Project - Shop Tour

Since we’ve been talking about putting together some project posts to highlight workshops, I thought I’d start it. My workshop is nothing more than a converted garage in a suburban house. It’s about 425 ft.² total, but I give up some of that to the washer and dryer. The shop is divided roughly 70/30 between woodworking and metal working. I started building up the shop well over 10 years ago, and it’s been a work in progress ever since. 

I started off with my father-in-law‘s old 113 craftsman tablesaw and his father‘s workbench. Workbench is a colloquial term, in this case it’s some two by sixes nailed to some 4 x 4 legs…but it’s probably close to 100 years old at this point. Not a true woodworkers workbench, but it’s what I started with. I still have it, although I’ve modified it somewhat. Living in the university town I caught wind that the school was dismantling one of their chemistry labs…and was trying to get rid of the furniture. A couple of pick up truck loads later I had a whole bunch of solid wood cabinets, just like you remember from your high school chemistry class underneath the workstations! I lined both side sides of the garage with them to add storage. 

I built a nice surround around the tablesaw including some wings and added a router lift. I topped it off with an Incra LS-TS fence system, which is the bees knees! I started adding bench top tools to include a Rikon drill press and 10 inch bandsaw over the years. Additionally, a scroll saw and a Kreg pocket hole machine. Say what you will about the pocket hole machine, but it makes quick work of cabinet carcasses! I’ve always been big on building my own shop furniture (with the exception of the cabinets I stole from the chemistry lab). It’s a great way to learn new techniques and try finishing technique without any real commitment. Almost all of my shop furniture is home built, and absolutely none of it matches! But that’s OK because I learned a lot from building it. I built several simple rolling tables and had them all the exact same height as the finish height of the workbench… Which is great but ends up being about 6 inches too tall for hand to work, but what did I know? Having all the tables together means that I have a fair amount of utility space when I’m working on a project. I built a rolling sanding station that’s a big cabinet carcass and on top of it put the Flat Master panel sander as well as a grizzly oscillating belt sander. Next to that is a venable 16 inch Walker Turner band saw that I inherited from my father-in-law when he passed. What an awesome saw! I’ve also got a DeWalt 735X planer and a Wahuda 8 inch joiner on a flip top cart that lives next to that. Behind the tool area is wood storage and the space for my Oneida super cell dust collector. The entire shop is connected to the dust collector with 4 inch S&D pipe and uses the GRIT automation tool control system for open opening and closing blast gates. That was a major addition and has proved itself worth every penny! Additionally, I have a tool wall that I built to cover the garage window. It’s all built with French cleats and almost all of my  hand tools are displayed because I like the way they look. Most of my hand planes are Stanley type 11 or type 13 and are prominently displayed in the middle of the tool wall. Along with a selection of screwdrivers, chisels, gouges, scrapers, etc. I like having the hand tools displayed!

I’m absolutely a hybrid woodworker and have lots of power tools, and lots of hand tools. And I have included a lot of technology over the years. I have a Shaper Origin, as well as a laser engraver, and a 3-D printer all in the shop. For small power hand tools it’s all 20 V Dewalt, of which I have most of the collection. They work great for what they’re intended for.

On the other side of the shop, is the metal side and woodshop-overflow. I have the rolling lathe cart that I built for my Rikon midi lathe, including sharpening station. I have mark outs on the floor where I move it to and it allows the overhead dust collection to attach, which is really convenient for sanding! Also on that side is a shop made metal fabricated table for my 3-D printer. Eventually, when I get the washer and dryer out of there, I’ll add a metal fabricated table for the laser engraver. I’ve got a great design for it! Overhead in the shop, besides all the dust collection, is a compressor airline system that I set up years ago. It uses a blue plastic flexible tubing with a metal core. It wasn’t cheap, but it was an awesome way to bring compressed air all over the shop. Additionally I have two air cleaners that are linked together and respond to dust levels increasing in the shop.

On the metal side of the shop is where I fiddle with fabrication from time to time. I have a small bench top metal lathe, as well as a benchtop metal mill that lives on a rolling tool cart. For any of you that aren’t involved with metal working, if you think wood tools are expensive, you should try metal tools! The general rule of thumb is that the tooling you add to the tool is just as expensive as the tool itself. Sometimes even more so. I also have a small MIG welder and a TIG welder, and a small plasma torch. I built a nested welding table that has a pullout cutting rack underneath it as well. I have a slow speed metal cutting chopsaw as well as a 2 x 42” grinder which is absolutely awesome! I wish I was a better welder, but the reality is I spend much more time on the wood side of the shop than the metal side!

Rounding out that side of the shop is a powder coating station that I built. I posted the project on here somewhere, but basically I welded up a rolling cart frame with an extension wing. On the bottom of the cart is an old kitchen oven that I found on craigslist . On top of the cart is on Eastwood blasting cabinet. When I fold out the extension wing, I can set a small paint tent on it with a fan on the back. I have a small Eastwood powder coating gun that works great! Powder coating is just such an excellent way to keep metal Preserved. Way better than paint. The joke of it is the powder coating station is painted not powder coated because I didn’t have a big enough oven and I didn’t want to transported to the city to have it done!

Anyway, that’s about the extent of my shop. It’s always in flux with things moving around here there, but the last couple years has kind of found it stride. Hopefully I’ll get the washer and dryer out of there this year and then I’ll be able to spread out just a tad more!