Joe Cumbo's Workshop

My Shop has morphed over time. In the beginning I built a room that was 8’ by 10’ in my basement and all the tools I had were bench type. I live in the North East just outside of Buffalo, NY.

Winters here start about the middle of October (I define winter to me as when the first snow falls). I used to work in my shop when things got cooler out summers I used to take all of my tools outside and set up shop in my 2 and a half car garage.

As time went on I enlarged my shop to 16’ x 10’ and I started replacing some of my bench top tools to stationary versions. Things were good with the exception that some of my tools were getting too big and heavy for me to move outside to the garage for the summers. Summers here are too short to spend them in my basement…

A few years later and a few more tools and it was time for another expansion. I carved out an additional 12’ x 16’ from my basement and now my shop was “L” shaped. And things were good for a couple of more years…...

As time went by and I acquired a new tool here and another tool there, and you guessed it, it was time for another expansion. My present shop now is still “L” shaped but now one part of the “L” is still 16’ x 10’ and the other leg of my shop is 12’ x 35’.

Between wood and tools I hardly have any room to move anymore. I’m running out of room in my basement to expand and pretty soon I’ll have to start storing all of my wood in my garage.

My buddies come over and they drool over my shop and tools. I then tell them this has been a work in progress for over 30 years. There are a lot of worse things a guy could be doing besides woodworking.

I do woodworking for the enjoyment of doing it. I look at some of the things I have made over the years and still can’t believe I made them. I’ve sold some of the things I’ve made over the years with mixed feelings.

Sometimes I had so many orders for stuff from friends and family it actually took the fun out of doing it and made is seem more like a job than the adventure…..

Now I only sell enough stuff to support my hobby. The way I look at it, it’s cheaper than therapy…...

I hope you’ve enjoyed my ramblings,

Joe