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551K views 317 replies 120 participants last post by  Kentuk55 
#1 ·
One year on LJ, what a difference a year makes

With my one year anniversary on Lumberjocks coming up in a few days, I thought I'd start my first ever blog. I can't even believe it's only been a year. When I joined a year ago I had quite a bit of experience with carpentry work and home improvement. I had no idea how little I actually knew about working with wood. One year later, I realize I have only scratched the surface of this hobby (my wife calls it an obsession) and I have a lot to learn.

My shop, like my skills, has a long way to go. A year ago, it was a place to park some tools and some cars. It has slowly evolved into a place to create. Though I still share the space with kids toys and garden equipment, I no longer park my car in the garage and I pull my wife's car out when I'm in there working. The set up, though, has really been a hodgepodge. When I've added a new tool or created a new jig I just stuck it where I had space. Like most everyone, my shop time is limited and I need to have it more organized and create better flow when I'm working on a project. I've got a total renovation/change I'm planning on starting in the next few weeks. Here are the before pictures:

Main bench area


Clamps, jigs, rollers


Lumber storage, bench top router table, planer, workmates, misc storage


Drill press, miter saw, more lumber, misc stuff for table saw


The project that kicked off my addiction: a rolling work table w/storage:




I'm finishing up a project right now for a local church. When that wraps up, I'll get going on the renovation of the shop.

Thanks for looking. And thanks for all the help, support, and ideas from all of the incredibly talented people on this forum.

Cory
 
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#2 ·
Renovation and reorg is always a fun project. Enjoyable to customize your space to suit the needs. I like your cabinetry and rolling storage. As "hodgepodge" as you described, the space looks quite effective and organized. I hear you on the conversion from carpentry to woodworking. Glad you are gaining so much here and receiving so much support on your journey. Thanks for sharing your shop.

David
 
#3 ·
Greetings Cory:

Stellar job on the shop. Things are starting to shape up for you. A shop is an evoulation of change.

The more tools you add, the more room you'll need: the more room you get, the more tools you want.

It's an over and over process. You might get it the way you want it in about 20 years…..lol

So just keep on keeping on, and you'll get there with change…..............
 
#4 ·
Dave hit it - space customization. Everybody's specific needs are different and that will be reflected in the way that we organize it (if ever:)

Happy LJ anniversary! I hope you remember your wedding anniversary as well.
 
#5 ·
Be warned no shop is ever complete, whenever it becomes the way you want it you time to be satisfied will be very short,probably until the next tool. Happy birthday. (also happy wedding anniversary, don't dare forget it)
 
#8 ·
Greetings Cory,

My sincere congrats on the anniversary.

You're lookin' good there with that shop. Can't wait to see the changes you're planning. I hope you can furnish a pictorial story-you know how this crowd loves looking at shops.

That all-purpose rolling cart is a handsome bugger; bet it sees a lot of action as a "right-hand man" at your side. I notice the Rockler assembly squares and clamps. How do you like them? Do they do the job?
I don't recall seeing them in any other LJ shop pics and tours.

Nice job all 'round Cory.

Thanks, and all the best,
Peter
 
#13 ·
Thanks for all the comments and congrats, I appreciate it.

PineInTheAsh: I really like the Rockler right angle clamps. I got them on sale last year and I use them on almost every carcass assembly.

MsDebbieP: I didn't mean it to sound badly that my wife parks her car inside, just the opposite. I want to make room for her and my kiddos to get in and out without getting too cold/wet. Ok, ok. I wish I had the room her car takes up, but not enough to broach the subject!

To all: because my family is in and out of the garage/shop all the time, I make it a point to clean up every time I finish a session. I also make it a point to unplug all my tools after I use them and/or put them away so my little ones aren't tempted to play with my chisels or flick on the table saw switch just to hear the click!
 
#14 ·
Stefang: That bottle has a special place in my heart. I shared it with my fraternity brother, who passed away shortly after. I keep it around to remember him and to also remember to enjoy every day….it may be your last.
 
#18 ·
The Plan...

With a project just about wrapped up, I've come up with a plan to organize and renovate my shop. My goal is to eliminate clutter and get everything in a drawer, hung up or stored high on the wall, or behind a cabinet. I had a tenant renovate an office space and they had some perfectly good cabinets that were being thrown out. I grabbed them and they'll be a part of my renovation.





I'm also grabbing a few solid core doors that were also being thrown out. They'll become counter tops. The upper cabinets over my bench now will be moved and used above those base cabinets. My sketchup skills are non existent, but I do use AutoCAD a lot, so I whipped up a quick rendering of what I'm trying to accomplish:

This is the floor plan



Here's an elevation of the main wall



I'll be building a new workbench, although it will be strictly utilitarian and not a work of art. Under the bench I'll put my two rolling tool chests and leave some leg room for a stool. Above the new bench will be a french cleat tool wall where I'll keep most of my tools.

