Contributor
My flies are still a buzzin'. Yesterday another box to store/sort carving tools was slapped together. It will relieve the crowding of chisels and carving tools in a couple other boxes.All good advice if you have the time to think about it , but like I expect most shops mine was put together on the fly.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
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KenOriginally Posted by ken hatch
Jeff,
All good advice if you have the time to think about it, but like I expect most shops mine was put together on the fly. I suspect even on the re-build there will be a lot of quick and dirty, less than the first time but still some.
ken
My current workshop has evolved over 25 years. I would call this "on the fly". I'd rather be building furniture than workshops.
Regards from Munich
Derek
Contributor
Lordy Ken. Pick a storage/cabinet/etc style and get started, please, now. No more Moravians for a while. That "tool room" photo is a photo better left unshared.
David
[OP]
Member
Yeah David, some things can't be unseen. I've a chair in the works once it is finished I'll start on the north wall. I'm not sure what will happen with the tool room aka Fibber McGee's closet other than a dumpster and "stay/go".
Are you making a trip to the desert this spring? It should be pretty, been a wet Winter.
ken
[OP]
Member
Derek,
Pretty much the same here but there comes a time and that time is now. I expect I'll work on the behind the bench stuff and then the rest will evolve over time.
Thanks for your input,
ken
Member
Yes that WAS my deal too. But at some point you run out of projects for your own house and you realize you spend as much time in your shop as you do in your house, so why not make your shop nice?
I am not there yet, but I can see it my near future. So if a shop project comes up now I am thinking long term.
[OP]
Member
Jeff,
Ain't that the truth
ken
Contributor
Made a run to Death Valley in November, thinking about a run all the way to Glacier Nat'l park next late spring. Did some Colorado and Wyoming earlier this summer. Big Bend this winter. I definitely could do some Sonora desert when things are blooming this spring. I may have to get you to keep an eye on the blooms for me. I enjoy it.
David
[OP]
Member
David,
Will do, fi things start lookin g good I'll PM you.
ken
P.S. We are in the early planning for the PNW this coming late spring.
Friend of the Creek
Given your other recent post on the new chisels from Stan, I’m just curious if the North wall design will include a 275 chisel wall cabinet. I know that won’t hold all your daily users, but look forward to what you come up with
[OP]
Member
Phil,Given your other recent post on the new chisels from Stan, I’m just curious if the North wall design will include a 275 chisel wall cabinet. I know that won’t hold all your daily users, but look forward to what you come up with
It's not 275 daily users, only 250
BTW, my thoughts are to buy chisels while the old Smiths are still alive and making this very unique "art" form. Where that falls apart is I'll likely die about the same time they do and MsBubba will give them to the local GoodWill to haul off. Go figure,
ken
I'm really enjoying this thread – who doesn't like shop pictures? In fact I'm now convinced that an SMC Neander traveling shop tour and cocktail party would be tons of fun! Come on, a bunch of people with shared interest in hand tool woodworking hanging out in our favorite place – the shop, mix in a little good whiskey to liven things up and I gotta believe it would be a great time!
I really appreciate all those who shared pictures of their shops. It's really helpful to see good ideas about how others organizer tools etc. Derek, Glenn, Jim and Roger I really admire your neat organization. I confess I was feeling pretty good about myself until I saw your shops and now realize I've got a long way to go to put things in order etc.
Compelled by the spirit of sharing some pictures my shop: about the size of one car garage with door, window and high ceilings.
Moving counterclockwise, the eight-foot bench takes up the bulk of the workspace. One of my New Year's resolutions was to clean out the rats nest of scraps, jig etc. accumulating under the bench so build some plastic bins for scrap storage.
Plane tills above my original workbench from the 1970s, now use primarily for messy stuff like glue ups. Also handy for storing shooting boards, clamp tills etc. below. I consider it luxury to be able to leave the shooting board on this 2nd bench. Fact that I have 2 plane tills is testimony to the idea you always underestimate how much tool storage you're gonna need.
Along that same wall is sharpening station with clamps storage above. For me essential to have sharpening stones always readily available, otherwise I'd probably never sharpen if I had to get them out of storage to use.
