My Place to Hide

[woodwish]

I figured I would join in with a picture of my shop-

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My faithful Delta Midi-Lathe is on the right, in the far corner. I used to share our 2-car garage with my wife, her Explorer fit in and my truck stayed out to leave room for tools and projects. Eventually neither car fit so she suggested I build a new shop, so this was her idea! The whole shop is 16' x 32' and is less than 6 months old, so a lot of work still needs to be done. I hope soon I will get a larger lathe that will fit there and my current lathe will fit on the bench. I also want to build something to hold lathe tools, right now they are in a drawer.

Below the table saw you can see some of the mountain of pecan that I have been offering to swap some blanks from. On the bench beyond the lathe is some of the pen blanks I have drying from hurricane Ivan. Out of sight to the left is several hundred other blanks from Ivan, a drying kiln is another project I want to do soon.

Due to a work related eye injury I haven't been out there for the last few weeks but I soon should be out there turning. Even though I do a lot of "flat" work I enjoy turning more than anything else, and pens are my favorite thing to do. I think it's because they are quick with very few failures. Until I finish a major project at work my time is limited, but this 18-month project finishes soon. By the first of the year I will be out most nights and weekends- somtimes to improve the shop, sometimes to turn pens, and sometimes just to sit in my sawdust to enjoy the peace.

Comments?

Ray

 

[Tom McMillan]

Very nice!!! Yup, nothin like the solitude, or the sweet sounds one can make in the shop!!! Always a great treat and retreat.

 

[Fred in NC]

Very nice shop, Ray !

 

[low_48]

I haven't seen that much empty bench or floor space in my shop since I moved into this house. Really nice space, I'm jealous Ray!

Rich

 

[melogic]

Very nice Ray. One idea for your turning tools is you could pegboard the wall behind your scroll saw and lathe. This would allow for your turning tools to be hung up. Just a thought.

 

[Scott]

Hi Ray,

Nice shop! It reminds me of my shop - only much cleaner! I really like the shelf around the room. I may have to adapt that idea to my shop. Very nice!

Scott.

 

[Bev Polmanteer]

Way too clean and organized! I'm drooling over all the drawer space! Great shop.

 

[woodwish]

Thanks for the comments, and to answer a few-
I decided if I was going to build a new shop it would have adequete storage, woodworkers never throw anything away! I built all the cabinets and drawers from scratch as my first real project out there. On the front of each drawer is homemade wooden handle with a space for a paper label to slide in (got the idea from Shop Notes I think), which is my next task.
I had a bunch of those office boxes from work that we were getting rid of. I built this building with a 10' ceiling so I dropped a shelf that is a little over three boxes high and the same depth as a box all the way around the building. I only store items that I don't use often up there. As part of the same building I have an 8' x 16' room that holds the mower and stuff, and all the holiday decorations, so my shop only hold "shop stuff" and not just general storage area.
I taught Wood Shop for many years that obviously has plenty of free labor, so clean-up was a mandatory daily event at the end of every period. It is a habit that has just stuck with me. I never (OK, rarely) go in the house until all the benchs are clean and the floor is vacumned. The floor also is covered with 2' square interlocking rubber mats that I bought at Sam's Club. Cost was not bad and a bunch cheaper than having sore feet all the time. It was the one greatest thing I did out there!
Still have some stuff to do in between pen-turning sessions- install air lines to get rid of the one orange air hose over on the left going up to the ceiling, finish the DC system (only on the left side now), finish labeling drawers, add some tool racks on the walls (still working on layout and design in my mind, and build a better workbench at some point in the future.

Ray

 

[ilikewood]

Nice place!! Even has the kitchen sink! Only thing you need is a fridge and you could live in there indefinitely!![]

 

[Scottydont]

Nice looking shop. I moved from a 2500 SF house the a 1600SF and finished my small 10x14 shop last year. My lot is small so a detached shop is out of the question. At the time we bought I had no idea that I wanted a shop. Now I do!