If you could add one thing to your shop, what would it be?
- Central dust collection
- Heating or cooling
- New flooring
- More tool/lumber storage
- More electrical capacity
- Other (post your comments)
You will not be able to change your vote.
Discussion Forum
Get It All!
UNLIMITED Membership is like taking a master class in woodworking for less than $10 a month.
Start Your Free TrialCategories
Discussion Forum
Digital Plans Library
Member exclusive! – Plans for everyone – from beginners to experts – right at your fingertips.
Highlights
-
Shape Your Skills
when you sign up for our emails
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. -
Shop Talk Live Podcast -
Our favorite articles and videos -
E-Learning Courses from Fine Woodworking
-
-
Replies
Having more tools than most people could use, but (perhaps) fewer than I'd like, the one thing I would like to add to my shop would be more square footage.
Rennie
A man is a fool if he drinks before he reaches the age of 50, and a fool if he doesn't afterward.
Frank Lloyd Wright
Now there's a coincidence, your reply came up after I had replied. Where shall we invade? Must have lots of quartersawn timber and grants of money to kindly slightly older and well meaning muftis & Rennies. WMD a definite no-no.
Ah, the lack of square footage. I dare say you might suffer this malady to a greater extent than I, though I would profess to suffer no less emotionally.
I must confess, however, that I oft times feel quite guilty complaining about my measly 'just under 400 sf' when I see the quality of work displayed on this forum constructed in shops half the size of my own. Of course, as everyone knows, size and quality are quite unrelated.
I just think some tasks would be so much more pleasant if I could swing a board without hitting something, be able to sand one item while the finish was drying on another, or stop using my table saw as an assembly table.
Spoiled rotten, I am.Rennie
A man is a fool if he drinks before he reaches the age of 50, and a fool if he doesn't afterward. Frank Lloyd Wright
I am a fan of the Shaker/Quaker ethos of past times. At Ironbridge here in the UK there is a working museum of the start of the industrial age and many of the ironmasters were Quakers. They were Godly, modest people and lived humbly despite wealth. However they recognised the difference in individual views, what one regarded as oppulent another might, without any suggestion of exageration, look on as minimalist to his needs.
Best wishes, David
Rennie
I am absolutely with you. I find I am most hindered by a lack of space and the fact that that the space I have is shared with an Explorer and my wife's red mid-life crisis (a convertible). Had we built this house, I would have had a garage at least 50% larger - its a 30 year mortgage after all. But we didn't, so I'm stuck. And I don't care how many articles FWW publishes on guys who build 18th century reproduction case work in a postage stamp shop, I'm not up for it.
That said, I am out their winter and summer and if I could have some HVAC, I'd take it in a heartbeat.
Sasha
Thanks for the back up! It seems that space is the number one 'wish' posted to this poll - and it wasn't even one of the choices!
When we bought our home (I, too, would rather have built) my better half and I came to an agreement. We'd buy the house with the large pool if I could have the garage for a shop. That almost came true. I share the shop space with the washer, dryer, 2nd fridge, and the back end of the fireplace - but no cars.
I did add heat (Modine Hot Dawg purchased on ebay) and an AC unit(12,000 BTU window unit installed through the wall (season-end sale at HD) My 'man cave' is comfortable year round, though finishing options during winter are somewhat limited.
Had I the resources to design and have built my own home I would probably go with a double deep 3 car garage. Placing a wall down the center line would yield three parking spaces and a 24 x 36 shop in the rear. Double doors on the garage wall would facilitate the movement of projects and materials (under the cover of the garage). Many here have noted the desire for more windows. I think I would avoid windows altogether (too many dishonest people in the world, why give them easy access) and go with multiple skylights and one very secure emergency exit.
Keeping dust out of the house would be easy as you could install a separate HVAC system for the shop in the garage, and the DC could also be installed there in a box to minimize noise. No windows means over 120' of wall space on the perimeter alone. Assuming a portion of the space might be walled off for office, powder room, and finishing room, that number could grow.
The shop would have a floor level a bit higher than the garage and be over a crawl space. Electrical and DC would be routed beneath the floor. HVAC would be in the ceiling so's not to interfere with machine/cabinet placement. Lighting would be similar to what I already have, 8' florescent HO daylight color lamps - lots of them - with task lighting as needed.
I've rambled on long enough. I have an urge to go buy a Powerball ticket!Rennie
A man is a fool if he drinks before he reaches the age of 50, and a fool if he doesn't afterward. Frank Lloyd Wright
Space, presently 14 foot square with lots of goodies so little room for me.
Being military, I move around quite a bit. I looked at this from a standpoint of if my shop had none of these, which would I want first? I'm going to go with heating/cooling.
You should have a button that says, "All of the above".
A finishing room with spray booth
SPACE !!!!!
Alan - planesaw
More workshop
Other: organization and/or horizontal surfaces that would sense there is stuff on them that doesn't belong and then tilt to make it fall to the floor thus forcing me to put it away
(applies to ALL horizontal surfaces including the floor..... would make for a slippery slope)
More workshop. Especially height, so that I could make things taller than two metres.
I want a robot to clean up after me.
Better Yet. I want the a'fore mentioned mechanical apprentice / slave to clean up. Get and put away whatever I need. Lend a hand when I need someone to tail at the saw and planer. Move and lift the heavy stuff. Slap my hands out of danger before I cut myself (won't need a SawStop then). And scratch that maddening itch when my hands are covered in glue or some other goo.
In other words the "Jetsons Workshop Helper". If I can't have it, then I'm with the other guys on more space.
More space. Some would get used to store lumber, but space is #1.
3 years new, and I still haven't finished the walls and ceiling. I'm still looking at paper backed insulation. I'd like more time to finish it off, and get some cabinets built for tool storage.
Jeff
Hah ha ha (sob)
I keep hearing people complain about space (or lack there of) while i work in my 8 x 12 shop!!!! Sorry touchy subject.
-Ryan
Jeez, mine's only 9 by 10 so you got me by 6sf! (Can't really complain since its adjacent to a two car garage and I can expand into that on a temporary basis when I really need too)
Bob
With 660 Sqft. I sure can't wish for more space, But I sure could use some time to finish the insulation and drywall. When I got the shop built I got too anxious to play and not completely finish. Now it will be a real chore to remove everything I have on the stud walls to really finish the shop. Have heat but AC would be nice.Work Safe, Count to 10 when your done for the day !!
Bruce S.
a pet midget....
SPACE THE FINAL FRONTIER..........and a must for a woodworker!!!
Ryan I thought I had the smallest shop with 9.5 x 16 but you got me beat by a good measure. I have everything, and I do mean everything, on wheels. Over the last year I have mastered an arrangement that allows me to pull out either the TS, BS, Strage chests, or workbench to the center of the garage and keep enough space around the tool to actually use it. In my dreams I would have a shop about 30' x 40', with wooden floors, (that cement floor is a killer). Of course a central DC system and plenty of outlets are also a must. But in the end what I pray for most is SPACE.
I've thought of the wheels before but I'd be rolling the tool about 3 feet to get it "out of the way" (as if that were possible). Well I will just dream about space...thats nice.
-Ryan
External entrance (e.g., Walk-out).
Then, more (natural) light, more space, more storage, and oh, yes, a spray booth.
I'd like to replace the building my shop is in. This winter I had the roof done and while I was cleaning up the gravel and junk that had covered most everything in there I discovered the north wall was hanging from the roof with no wood left about a foot up from the "foundation". Had that replaced (I am not up to heavy work anymore) so I should get another 10 years or so out of the old garage but a new, clean structure with windows and a one piece floor would be a real treat.
KDM
with less than 90 sq ft available to me in my shop there's not a lot I wouldn't give for more space...
Mike Wallace
Stay safe....Have fun
Thats got to be a Tardis, I hope.
LOL....
I soooooo wish...
I'm gettin tired of sucking in and walking sideways... canna get moved in there..Mike Wallace
Stay safe....Have fun
Workiing out of my garage, the thing I need most is an actual shop!
Let me chalk one up for more space. I'll expand on that to say "Dedicated space". When I negotiate to take over the whole 2 car garage (e.g. the project is high priorty to my wife) I have about 12 X 20ft., which I've adapted to. The constant shuffling gets really old. I suppose it's all relative. If I were to seize the space as my own, I'm sure I'd find a way to run out of space before too long.
