TheGravedigger's Workshop

For most of my adult life, my “shop” was a 8X10’ storeroom in our carport. This equated to moving everything out to the carport to work, and then piling it all back in at the end of the day. Not the best of circumstances. A few years ago, we moved to the country, and shortly thereafter built a 40’ x 60’ metal building. This is designed as a combination maintenance, storage, and (yeah!) dedicated woodshop.

The woodshop is located in the back 30’ x 40’ area underneath the storage loft, and will be totally enclosed and heated and cooled. As you can see, construction is still under way, and power is still by generator. But hey, you can’t stop a dedicated woodworker! Besides, I alternate between framing and projects—keeps me busy.

The side bench started life as an old built-in from my daughter’s garage. I simply added pegboard and tools. It’s cluttered, I know, but more storage is on the way. It was really much better before I “rearranged” to make room for the drill press that arrived the other day. The air compressor, though small, is worth its weight in gold. It can, of course nail, run air ratchets, and all that, but the best thing is the blow gun! I never realized how handy that could be!

Primary tool storage is shown in the third picture. The grey bin rack is perfect to hold individual hand power tools, along with all the various accessories for each. Just grab a bin and you have your tool, adjustment wrenches, baseplates, etc. all in one handy container. I found mine at Sam’s. The mailroom rollabout next to it was literally headed for the dumpster when I rescued it. It’s handy for organizing sandpaper by grits (on the right), as well as tools that come in their own handy cases. Also, it’s the perfect size to hold those plastic organizer boxes with the re-arrangeable dividers.

The planer, as well as the (barely visible) chop saw behind it, both rest on simple dimension lumber stands on sawhorses. The chop saw will eventually get its own table with stops and such when the wall framing is finished, but this simple stand works for now. As for the planer, I kind of like the flexibility of this setup, and will keep what I’ve got. By the way, if you build a similar setup, don’t forget a third sawhorse directly under the tool itself. I left out this obvious step, and wound up with a planer frame that resembled a longbow from the unsupported weight. Duh!

The bandsaw and 6×48 belt sander are both vintage Craftsman, at least 20 years old. They both still work great, so no replacements are planned. Of course, a resaw bandsaw with at least 12” under the guard WOULD be nice…

The router table is homemade. The top is based on an old Woodsmith design that clamped to a benchtop, and I used it with a homemade fence for years. I later received the lovely fence and Rousseau insert for Christmas, and soldiered on. When I moved out here, I removed the clamping pads, reinforced the bottom of the table with more plywood, added legs and a switch, and here we are! Who says you need to spend a lot on a router table? Of course, mine is kind of like grandpa’s axe—all it needed was two new heads and three new handles and it’s as good as new!

To answer the obvious question—no table saw yet (gasp!). That’s planned for after I get 220V power. The plan is for a Grizzly 3hp cabinet saw smack dab in the middle of the shop. However, for now, you’d be surprised what you can do with a bandsaw or circular saw and a good jointer plane to true up the edges. Don’t let a lack of equipment stop you—build something!

More to come on my progress in my blog (if I can ever get the picture links to work).

-- Robert from Raymond, MS. "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is therefore not a practice, but a habit." - Aristotle