Over Thanksgiving, I had a chance to visit a couple of shops. They belong to a father and son:
That's Papa Louis and his son Ricky. My parents divorced in my teens and Louis has been my mother's companion for over 25 years. For reasons financial and personal, they never married, but the kids (and I) see him as being another grandparent; hence the "Papa Louis" title. When we go to see family, there is no place the kids would rather go than Papa Louis' house.
I will start with Ricky's shop since I have fewer pictures (for reasons that will become quite obvious). It's a barn style free standing garage. The picture of Louis and Ricky was taken there. Here are a few more:
He was working on some bandsaw boxes for gifts:
Now we go back over to Papa's place. Here he is outside his house trying out my new lathe:
It's not exactly a farm, but he has tractors and a garden that is probably a half acre well behind the house down a two track "road" with tarp garage covers over piles of wood scattered about. I have no idea how much wood he has. He had one newly constructed tarp garage over 1700 BF of oak and pine he had cut recently. His shop is in the basement of his house.
The first thing you see is his drillpress:
Reminds me of Crocodile Dundee - "That's not a knife; this is a knife." Those are tablesaw blades on the wall, not circy saw.
Here are a couple of shots of the main shop area:
and some noteworthy items a little closer...
Here, he is teaching my nephew how to plane a board:
Here is his router table. The box was a surprise I picked up for him at Rockler's Black Friday sale. The router accessory kit was 75% off!
I love this old wooden bandsaw:
He keeps a "small" amount of wood inside:
He also likes to keep a lot of stuff on hand, stored on hooks, shelves, drawers, cabinets and boxes. It's a pretty amazing place to walk around in - the whole house, not just the shop. He is a bit of a packrat; there is scientific equipment (he and my mother are retired scientists), computers, furniture, books, toys and all manner of dry goods stacked up all over the house. Some people say he is a hoarder, but I think my 8 year old daughter put it best - "he is a collector of life". He grew up poor and doesn't like to throw out anything of value. He is quite generous - he built Ricky's shop as a gift (no, he isn't looking to adopt any middle aged sons
) and he tried to give me a large bowl turning lathe while I was there. I never saw that lathe, but I believe it is there. Somewhere. Anyway, I am sticking to shop related storage. It is like walking through a hardware store...
This cellar room is about 20' deep with deep shelves on both sides:
This is out in the garage:
I "let him" give me an old motor and a little metal mini router table. You probably noticed the open spots...
Anyway, a couple of the nicest guys you will ever meet with some very nice toys.
.gif "Drogar Cry(DBG)")
.gif "Drogar Laugh(DBG)")
He does manage to put a lot of stuff in a small space. Like the DC system too.
That's my next major project.
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