# in the workshop



## Loren (May 30, 2008)

*My shop*

My current shop is a 2 car garage. I've made some sacrifices to keep the space workable and have the machinery in there I want.

I have no router table, but I can use my shaper or the Woodrat or the little green overarm router made for the printing industry.

The cyclone dust collector, made from the plan first published in Wood Magazine in 1997, takes up surprisingly little floor space. Running the ducts hung from the ceiling is the only viable solution but there are more bends in the pipe than I would wish for.

I've given up on having a lathe in here even though I would like one. I have my eye out for a used mini lathe. The full-sized Legacy mill, a rarely used tool, is hung from the ceiling by an electric hoist. There's a hand towel wrapped around the leg I most often run into with my head (ouch!) to pad the blow. I may cut off the legs and put a hinge on them sometime.

On the back wall you see a Plano glue clamp, which I really like. It is really a neat tool that saves both time and space in glue-ups.

In the foreground I have a 20" Delta band saw, a 12" Belsaw planer, and an 10" Inca jointer/planer which can be used as a jointer only since the planer drive belt is currently broken. In any case, the Belsaw is an excellent planer.

You can't really see my bench in this picture. It is heaped with junk as usual and my hand tools aren't well-displayed at all.

The right wall you can't see has a partially-built panel saw I am working on. The saw will be 12' long with about a 66" up and down cut capacity. It is modeled on the idea presented by Bob Fasano which you can read about here: http://www.talkfestool.com/vb/festool-tips-techniques/3662-ts55-vertical-panel-saw.html

My panel saw has a Dewalt saw, not a Festool, as the engine. I may change my mind and upgrade to a plunge saw like the Festool after I get it done, but for now the Dewalt is what I have for it. The top beam of the panel saw is a 14' long 90mmx90mm extruded 80-20 style rail. More pictures to come of the panel saw at some point.

As much as I poo-poo reliance on the table saw to make furniture, my slider earns its keep despite my grudge. It hogs up a lot of space and I am alway maneuvering around it, grumbling… but when I need a precision rip or crosscut it is there.

Tenoning is done on a Wirth Machine (early version of the Matchmaker) while mortising can be done by several different methods.

All the machinery was acquired used. I've built up this gear over the years, very seldom losing money on machinery upgrades.


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## bhog (Jan 13, 2011)

Loren said:


> *My shop*
> 
> My current shop is a 2 car garage. I've made some sacrifices to keep the space workable and have the machinery in there I want.
> 
> ...


Nice shop,looks like an efficient layout.Where do you assemble?


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## NBeener (Sep 16, 2009)

Loren said:


> *My shop*
> 
> My current shop is a 2 car garage. I've made some sacrifices to keep the space workable and have the machinery in there I want.
> 
> ...


You can keep listing off tools 'til the cows come home, but … I'm just transfixed by that Felder saw, and oblivious to the rest ;-)


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## doncutlip (Aug 30, 2008)

Loren said:


> *My shop*
> 
> My current shop is a 2 car garage. I've made some sacrifices to keep the space workable and have the machinery in there I want.
> 
> ...


That is one fine looking shop


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

Loren said:


> *My shop*
> 
> My current shop is a 2 car garage. I've made some sacrifices to keep the space workable and have the machinery in there I want.
> 
> ...


I have no permanent assembly table. Being So. California I have
a big 3×8' rolling table outside (also tilts) that gets used for
larger assemblies… or I set up a leveled hollow core door 
on sawhorses.

In keeping with my theory that Felder's main customers are
doctors with hobby shops, I bought the saw used from an 
engineering professor who teaches at a local college…. 
close enough to my theory.


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## SASmith (Mar 22, 2010)

Loren said:


> *My shop*
> 
> My current shop is a 2 car garage. I've made some sacrifices to keep the space workable and have the machinery in there I want.
> 
> ...


Great looking shop.


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## deleteme (Apr 7, 2011)

Loren said:


> *My shop*
> 
> My current shop is a 2 car garage. I've made some sacrifices to keep the space workable and have the machinery in there I want.
> 
> ...


I like the Pallet Jack idea. I was offered one that needed some rehab but I was reluctant to accept thinking, " 
What would I need a Pallet Jack for?". Jokes on me now. I have a 300 lb beast to move around when I need to get to my hot water heater…lol. Great Shop. I've been told doctors change hobbies as fast as they change…well you get the point. Cheers.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Loren said:


> *My shop*
> 
> My current shop is a 2 car garage. I've made some sacrifices to keep the space workable and have the machinery in there I want.
> 
> ...


You have a lot of good equipment ,just like my shop your tools are in pretty close quarters.


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## Beginningwoodworker (May 5, 2008)

Loren said:


> *My shop*
> 
> My current shop is a 2 car garage. I've made some sacrifices to keep the space workable and have the machinery in there I want.
> 
> ...


Nice shop, you have some good equipment!


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

Loren said:


> *My shop*
> 
> My current shop is a 2 car garage. I've made some sacrifices to keep the space workable and have the machinery in there I want.
> 
> ...


The pallet jack is a "mini" with the 36" forks 20.5" wide. If you get
a full sized (common) jack the forks are too far apart for moving saws
like mine that have holes in the base for the purpose.


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

*Workbench design - here's my truss-rod bench with skirts and tool tray*

Here's my bench, built many years ago. I've made some drawings to illustrate how the design works. It's pretty straightforward but feel free to ask questions.

The base stretchers are held in tension by truss rods in channels running through the legs where adjustable nuts allow dis-assembly and hold the base in a very rigid alignment. The legs are mortised into the bottom trestles.

