Tim's Workshop

My shop is also my two car garage. Granted, it’s oversized on purpose, but it still has to hold two cars and all the other stuff a family with two boys will have. It’s also unheated, so it’s really just a three season shop for woodworking purposes. Someday, I hope to be able to have a proper shop.

My only large bench tool is a table saw. I keep my miter saw loose so I can put it away. The rest is power tools and hand tools. I have, however, collected freinds with one tool or another and I’ve sent a couple things back to my dad and brother in Wisconsin for special operations.

I also work in a machine shop and have pressed a few of the machine tools into service for my purposes. I’ve used the Bridgeports, the drill presses and yes, even a lathe with an improvised tool rest.

In the photos, the table saw is just to the left out of the picture and not all my stuff is loaded into the area. You can see the tool rack I designed. It’s got two full sheets of peg board in 6 feet of wall space. It was inspired by tile display racks we were looking at while building the house.

You can also see the alternating tread staircase up to the storage attic over the garage. It needs half the horizontal room of a regular staircase, but it takes some getting used to, especially coming down.

I’ve also got two sets of saw horses and a 4×8 frame of 2×4s to make a temporary work table for sheet goods, finishing, whatever. The frame, along with a four point hoist system, doubles as a lift platform to store my larger ladders up against the ceiling.

I’ve got more ideas kicking around in my head to add that kind of efficiency to my shared space.