Attention woodworkers in tight quarters.
I’m working on an article for our Web site about how to woodwork when you don’t have a real workshop to work in. This hits home for me because before I joined Fine Woodworking I did all of my woodworking in improvised workspaces: first with a minilathe in the corner of my apartment and then with more tools in a converted metal storage container.
If this sounds like something you’ve done now or in the past, please POST Your photos or first-hand accounts to this discussion.
Thanks in advance,
Matt Berger
Fine Woodworking
Replies
I built a boat in a one-car garage in a condominium complex in San Diego in 1985, Matt. I was as genial as possible and the neighbors were all trying to be as nice as possible but I'm pretty sure that they weren't 100 percent onboard with the program. It got done, though. I think when you're in your 20s you're more willing to push the envelope of neighborly relations. I wouldn't do something like that now.
I am currently in a predicament where I am working in a very small area in the unfinished basement of my rented duplex where there is a lot of other stuff (washer/dryer), things that go into an attic (if I had an attic), and such. Since I rent, I had to improvise on controlling where all the dust goes. for this I took 2X3's and framed a simple wall that is only attached to the exposed joists. I used clear painters drop-cloths to cover the wall (I went cheap since I will have to tear it down when I move) and since it gets dark and gloomy in the basement, I took white styrofoam squares (2X4) and tacked them to the ceiling.
Believe it or not, despite the tackiness, it works very well and the lighting is much better than being absorbed by the exposed insulation! I also have old bedsheets (split down the center) covering the doorway so all the dust stays where I want it to. It sucks being poor and loving woodworking. But I've come a long way when I first started making furniture around my house using only a K-mart bluelight special jig saw, a corded black and decker drill (w/counter sink bit), and a vibrating sander.
Can you post a picture or two. That sounds like a prime candidate.
i build things in my way to hot
or way to cold attic.
i need to bend at the top of the stairs.
i can only stand in the midle 5'.
power is a heavy extention cord.
all the tools are 'benchtop' tools.
i like building things though,
so i endure.
espalier
THE BEDROOM SHOP
Back in the 70's, I had a "shop" that is about as bizzare as they come... I have a few pics someplace,but they are so buried it would take a month to find them.
Facts: 1 BR, 2000 sf loft in NYC. Made the BR into a temp shop, complete with Unisaw, bench, lumber rack,etc.
Then kid came to live with us for a year; gave him the space we were using for sleep, and we moved to the BR. Built bed that tipped up on its side, rolled out of the room on casters; storage for sheets/pillows/blankets on back of said bed.
Shop activities: nights and weekends.
Neighbors: doc up above, Chinese heiress/artist on same floor, PR big shot down below. Had lots of parties to encourage their tolerance. Building stuff for them helped too. All agreed: no cutting/noise after 10:00 PM.
No DC, but good vac. Cleanest shop you ever saw. Wife insisted.
And maybe the best shop I have had: compact, lots of light from huge windows, and neat, because I couldn't leave my tools/junk laying around (wife again).
********************************************************
"It is what we learn after we think we know it all, that counts."
John Wooden 1910-
Facts: 1 BR, 2000 sf loft in NYC. Made the BR into a temp shop, complete with Unisaw, bench, lumber rack,etc.
Holy Cow!!! A Unisaw, bench, and lumber racks in the bedroom! I couldn't fit that in my bedroom (much less use it). It sounds like your wife is a keeper if she could tolerate a Unisaw and lumber racks in the same bedroom you slept in.
I posted with photos and info about my very small basement shop a while ago, message #24250.1
I can't seem to make a hot link.
It's a one car garage space loaded to the hilt with tools and wood, and sharing space with a freezer, gardening tools, skis, bicycles, and pantry overflow. Currently building butternut tables for a ski hut (butternut harvested during clearing prior to hut construction!), and they take up most of the open floor space right now.
Umberto Eco, The Island of the Day Before
Due to my old landlord selling his building I no longer have a shop. I just moved into our family room for the winter. It is about 180 sqf, carpeted and has cable tv. Since most of my work now is all done with handtools it really works out great. It proves you do not need heavy equipment, and a large space to do quality work. These photos mainly show some recent work and not the room so much but you can see the carpet, workbench and the garage though the windows. The photo showing my truck also shows the room from the outside, it is the set of windows behind the Jeep. If you are interested I will take more photos and give more details. I removed a workout station, futon, and entertainment center so I could set up shop here. My wife does not mind and I'm sure we can find some before pics as well.
