While Brian’s looking for a tutor for Introductory Photo Editing and Windows File Management, I agreed to post the before and after photos of his shop. This was precipitated, as I recall, by the installation of 220 wiring, new outlets, and overhead lights. Brian: Jump in here and tell us the rest of the story!
forestgirl — you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can’t take the forest out of the girl 😉
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Thanks Jamie, To say I am lacking in computer skills would be a huge understatement. I consider mastering "copy and paste" recently a real triumph!
Ahhh..the shop. Well it had just gotten to the point of being downright dangerous. I had really just let it get away from me. Cords everywhere, inches of sawdust on the floor and absolutely nothing in it's place. I seemed to be spending more time looking for things than I did working wood.
A buddy offered to help straighten it out and also offered his wiring skills. I had been toying with the idea of rewiring the Table Saw for 220 anyway.... soooo...three days and a trip or two to the dump later, the saw hummed and I have a total of 13 120 duplexes throughout. I seem to have room for more tools now! Well, OK...It's time to build that bench.
So if there is anyone out there feeling a bit overwhelmed by their "most trashed" shop. I offer you hope. If I can get off my duff so can you! Thanks again Jamie.
Brian
Can you come clean up my shop now?
Ken
I feel your pain. I'm lucky to get to the forum once in a while. I don't even have a garage so I can only wish I had a garage to clean or use as a shop. I'm currently using a Sears 10-12ft metal storage shed to store my tools. I have to pull everything out and use saw horses. HAHAHAH. Wish I was kidding. Just got married (1st aniversary comming up May 11th). So convincing my better half that I need a shop over horse barn has been rough. Not to take your thunder away, your shop has made a wonderful improvement. Very nice!
Hey, I started the "Most Trashed Shop" thread, and you were in the running judging from the first pic, but you have now officially moved to the next level. Nice work Brian, you did good, real good.
My shop looks better, but its not a shop, its a construction site. Drywalling the ceiling has turned the place into a train wreck. I just keep telling myself, its not a livingroom ceiling and its worth the work.
Enjoy, Roy
Thanks Everyone, Can't tell you how much more fun my WW has become with a little organization. I am trying to stick to Seventh grade Wood shop rules..the last 15 minutes is cleanup time. Brian
I'm impressed. You've got less room and more tools then I do. I'd take the tools, particularly the clamps, but love having a big 2 car garage with 10' ceilings. I hate to say it, but my garage looks more like the before then the after picture.
Hope you can keep the organization. It sure makes working in a place much easier when you can find what you're looking for. Huge difference there.
Oh yeah, the school shop rule. 50 minute period, 10-20 minute rollcall, instruction, and BS, 25 minutes work time, 15 minute clean-up. No wonder I ended up coming in after school to actually finish things.
My shop clean up procedure is a bit different. 3-4 months of various projects. Sorta put stuff away some of the time. Then spend 2 days cleaning up, dejunking, and putting away, then start over again.
Good job.
BillyG
P.S. now that you're really good at this, my shop is available if you need more practice. <G>
If you look carefully in the "after" pic you can see Brian's dog trying to figure out if he's in the right garage or not.
Toooooooo Funny!!! I've got to ask Brian if it's OK to post my "after" pictures in his thread. I just love going out into the shop these days!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Post! Post! Post! Love to see your shop! Brian
If I can just get the wife to move the treadmill I bought her outta my shop I'd be happy....:>)
Darkworks: Its all 'bout da squilla
Connect it to a motor-less lathe and enlist her! That oughta do it!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
OK, I will! May not be today, though.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
OK, finally got the camera out tonight, and took pics of the "After" part. Here's a link to 5 shop photo's and captions. It's not as dark as the pictures look in there, but the lighting certainly needs to be improved. Like Brian (in the "pre" stage) I'm a little short on outlets.
This is the cleanest it's ever been, and there are plans for more wall cabinets, adding casters to various workstations, and building a semi-real workbench. Then, if there's time, finishing off the ceiling so it can be painted white.
View Image
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Edited 5/9/2003 1:17:19 AM ET by forestgirl
Nice shop, (Brian's too) I'm envious. I'm in a rowhome, my "shop" is the embedded single car garage. About 10'x15', with a 7' ceiling. Oh well.
Oh, the point of this post: In the 5th picture at FG's link, the "neon ghost" appears to be a license plate, and the camera's flash caught the reflective paint just right.If everything seems to be going well, you've obviously overlooked something.
Yep, it's a license plate alright! They used to be all over the walls, and I got most of them down last year, but that one escaped me. Some of them were put up with huge nails, making them hard to get out.
I have a new rule for the shop: No nails in the walls for anything. Screws only.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Forestgirl, thanks for posting your pics. Good luck on your summer project to build your "real" workbench.
Just for grins I ran one of your pictures through PhotoShop to lighten it up a bit. Check out the difference.
BJ
Thanks BJ, my bench paint looks clean! I use PaintShop Pro, and did lighten a couple of the pictures, but didn't want to get carried away editing things -- truth in advertising and all that. Thought about making an animated gif, panoramic view, I can just get silly with that stuff and am not even that good at it!
PS: I don't want to mislead about the upcoming bench. It's not going to be a "real" bench like the ones that show up in pics around here and on magazines. I'm gonna start out with an economy model to see what kinds of features I use and don't use, make a few mistakes first.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Forestgirl,
Nice shop. I wish I could have all my tools setup. I have to share it with my car. So it all has to be mobile.
I'm in the middle of redoing my little shop. Building a new workbench as well. Tearing out the 14' long workbench attached to the wall. It's turned into a shelf.