Along back wall is rolling tool cabinet, one of my first projects – can't believe that was 30 years ago. Trays handy for chisels, carving tools. Also where I keep my block, Japanese, joinery planes, scapers, drill bits etc.. Box below holds molding planes and the cabinet on the floor to the left is for screws etc. Small box on top holds sandpaper, and behind it to the right is glue up table.
Along the other wall are layout tools hanging from the pegboard and saw tills – full size on the left and joinery saws on the right. Front left is Sharwz anarchist tool chest on rollers. Probably my most used shop appliance is the saw table – for me absolutely essential, and behind it bandsaw and router table I inherited from my uncle that I don't really use very much.
I keep small F clamps on rack under my tail vice.
All in all, not a lot of floor space, probably because no TS/stationary power tools etc. I hope those interested in wood woodworking aren't dissuaded by mistaken belief they need big space and expensive power tools to get started. I really enjoy visitors and all are welcome if you're every in the San Diego area.
Cheers, Mike
Ken, I share your interest in preserving the art of fine toolmakers. To me there's something super ironic about how much we as hand tool woodworkers highly value these tools that are ideally designed and tuned to perfectly perform their intended tasks, and yet most people likely see them as "junk".Phil,
It's not 275 daily users, only 250
BTW, my thoughts are to buy chisels while the old Smiths are still alive and making this very unique "art" form. Where that falls apart is I'll likely die about the same time they do and MsBubba will give them to the local GoodWill to haul off. Go figure,
ken
I started working in the late 1970s after reading James Krenov's book "Cabinetmakers Notebook". Seeing the beautiful furniture he created with simple hand tools was super inspiring to me and I got some second Sears Craftsman planes, chisels and tried to do the same. As you might guess super frustrating – I had no idea how to sharpen/tune/use these tools and of course I didn't get remotely close to making beautiful shavings or really anything else. It took me many years of trial and error, reading etc. before I learned the importance of quality tools and how to make them work properly.
In those days before Lee Valley, Lee Nielsen etc., contemporary quality tools weren't available, and I couldn't afford the good vintage stuff even if I knew how to identify it. I clearly remember the absolute agony I felt when I learned the woman I was dating (now my wife Sherrie) grandfather had been a cabinetmaker in Greenwich Village for 40 years, and when he passed away, the family sold off the entire shop for essentially the price of scrap etc. Today I have only a couple of his tools and I can only imagine the treasures that likely went to the dump or secondhand store etc.
Today I still feel a sense of "discovering a lost treasure" when I find a top-of-the-line vintage handsaw, plane etc. and experience the quality work they're capable of. I have a secret fantasy that when I'm gone, some aspiring woodworker will find my shop full of tools and be assisted on his journey towards mastering the craft. Seems like I need to do the right thing and find a way to make that happen. Any suggestions?
Best, Mike
Contributor
.....but not nearly as much fun, my friend.
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
“If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”
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I've actually gotten the interior partitions down enough, and run lighting enough, to where I can say I have a workspace again (which is actually amazing after working with a single 3 1/2" metal vise and a set of horses). So I figured I'd post a couple pictures of what I've got to work with. Which currently isn't much, as really none of my previous storage survived the pack rats. This will pretty much be the bench area, although I'll get rid of the bench and it's reused kitchen cab bases that are at the back of the room and move my bench closer to the window. There's really a lot of space in here, so it's also another good reason to build another (bigger and simpler) bench. The dartboard will stay in the hand tool area, near the bench. It's handy.
The wall on the left hand side, along with the 2x4 shelving will go away, as there's another 10x12' space on the other side, and while I'll have somewhat separate work areas, having actual partitions is rather limiting. The two 'shop areas' that were originally framed were still filled with stuff (such as the lumber hanging on the wall, along with an alarming amount of random hardware) so it's just starting to come into focus as to the space I have to work with as I clear things out.
I do have to share the building with a couple cars, but that's fine. I should have plenty of space (certainly bigger than my last 14x18 shop). The entire left side of the building is raised 8" or so, which is pretty awkward as a garage, but I'll use that for an electronics bench and a metal working bench, along with storage. The few larger power tools I have will probably just remain on mobile bases. So I'm looking forward to seeing what happens in this thread, as I've got a lot of work ahead of me in this regard.
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