodworker cry!

[Wes Bischel]

Jim,
Thanks for the write-up and pics. A Sunday well spent I'd say! Ian, you've got a great operation there - I envy your organization and inginuity. Very impressive!

Wes

[Frank Pellow]

Thanks for the excellent tour Jim.

Ian, you have a very well organized shop with a lot of intriguing equipment. Your use of vertical space and of tools hanging above their worstations is quite clever.

I have never seen so many tools that were new to me in one shop (and it’s not because I am unfamiliar with English woodworking tools –I lived in the United Kingdom for four years and have visted many many times).

[Russ Massery]

Way cool creeker visit Jim. Neat shop Ian.

[Jim Dunn]

Great write up Jim. Ian feed you well?? Looks like the table was bare there. Real nice shop Ian.

[Richard Wolf]

Wow, great visit and photo spread of Ian's shop.
I always find Ian to be one of our most knowledgable members when it comes to wood production and business management.
I can see that Ian is very organized and every thing seems well thought out.
NO pictures of his chairs? I sure would like to see one.

Richard

[Paul B. Cresti]

Jim,
Great tour! Thank you so much for showing a truly amazing place. Ian, my hat is off to for the incredible place and the use of it that you employ.

[Corey Hallagan]

Very cool. Thanks for the photos and the story Jim. Ian you have a cool shop!

Corey

[Ian Barley]

:o Blush:o

Thanks for the great post Jim - I quite like the look of that shop - wish mine was that tidy!

Really - Its a great pleasure to get the chance to meet fellow Creekers and Jim is great company. Its fun to get the chance to jaw a little with a willing and knowledgeable visitor. I am also staggered by Jim's ability to deal with jet lag. He stayed vertical when I would have given in and gone horizontal hours before.


Richard - I would love to claim that they are something special but they are pretty much standard Adirondack chairs -

[Frank Pellow]

Ian it might be "standard" but, as someone who has made a lot of similiar chairs, your's appear to be at the top of the line for that standard. By the way, do you make anything else in your shop?

[Ian Barley]

Frank

Thanks for the compliment. The shop is pretty much a chair factory. The other stuff that I make in their is usually jigs and fittings to do with making chairs. I do make other stuff from time to time but in truth the placement and selection of the machines is all centred on effectively making a product line. As an example, my TS is positioned such that it has to be ,oved for any rip cut over about 9" (225mm) because my widest component is 6" and to have it anywhere else would be a waste of space. The cost of renting the shop is such that space is a real premium and that means that I sometimes sacrifice flexibility for space optimisation.

[Per Swenson]

Ian, Jim,

Great operation. I love the up deal, sometimes you never
think off the floor.

Thanks much Jim.

Per

[lou sansone]

great tour, nice looking shop. very nice chairs indeed. thanks jim and ian for the tour.

best wishes
lou

[Ian Barley]

.... I love the up deal, sometimes you never
think off the floor.
...
Per

Per

Side to side and back to front cost me money - up and down come free. A great way to stimulate thought I find!

[Peter Pedisich]

Looks like a great time, guys.

I like the selection of jigs you use Ian.
You could teach some large shops a thing or two about efficiency.

Thanks for sharing, Jim!

[Richard Wolf]

Beautiful chair Ian. You don't have to reinvent the wheel all the time, just doing things well works often. Surprizing that you must sell a lot of something that is so American, but quality always sells.

Richard

[Robert Waddell]

Ian,
I'm curious. How common are these chairs in Europe? Are there a lot of makers of these around or do you pretty much have the market to yourself? Great looking shop and collection of tools! I'm getting ready to rent some commerical woodworking space and move out of my garage. I'll remember your vertical comment and put the idea to good use in my space. I look forward to the extra room and a more efficient layout. Jim may have said but I don't remember, how many square feet or meters is your shop?
Rob

[Brett Baldwin]

Jim, thanks for giving us the lowdown on Ian's shop. Looks to have been a good visit.

Ian, you have done a great job with your setup. Anybody who puts that much thought and attention into how to get things done well is obviously going to do at least that good a job with what they make.

[Ian Barley]

Ian,
I'm curious. How common are these chairs in Europe? Are there a lot of makers of these around or do you pretty much have the market to yourself? Great looking shop and collection of tools! I'm getting ready to rent some commerical woodworking space and move out of my garage. I'll remember your vertical comment and put the idea to good use in my space. I look forward to the extra room and a more efficient layout. Jim may have said but I don't remember, how many square feet or meters is your shop?
Rob
Robert - The design is seen around but the chairs are far from "common". I guess that in the UK there are a handful of people making them and a couple importing kits. I don't really know about volume of sales comparatively but as far as I know there is nobody much more active than me.

The total area of the shop is just shy of 1100 square feet. Rental and property taxes over here are pretty steep and for me spending money on things like the electric pallet stacker which allows me to move heavy loads to 10-12 feet high makes more sense than renting a bigger space.


Surprizing that you must sell a lot of something that is so American, but quality always sells.

Richard
Richard "A lot" is a relative value. What I do keeps me very busy but is really pretty tiny in total market terms. Many of my customers have previously lived or travelled in the states and are familiar with the style from those travels. I'm working on educating the rest!

[Bob Childress]

Splendid shop tour Jim. And a very impressive layout Ian. Your chairs look top quality and your efficiency makes it possible to do a decent volume without hiring a gang of employees and all the headaches that come with that. Well done. :)

[tod evans]

jim, thanks for posting this!
ian, nice to see your shop and be able to put a face to your posts. very nice shop! tod

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Wow, what a great thread, thanks guys!

Ian, I see I've found like minded guy when it comes to using shop space well :D

Cheers!

[Glenn Clabo]

Thanks Jim...nice job documenting... and pretty awesome Ian. Nothing better than a visit to a Creeker. I myself have visited exotic lands...Cleveland and Portland...and had a great time.