Good luck on yours.. :-)
Len
Len and Mr. Pita: I admire your perserverence to get the shop working in a small, small space. Despite the fact that my available cash funds for woodworking are excruciatingly low, I am quite thankful that the one thing I can't find at an auction or garage sale dirt cheap -- space -- is available to me in pretty good quantity. I'm very lucky in that respect.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Dear First Lady of the Forest: Jamie old Buddy very nice shop you have there young Lady..I was eyeing up the supplies you have stored on your lumber rack..<G>...I see your shop like mine & most of us here at Knots is a diamond in the rough ,lots more fun work changing things around..
Hey have a Nice weekend litl Buddy.. ToolDoc
Oh, Doc, you have no idea how rough "rough" was. In its original state, that building, which was supposed to be a garage, was packed from one end to the other and 6 feet high with plain junk! Several years ago, I rented a dumpster and tossed out cubic yards of the stuff, hauled appliances away, etc., etc. Three different times, we moved or downsized (or both) our business, and a great deal of "stuff" ended up in the garage. It's taken me the last 2 years, with great determination, to get it 95% cleaned out and get a start on organization for a functional shop.
Not to whine too much, but I can't ask for help from the Sweetie (except for carrying help) because he won't throw anything away. Have to admit, he's gotten a bit better here recently though.
I'm so happy now just to have elbow room and be able to access any of the machines when I need to. The combination sander is tucked away in a corner out of the picture, close to the front door. Everyhing else is very accessible. That south wall where the Delta planer is had a workbench on it just 2 weeks ago, which only collected stuff that wasn't put away. There will be storage on that wall, and quite possibly a window or two. The space above the west workbench hasn't been finished off the way the wall behind the lumber rack was, so that's to be done. Electric work this summer too.
The biggest thing on the list, probably next summer, is to haul everything out of the "attic" in there, toss what's junk, put in a ceiling and a ladder, and organize the "keeper" stuff, leaving a little extra room. We may need a counselor for that one, ROFL! Oh! Also want one of those Sun Tubes (my name for them) that goes from the roof and reflects light all the way down into the room. Cool!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
I have several of those "Sun Tubes" and they are fantastic. Go for it!
BJ
1
Nice shop Jamie! I like your present bench too. It has personality.
Is that the Delta 22-560 planer? That's what I have. Is yours as loud as a freight train too?
I've got to look around for the edge pieces for the shop mats too. Or I could cut them I suppose. I'll check their site.
Once again, great job on the shop. Brian
No edge pieces? Bummer. The ones from "Team Products" come complete with edge pieces so you can finish them off. I've got a whole bag of extras!
Thanks for the compliment. Yep, I guess it's the 560 -- 12.5", right? Not the old 12". Pretty loud, but works well. That's one of the tools I did price matching with (between Lowe's and Home Depot) and ended up with a pretty good bargain.
Tomorrow's Saturday, which means tomorrow night I can go out and "sing the blues" with KPLU while I'm woodworking. One of my faves.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
FG,
It's tough being married to a hoarder who won't throw away anything....especially when your hobby is woodworking and by law you can't throw anything away yourself....lol.
I'm very jealous of that window...what a great location for the new workbench...I realize the wood stove is there but in the future you may find a work around is feasible (stove pipe on the horizontal to a new location).
The new workbench is quite likely to change the shop layout quite a bit...and generate a new perspective on everything else in the shop. I agree with you about building your first bench with a certain amount of caution from a cost perspective until your needs become more clearly defined...I'm kinda going through that process myself. There are three cost areas to a bench; top, base, vises. The base and vises can be reused and just swap out the top as the needs change. IMO, what evolves needs to be a 'tool' equal to the utility of the TS...nothing more, nothing less.
I've become anti-shelving. Everything on them is covered in dust in my shop and, when I'm not looking, the tools, etc. entwine themselves...ugh! I took some Ply and 1x2 pine and built a 8'x2'x1' storage cabinet with doors. The first cabinet is for all the finishing stuff...from rags to gallon containers of alcohol. (It's easy to move, capitalizes on the vertical and you can store more stuff...and no dust).
Thanks for sharing the photos.
Yep, I'm anti-shelving also. Just a place for the dust and stuff to linger. We have 3 tall cabinets, not in the picture, 2 of which have doors on them. I also have two movable wall "cabinets" I'm going to relocate to the garage from the utility room in the house, which once was my micro-shop. The doors on these have pegboard inside and out, and the backs have shelves, doors are about 4 inches deep. These will hold a great deal of the small stuff that picks up dust and can get scattered if not watched.
I'm thinking about having full-extension, lockable drawers in my future workbench to put the routers, sanders, etc., in -- then I can get that large square cabinet (under the spindle sander) out of there.
The hardest thing to figure out is where to put the layout tools and other stuff I need to grab whenever I'm working on the tablesaw or router, or when I'm clamping stuff up. I want it handy, but find that I don't like having small drawers toward the top of the workbench -- too hard to get into.
PS: "That Window" and the woodstove. We put the stove there because it's the closest point to the top of the roof. That darned double-insulated stove pipe is expensive! Especially in 8" -- an odd woodstove, it is. I would prefer to have it in a corner, but then the external pipe has to be double-insulated for a long, long ways.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Edited 5/10/2003 11:40:31 AM ET by forestgirl
FG,
"The hardest thing to figure out is where to put the layout tools and other stuff I need to grab whenever I'm working on the tablesaw or router"
I have a lolly column in the middle of my shop and next to the TS ( not a removable object). I made a shelf supported by brackets which holds all the TS stuff...including a little stand that holds the blades and dado parts. Off the brackets I hang the zero clearance thingies, etc. It works ! ....you could consider attaching a 2x4 to the ceiling and floor....
I don't use the workbench for glue ups, i use a seperate table on wheels with two shevles...the shelves can hold a lot of back up stuff...and he table serves as a outfeed table also...
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