I have been wanting to get a 'real' dust collector instead of using my shop vac for a while now. I'm most likely going to grab a Harbor Freight 2hp DC and add a canister filter. The new DC will sit underneath a new shelving unit that will hold lumber and misc items. Here's an elevation of the new storage wall:



As a caveat to this whole plan, I'm going to the Woodworking Show in Indianapolis this weekend, so I might come back with different ideas about how I want to store my stuff or arrange my shop. We'll see.

Thanks for looking!
 
#28 ·
Lumber rack, storage, new bench. The plan evolves, too.

After going to the woodworking show in Indy and brainstorming with my wife, I decided against a large shelving unit made from 2×4's and plywood. Instead, I installed a rail and upright system that will be much more flexible and attractive to the next person who owns my house. That system also didn't need to be finished/painted, which allowed me to install it in one quick evening's work.

Here's the before shot:



Here's the after:



I took advantage of having all my stuff off of the shelves to really organize and decide what I needed to keep and what to throw away. Anything I haven't touched in over a year got trashed. I also found that I was becoming a wood hoarder. In addition to a bunch of oak and cherry and some walnut that are for future projects, I had all kinds of small cutoffs in several places.

I kept playing the scene in Pulp Fiction where Jules and Vincent are at Jimmie's house: Do you see a sign in my front yard that says small cutoffs storage? No. You know why? Because storing small cutoffs aint my business! I don't have the room or the inclination to store a bunch of wood. I'm only going to buy what I need for that particular project.

The lumber that's vertical and leaning against the wall and shelving (white oak and cherry) is what I'm going to use soon to wrap my new bench and build some shop furniture. My new dust collector will reside in its place.

I also installed the base cabinets along the wall. Man is that wall crooked. I've installed a bunch of cabinets and this was by far the worst wall I've ever encountered. It's like they didn't even care.



Here's one of the old solid core doors waiting to be butchered into a bench top. 3'-0"-7'-0", 1 3/4" thick and man was it heavy.



Next up install the top and add the cherry trim and install a french cleat above the bench to hang the cabinets and shelving and misc holders.

Thanks for looking.

Cory
 
#32 ·
Miter saw/drill press bench almost complete

I made some progress last night….I finished installing the cabinets that are the base for my CMS and my drill press. I also finished installing the countertop, which is a solid core door with a 1/4" hardboard top for a total thickness of 2". The edges are wrapped in cherry. I thought about leaving out the hardboard, but I want to make sure that I can easily replace the top when it's damaged or worn. On that same train of thought, I screwed on the edge banding as opposed to gluing. The top is finished with two coats of shellac.

When I went to attach the CMS, I had trouble getting it perfectly level with the infeed/outfeed tables. I just barely missed on the measurement of the brace. I ended up using some playing cards to shim it up a few sixteenths of an inch. Now it's perfectly level and I've got about 10' to the left (with roller stands) and about 3' to the right of the saw…...oh glorious workpiece support.





One thing I didn't think of until I installed the CMS and drill press is how to handle the long power cords. I've got a 4' power strip that I want to install on the wall, but I'll still have cords dangling everywhere. Does anyone have a good solution to dealing with power cords on a bench top? I also would love some advice for a back splash.

I still need to nail on some trim, add toe-kick drawers, and trim out the CMS platform. After that I'll continue the french cleat on the wall and hang wall cabinets.

Thanks for looking.

Cory
 
#38 ·
Good news, bad news. Short night, long day.

It's almost 1:00am and I'm sitting down to tell a bunch of people I've never met about the progress I've made on a space they've never been in. How wierd/addicted am I with this???!!! As you can probably tell I'm a little loopy. We had a sprinkler go wet last night at 3:30am so I had a short night/long day.

Anyway, I managed to finish up most of the items for the bench. I put up the french cleat and hung some cabinets. I also attached a little bit of trim and cut the pieces that will be drawer fronts for the toe kick drawers. That's the good news.



The bad news is that I've created a huge mess of all the stuff that used to be in all those cabinets. I've got stuff EVERYWHERE that needs to find a new home.



I'm too tired to even think about what's going to go where. I've still got A LOT of work ahead of me to get my shop back in order. It's off to sleep now. I'll tackle some more items on the list later this week.

Thanks for looking.

Cory
 
#48 ·
Phase 1 complete....I think.

I pretty well finished with phase 1 of my workshop renovation. I've added a bench for the miter saw and drill press and it also doubles the storage I had. The cabinet on top of the bench is a project for my grandparents that will go out as soon as I can find the time to put on a finish:



Here you can see the storage area and the home for the planer, air compressor, and dust collector. The planer cart used to house my CMS.



I rearranged my main bench area, too. This area is going to be phase 2 of the project where I'll build a better bench and create a better tool wall, probably without pegboard. I'm trying to take Rick's advice, though, and take it slowly so I don't get burned out.



Here's a shot of my Frankenstein router table. I bought the top and fence for $20. It came with 2 aluminum plates, too (stealth gloat). I built the base out of stuff laying around the shop and put on some locking casters. I'm going to add a couple more drawers soon.



I'm off to watch my Colts. Thanks for looking!