Dale
Edited 11/28/2006 4:44 pm by Timberwerks
Edited 11/28/2006 4:44 pm by Timberwerks
Edited 11/28/2006 4:50 pm by Timberwerks
One more pic, sorry they are so large. In this room I will be building a Nakashima inspired cabinet along with a couple more tables. The key to making this area work is the use of handtools or small corded tools and planning ahead. I actually enjoy the smaller space compared to the larger shop.
http://www.timberwerksstudio.com
Edited 11/28/2006 4:58 pm by Timberwerks
This shows where I moved from.
http://www.timberwerksstudio.com
Have you spoken to Chris Gouchner? I believe several years ago his wife took a job in DC with the government agency she works for. He moved his woodworking into a second bedroom in their apartment.
Personally, since I have moved entirely to hand tools except for a circular saw, some drills and a band saw, I could easily move out of the basement into one of our upstairs bedrooms.
Look forward to the article.
Don't know if this qualifies, but I do mostly on-site repair of furniture. Oftentimes, it either can't be moved or moving it would be more work than on-site work, so there it is.
Lots of heavy duty painter's drop cloths, hand tools, a Work-Mate, and a few portable power tools when and if needed (cordless drill, router, jig saw, biscuit joiner). Some times, I'll excuse myself from the bedroom to a garage, storage area, yard or balcony.
My first projects, over 30 years ago, were done on my apartment balcony with just a few hand tools. As I recall, a hand saw, a plane, a hammer and a square.
Here's a very convenient solution --- http://www.thesawdustshop.com/
This specific outfit is in San Jose, CA, but there must be others like it elsewhere.
Edited 11/28/2006 11:54 pm ET by Jamie_Buxton
At one time I did some woodworking, including building a queen-size Maple bed, in the second bedroom of an apartment I was living in. I had one of those workmate folding work benches and a small Makita table saw. One of the nice things about the Makita TS was that a Makita router could be attached under the table on one side. The fence did double duty making this one small package both a TS and router table! With these and a handheld electric drill and jigsaw I was able to do quite a bit. I taped up sheets of plastic to contain the dust and cleaned up with a shopvac. As for noise... my neighbors in that building played their stereo so loud that I never got one complaint about my woodworking tools!
Lance
If I found myself without a shop I would enroll in an evening woodworking class at my local high school or the technical college that has a cabinet making program.
These classes are geared for people to learn woodworking, but it's mostly experienced woodworkers that sign up just to have access to a warm shop with well maintained tools.
I had considered taking the class at the college when I built my kithchen cabinets just to make the raised panel doors. They have a huge shaped and Timesaver. Lucky for me I convinced my brother-in-law to build them for me. (He owes me, I married his sister after all....)
At our last apartment, before we bought a house and I acquired a garage, I improvised a shop on a small patio in the back yard. I made a wooden frame with a big tarp on it (about 10' by 16'), supported at the four corners, to keep direct rain off the bench, and then huddled the tools under that. The top frame work included 2x4 "trusses" every 3 feet or so to support the tarp and avoid sag, and I used those to hang jigs and tools. It was against a back wall of the apartment, so there were three side that wind driven rain could come in ... and it did. I added lots of 2x4's as bracing along the side that was against the back of the apartment, but nothing was attached to the building - strictly free standing. The 2x4's provided places to hang clamps and tools, attach shelves for hardware storage, etc.. The router table was built into a cabinet with a hinged top that I could close to keep out rain ... the whole table unit was raised by a car jack inside the cabinet once the top was opened for use, and then lowered away after, and the top closed to keep it dry. Shop vac in the other side of the same unit. That long cabinet unit defined the back side of the shop, opposite the back wall of the building. When I needed more space and weather was good, I could roll it further out for space. Wood was stored in a wooden box that was not under the roof ... but the box had a lid and that kept the wood dry enough. Bench top saw to the side of the bench, on a wheeled cabinet that I rolled out for use, or stowed away when done, and with an old kiddie pool that I turned upside down and used as a water proof cover. Daughter's "Johnny Jumper" hooked to one side of the shelter so she could bounce there and watch me work. A benefit was that the breeze carried away dust, and noise was less given the lack of walls. Sometimes I even miss that fresh air shop. South Florida has mild winters, but summer are a beast. Biggest problem was lack of space, and constant battle with rust. I found out that when you dump a LOT of saw dust on the grass, and cover it from the sun, it dies. Landlord was not so crazy about that, but seeing how much work I put in, she didn't have the heart to complain.
I learned the hard way to include the "trusses" in the roof structure ... prior to adding them it was just a big tarp held down at the edges. One night about 3:00 a.m. I woke up to a thunder storm and the outside light was on, indicating movement. I looked out that the tarp was a giant swimming pool over the shop holding water and sagging way down as it stretched out. I ran out there in my undies and tried to push it up and rock the water out, but no go. Ended up taking a drill bit in hand and puncturing it in the middle so it could drain and not drag the whole structure down. Glad no one had a camera while I was out there standing on a chair and pushing the roof up and down!
That what I did.
Jim
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled