New Shop Construction

[Kris Cook]

I currently have my shop in a two-car garage. While I don't necessarily use both bays of the garage solely for wood working; for me the footprint of one bay is not adequate space to efficiently work.

We are down-sizing and have just purchased a 100-year old house north of where we live now. The home does not have a garage but has a 12'X19' add-on room that is insulated, and has 220V power as well as an overhead gas heater.

We wont be moving until Spring and I am in the planning stages now regarding: shop space, garage/carport etc.

I am thinking the add-on room would be perfect for hand tools, workbench, mortising machine, grinders, drill press.

Power machines: TS, BS, planer, and jointer would have to go somewhere else (both from a noise and space standpoint).

Looking at the way the yard is laid out it will be difficult or impossible to put another building very close to the house. I would like to build a shop but due to space and cost considerations I am hoping I can split the functions as outlined above, and maybe build a garage/power machine space and have the hand tool space by the house.

We get a lot of snow and winter is when I have time for projects. I am wondering if having these different operations in separate buildings is going to be too troublesome.

Thanks
Kris

[Andy Giddings]

Anything can be made to work, Kris. Personally I would find the decrease in space and split locations a PITA, but, given a choice between your arrangement and nothing, it's going to come down to changing methods of work from what you are used to. For example - do all the cutting, shaping etc in one location and bring it into the add-on room for assembly and finishing. Just requires a different mindset and discipline

[Charles Lent]

I can't work like that. My wood shop is an out building. My mechanic tools are in the garage at the opposite end of the house about 300' from the wood shop, and my welding equipment is now all at my son's shop, which is across town and about 10 miles away. Hauling stuff back and forth is driving me crazy, to the point that I'm considering selling the house and finding a house with a 3 or 4 car detached garage, or at least space to build one, where I can have everything under one roof. I know that I now have at least three sets of the common tools like screwdrivers, hammers, squares, clamps, etc so one set is in each location, but it seems like I need my drills and impact tools or something else and they are always in one of the other locations. So it seems like everything that I try to do ends up requiring at least one trip, but usually several trips to one of the other locations, usually just to get the tools that I need and don't have where I am working.
A shop in only two locations will be better than what I have, but it's still going to get to you in a very short time, especially when dealing with it when the snow is flying outside. Is your garage heated? Working in freezing temperatures when your fingers want to stick to your table saw won't be very good for achieving cutting accuracy either.

We never seem to be able to have our ultimate shop, but keeping it all together in one heated and insulated building runs very high on my list.

Charley

[Kris Cook]

Thanks Andy and Charley. I think both of you have pretty much reaffirmed what I was thinking. I guess I need to do some more head scratching.

[Frederick Skelly]

As kind of an aside, is fine wood dust going to be a hazard with that overhead gas heater? I really dont know - but someone else will.

Good luck on your move.
Fred

[Andy Hastings]

No amount of sanding/sawing, etc in a home shop can generate enough fine dust in to be a fire/explosion hazard. The dust density needed for this to happen is just not there. The DC sales folks are just out to make money from this baseless fear mongering that they perpetuate. If this danger truly exists then all electric motors used on woodworking equipment would need to be sealed or brushless by regulation and UL approved for use in explosive atmospheres.
So, go ahead and keep warm with your gas heater.
Just some good common sense from an old Fart.

[Jon Snider]

Kris, I’m enjoying your build thread. Thanks for sharing. The pics of NW Montana are beautiful. Swan Valley?

We’ve shared some of the same crappy weather here (at least for a shop build). Great for the snowpack and summer water.

Jon

[Jim Andrew]

About your adjustable height work table, I bought a HF motorcycle lift table, they had it on sale for 289$ on the tent sale, and put a wood top on that, and use it at both the high level and the lower level, it has a rod you slide through to stop it from leaking down, and it works great for cabinet assembly for me. Bought some 8020 aluminum extrusions and installed it around 2 sides to use my Kreg clamps for assembling face frames.

[Kris Cook]

About your adjustable height work table, I bought a HF motorcycle lift table, they had it on sale for 289$ on the tent sale, and put a wood top on that, and use it at both the high level and the lower level, it has a rod you slide through to stop it from leaking down, and it works great for cabinet assembly for me. Bought some 8020 aluminum extrusions and installed it around 2 sides to use my Kreg clamps for assembling face frames.

Jim - like this one?

I purchased this table for the application you mention. I got to thinking about the size of the table being too small and possibly tippy. I would also like to have storage in this footprint if possible.

Having said that - I haven't even unpacked it so I may decide it will work.

Would you mind posting a picture or two?

[Kris Cook]

Jon - next drainage over - Mission Valley

The Swan Range is awesome as well.

[Kris Cook]

Am I losing my mind? I don't understand where post #106 came from. Maybe responded to a different post?

[Dan Hall]

It's weird isn't it. Check the hybrid view at the top of the page and locate where the thread has gone. It's not linear, it goes by way of who responded to whom.

[John K Jordan]

It's weird isn't it. Check the hybrid view at the top of the page and locate where the thread has gone. ...

The hybrid view has always been wonky, at least since I've been following SMC. It will only display so many posts sometimes even if they are not down some branch of the tree. Posts on branches past a certain level have to be read by clicking on "More replies below current depth" or a little higher in the tree. Be even then some posts are difficult to find and I've seen circumstances where certain posts simply cannot be read with Hybrid mode. Some people use Linear mode exclusively but I like to see the tree so I can tell which message is responding to what. Judicious use of quotes would help.

Threads are a lot easier to follow before they get too big, perhaps a good reason for starting a new thread occasionally on the same subject every year or so, such as "New shop construction Part II" or somesuch and include a link to the old thread for continuity. I've gotten to where I sometimes skip over very long threads.

JKJ

[Kris Cook]

Some updates on the shop construction now that the weather is a little better.

I posted earlier about the doors I am building for the shop. I still need to pour a concrete filler strip where the threshold is going but started working on the threshold itself.

I was going to buy some 8/4 White Oak but remembered I had some 4/4 Red Oak that wasn't usable for furniture but I was loath to throw out.

Not having my table saw I had to get creative with the band saw to get some usable lumber.
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Straight line on one edge with chalk. The jig on the right is what I would normally use with the TS to get a straight edge.
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One edge straightened free-hand cut through the BS
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Flipped around and two reasonably straight edges
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Straight edge to show the lumps and bumps
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Getting closer to straight using a No. 5 that belonged to my Grandpa
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About 1 hour of work from rough to these.
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[Kris Cook]

Never really had to build a full staircase before but added to the growing list for this project.


3 stringers laid out and cut
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Hanging a stringer by yourself is a pain.
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Got both of them up. They will have to come back off to put sheeting behind them. Pretty jazzed to be close to having stairs.
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