I had a Emmert vise on here at one point as a tail vise. The end cap is thus mutilated.


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## canadianchips (Mar 12, 2010)

Loren said:


> *Workbench design - here's my truss-rod bench with skirts and tool tray*
> 
> Here's my bench, built many years ago. I've made some drawings to illustrate how the design works. It's pretty straightforward but feel free to ask questions.
> 
> ...


This one is useable. Some of the others I see are great to look at. But I would be afraid to use them.
I use mine to cut, sand,stain, paint whatever. I want functional, NOT PRETTY.


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## rrdesigns (Sep 4, 2009)

Loren said:


> *Workbench design - here's my truss-rod bench with skirts and tool tray*
> 
> Here's my bench, built many years ago. I've made some drawings to illustrate how the design works. It's pretty straightforward but feel free to ask questions.
> 
> ...


Agreed. I, too, like a bench that shows the blood, sweat and tears of many productive hours. Here's to many more. Happy shavings.


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

Loren said:


> *Workbench design - here's my truss-rod bench with skirts and tool tray*
> 
> Here's my bench, built many years ago. I've made some drawings to illustrate how the design works. It's pretty straightforward but feel free to ask questions.
> 
> ...


I dont think its ugly and it looks solid what kind of wood did you make it from I am curious if my guesses are close I was thinking of modifying my bench but i think i am just second guessing myself


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

Loren said:


> *Workbench design - here's my truss-rod bench with skirts and tool tray*
> 
> Here's my bench, built many years ago. I've made some drawings to illustrate how the design works. It's pretty straightforward but feel free to ask questions.
> 
> ...


The top is cherry shorts I found somewhere laminated to a 
reclaimed 9" wide maple restaurant cutting board. The front
skirt is a double layer of the 4/4 cherry and the back is the one
long piece I had from the cherry find. The end caps are 8/4
walnut. The base is construction-grade spruce.


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## JoeLyddon (Apr 22, 2007)

Loren said:


> *Workbench design - here's my truss-rod bench with skirts and tool tray*
> 
> Here's my bench, built many years ago. I've made some drawings to illustrate how the design works. It's pretty straightforward but feel free to ask questions.
> 
> ...


Looks very functional…

Cool!


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

Loren said:


> *Workbench design - here's my truss-rod bench with skirts and tool tray*
> 
> Here's my bench, built many years ago. I've made some drawings to illustrate how the design works. It's pretty straightforward but feel free to ask questions.
> 
> ...


how did you join the endgrain jut butt joints and glue ? what king of wood did you use for the legs


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

Loren said:


> *Workbench design - here's my truss-rod bench with skirts and tool tray*
> 
> Here's my bench, built many years ago. I've made some drawings to illustrate how the design works. It's pretty straightforward but feel free to ask questions.
> 
> ...


Parts of the top are "brick laid" and the ends are butted. 
I probably used yellow glue since that's what I used generally
at the time. The butt joints in the top have not been
a problem at all.

The legs are construction-grade spruce or fir 4×4 stock
planed to 3"x3" or so.


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

Loren said:


> *Workbench design - here's my truss-rod bench with skirts and tool tray*
> 
> Here's my bench, built many years ago. I've made some drawings to illustrate how the design works. It's pretty straightforward but feel free to ask questions.
> 
> ...


it looks good Loren


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## Gilley23 (May 9, 2017)

Loren said:


> *Workbench design - here's my truss-rod bench with skirts and tool tray*
> 
> Here's my bench, built many years ago. I've made some drawings to illustrate how the design works. It's pretty straightforward but feel free to ask questions.
> 
> ...


I'm really liking the idea of the tool well. Somewhere to temporarily put something so it's off of the bench top.


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

*Bench organization*

This took many years to collect and then a lot of time
to organize it all so I can find most of the stuff I 
use pretty quick. The volume and variety of sundries
I've found uses for surprises me. Collecting them 
saves a lot of trips to a hardware store.

Rolls of tape are stored overhead on the handles
of a couple of big handscrews clamped to an overhead
rack loaded up with mouldings and lumber.










The picture below shows a little shelf I built some
years ago for drills and chargers. It has a hole in
the back rear corner for a laminate trimmer to 
sit on, but that space has been usurped by 
drilled blocks for files and rasps. I like to keep a
center punch, ice pick and countersink right at
hand too.

I keep my little Japanese mortise gauge on a
carriage bolt inelegantly mounted through the
side of a little dovetailed cabinet I put planes
and sharpening supplies in.

Down in the tool well you can see a fitted
tray I made recently to hold 5 layout and
measuring tools I use frequently.


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## Handtooler (Jul 24, 2012)

Loren said:


> *Bench organization*
> 
> This took many years to collect and then a lot of time
> to organize it all so I can find most of the stuff I
> ...


Superb supply availability and organization of tools. I really like the use of the covered bins, totes, and boxes to keep the sawdust out. And, I'll just bet everything is cleaned, oiled and sharpened and back where it belongs, with one last sweep down when you finish foe the day??? I have the organization, but not the array of supplies, and don't put things away as often as I should.


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

Loren said:


> *Bench organization*
> 
> This took many years to collect and then a lot of time
> to organize it all so I can find most of the stuff I
> ...


Not hardly. When I'm in the middle of something the
shop gets real messy, but I'm getting better. What 
you can't see here is the mess of wood scrap on the
other side of the shop and the mess outside. A 
well-thought out and organized work space is the 
best tool I've found. The more refined I get the 
system the more efficiently I can get woodworking done.


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