Here is where we are on the block work.

I’m very lucky to have benefited from the advice of many experienced woodworkers in sizing the shop and laying out the tools. A good friend owns the local Woodcraft store (Paul P.) and has a shop we call the “Taj Ma Paul”. Basically, I took rough sketches, which I modified over time, and asked him, members of local wood clubs and others with shops. Thanks to their kindness in sharing I had LOTS of info to digest.

The standard answer is larger is better. But the issue of funding always comes into play. The concept of facilitating basic material/work flow was pretty consistent. Of course, there are different needs for a turner compared to someone focused on casework and at this point I dabble a little here and a little there so made compromises.

Here is a shot of the current tool layout.

I’ll provide a list of the various suggestions in the next blog.

At this point I have quite a bit of info in my head, on paper and some items on order but don’t want to bore you with lengthy posts. My plan (that makes it sound as if I really pre- organized this blog) is to provide progress reports with photos and include detail as I go along.

If anyone has a specific question, I’ll be pleased to attempt to answer it.

The new shop is 24’ x 36’ with a small entry feature for aesthetics and will be about 40 feet from my existing garage. Due to the slope of the lot, it will have a partial “basement” across the back – about 14’ wide. Current plan is to put the dust cyclone and air compressor down there to reduce the noise level in the shop.

Here is a sketch of the building outline. I have probable locations for the major tools and will include that in a later post.

Here are pix of the dirt guy clearing the area and digging the footers.

Rain today so next entry will be in a few days.

The purpose of the blog is to chronicle the design, construction and outfitting of my new shop. Assuming there is interest, I’ll add entries as progress is made. My hope is others can benefit from seeing the mistakes I’ll surely make along the way.

I guess the first question is why build a shop. The answer seems a bit obvious since who doesn’t want a new shop? My current shop is much bigger/nicer than any shop I’ve had before in the various houses we’ve had covering 13 relocations across many states and a few countries.

My interest in things wood expanded greatly after I retired a couple of years ago and with newly acquired toys the current shop now seems cramped. As stated previously, my skill set easily bounces around in the shop but my ego just barely squeezes in. The real impetus was my bride’s insistence that I lock and seal with tape the door to the shop (its on the lower level of our house). Seems the shavings and misc. bits that trailed my departures from the shop didn’t add to her decorating style. That forced me to enter/exit the shop from an exterior door which made me crankier than normal.

Here are a couple of pix of the existing shop which is about 400sf. Notice the two 90 degree corners and angled wall making layout a bit difficult. The fact that I have lots of junk doesn’t help either – but we jocks don’t admit that to loving spouses.
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Next entry will show the new site (we broke ground last week) and talk a bit about how I sought and received help in sizing and laying out the shop.

By the way, I’m wide open to any suggestions and will be pleased to give credit for those that work well and take blame for any that don’t do so well.