Cory
 
#55 ·
Some progress in the shop, though never enough.

I haven't had a lot of shop time in the last week or three, but I have been able to make some progress. I've got all the items that were all over the place stored at least temporarily. I'm going to take a break from moving things around until I've made a few projects and get a better feel for how my flow in the shop will be. Here's how the shop looks as of yesterday:

"main" bench area where I'm keeping most of my tools



Moving to the right, some wall storage for clamps and jigs, my router table, and the beginning of the CMS bench



The cabinets above and below hold finishes, and misc supplies. I added the dust hood over the CMS. I'd love to get a better DC arrangement here, as you know it spits dust all over even with the hood.



Lumber and misc storage along with dust collector and planer/air compressor cart. The sawhorses and stuff on them are about to get put away and/or thrown away so that I can rearrange my table saw. I'm going to turn it around so the dust port faces the opposite direction.



The only shop project I've been able to get to is to add some drawers to my router table. This thing cracks me up….i've used about 10 different types of wood/plywood/mdf on it. My scrap bin is nearly empty. It's not pretty, but it works great. I was able to get all of my routers, accessories, bits, etc into the drawers here. It freed up some space in the other cabinets.





Still to come:

new main bench area
flip top cart for planer (to double as outfeed support)
new rolling work table

Thanks for looking!

Cory
 
#65 ·
HFDC Upgrade

I have been wanting to get a trash can separator for my Harbor Freight dust collector since I bought it. I still don't have the separator built, but I did make a great improvement to the unit, IMHO. I'm sure many of you have seen the stovepipe mod, or the Delta collector with room underneath the blower for a separator where the motor and the ring are in line. I wanted to try the same thing on the HFDC.

The challenge is that the DC motor is really heavy and I wanted to keep the unit portable. I would guess it weighs 50 pounds. I racked my brain for a while on how to come up with this support system for the motor without building a huge contraption. I used only materials that I had on hand (old door for the bottom, misc 2x's and plywood for the support) so it's definitely not pretty, but it works! The 2x's and plywood are glued and screwed to each other. The whole unit is bolted and lag screwed to the base. I am going to paint it, but that's about all I had planned for improvements. I'd welcome any suggestions for how to improve the design/functionality.

After some trial and error on the alignment, I bolted down the motor and got it lined up nearly perfectly with the inlet on the ring. I cut a small section of the flex hose that came with the unit to cover the almost none existent gap. Now that the blower motor and the ring are in line, it makes a HUGE difference in the suction. I mean HUGE. As soon as I get a chance I'm going to get the separator built (ala Thien) and put the can under the motor. I'll have more updates then.

Here are the pictures:







Thanks for looking.

Cory
 
#66 ·
very cool. it's an interesting question - why do the larger DCs indeed have their motors and blower installed vertical instead of horizontal like the smaller ones. this one will make an easy way to incorporate a pre-separator. looking forward to seeing how it works out.
 
#74 ·
Mobile Carts...A Godsend in a small shop

I still park a car in my shop, errr garage, so I have to be able to move things around. Mobile carts and workstations are essential for me. Here are a couple that I've built. They're all works in progress and I'm continually changing them.

Planer/Air Compressor Cart:







This cart used to house my CMS, but I built a dedicated bench for it and freed up this cart. The planer sits on top and my compressor is in the bottom. I lined the inside of the compressor compartment with old carpet tiles to help muffle the noise. It really is a very low rumble now instead of a scream. The drawer holds some air guns, nails, and accessories.

Mobile outfeed/finishing cart:







I use this small cart as an outfeed table, storage for TS accessories, finishing platform (some coasters are on top of it in this picture), and small cutoff storage. This used to house all of my small cut offs and scrap pieces. I added the top and have loaded it up with stuff.

Here you can see my router table and the small mobile cart acting like outfeed tables:



Thanks for looking!

Cory
 
#88 ·
New fence for R4511

I haven't been terribly unhappy with the stock fence that came with my Ridgid R4511 table saw, but I did want to improve it. I followed several blogs and forum topics on replacing the front and rear rails, buying a new tube and using the stock fence, but I felt like that was a lot of work (and I'm feeling lazy lately). So, my lovely bride blessed me with a new fence as a gift for our 10 year anniversary. I love that woman.

Here's the shop fox fence from Grizzly mounted on my saw, covered in sawdust:



Installation was pretty simple. The only hard part was drilling the holes in the steel. That was a first for me and took quite a bit of time. The rest was a breeze. The fence is incredibly easy to adjust and locks down more solidly than the stock fence. It's 26" capacity to the right of the blade is sufficient. I wish I had room for the 7' rails, but I don't. So, I make do with the smaller rails and it accommodates most every cut I make.

I added a small extension table to fill the gap between the rails. It's a simple frame made of maple with a particle board top covered in laminate that's similar to the granite top.





The fence faces are excellent. They were extremely flat right out of the box. The fence required very little modifications to be square. I would highly recommend it.

Thanks for looking!

Cory
 
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