Jeremy
San Diego, CA
I'm lucky enought to teach/work in a 4400 sq. ft. shop with full dust collection, heating, more tools than I can use (never) FREE lumber (cherry, hard maole, red oak, hickory and poplar). I would add a C&C machine and a Laser engraver in hopes of teaching the kids whats out there in a commercial shop. http://www.millerschool.org
Space.
Have to be space for me too - in the upward as well as outward direction.
More space.
Ruth,
Queation: If I could add one thing to my shop, what would it be?
Answer:
Any or all of the following:
1) Frequent visits by the Swedish women's national bikini team.
2) Enough additional room so that I do not have to put my table saw on its end when I want to lower my workbench from the ceiling.
3) A videoconferencing facility that is always connected with Ray Pine, Derek Cohen, Adam Cherubini, Boss Crunk, Forestgirl, and all of the great denizens of Knots so that I can get my questions answered on the spot.
4) sponsorship by Lie Nielsen, Delta and Lee Valley so that I could test all of their tools free of charge, and with no need to return them.
5) A poster by James Krenov explaining how to make and sell planes on EBay for a grand a pop.
6) A number of awards from Fine Woodworking Magazine for my accomplishments.
7) 1000 board feet of high quality curley maple that was delivered mistakenly to my address followed by a telephone call saying that I don't have to return it.
8) The fountain of youth.
That's about all. If I think of anything else, I'll let you know.
So when do I get these things?
Mel
Measure your output in smiles per board foot.
Frequent visits by the Swedish women's national bikini team.
Mel!
I'm surprised at you!
At your age!
(Pssst. Where do I sign up?)Rennie
A man is a fool if he drinks before he reaches the age of 50, and a fool if he doesn't afterward. Frank Lloyd Wright
Rennie,I already have a contractor's saw, a couple of middle-aged Stanley planes, some glue and some wood. What comes next? I figure that it is either the large Lie Nielsen shoulder plane or a visit from the Swedish womens national bikini team. If I have to choose, I'll stick with the Stanley rabbet plane, and go with a visit from the team. Of course, more space would be good too. I can't use my planes now because when I move my arm too far back, I hit the other wall, and those cinder blocks really hurt. I am looking into a way to do vertical planing. Enjoy,
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Hmmmmmm.
I don't know how many members the team has, but I'd guess more space could be seen as a disadvantage should they come for a visit. ;o)Rennie
A man is a fool if he drinks before he reaches the age of 50, and a fool if he doesn't afterward. Frank Lloyd Wright
There may be one member missing. For years I have let my wife know that when she departs and I need care I will advertise for a young Swedish Oh Pair! to have free lodging in return for a little assistance in keeping me mobile and interested in lifes little foibles. I've always wanted some but wifey says no.
I told my wife something similar. She said that it will not happen, since I am "going" first. I wonder if she knows something that I don't.
:-)
MelPS - I just posted a message under General Discussion asking help identifying two parts of an old Delta Tenoning Jig. Would you please take a look at it. I could use some expert assistance. Thank you.Measure your output in smiles per board foot.
More space....lots of it!
Windows - (glass, not XP) definitely more windows, with lots of natural light. And skylights too.
I'd add a better security system and a lighted path between the house and shop door....
Bill
I wish I had windows, lots of windows.
Ed, who works in a cellar with no natural light
I voted Other. In my case, "Other" means more space.
One thing for my shop? Well if I had to choose just ONE thing I have JUST the shop! Whatever it was!
Some one to clean up and put all my tools back on the rack
John
I have to agree with the majority of comments here - space!! I just added 4x16 and it's amazing what a difference a tiny bit makes. (Still only have 320 sq ft though).
However, I voted for Central DC. Although I have a 1.5HP Delta, and am really greatful to have it, it just doesn't have the oomph to get more than the big stuff. That and it's a total PITA to change the bag. I mean, what's the point of a DC with the 1 micron filter if you create giant dust clouds trying to get the new bag clamped on? Rant over...
A separate finishing room.
http://www.superwoodworks.com
A Oneway Lathe.
I live in Central North Carolina and I have a outdoor metal shop. In the summer its hot by 9:00am and doesn't cool off till 11:00pm. In the winter it hardly ever gets warm enough (without a heater). In reality I get about 20 days/nights that I can work comfortable. Insulation would be a great help, but is very expensive. Heat/AC would be nice. My advice don't ever build a metal building, no matter how cheap you think it will be.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled