So.Raleigh shop crawl and what you won't find

[JimmyC]

Hey All,

I 'll be a participant in the South Raleigh shop Crawl and I want to tell you what you won't find at my shop :

- A highly organized facility - Even though I've been in NC for almost three years I'm no where near where I want to be, I have just recently finished opening some of the boxes of shop stuff that traveled with me. Between life, wife and two daughters I'm still trying to find the time.

- New fancy tools - I wish I could tell you that you would , but you won't see any. I have a limited budget and am constantly upgrading when I find a good used, yes I said used, deal. I have some good big tools- Jet tablesaw, Powermatic planer, DeWalt Sliding Compund Miter Saw; some middle of the road tools- Grizzly DC, belt/disc sander, bandsaw; and a bunch of lower end tools HF lathe, Ryobi OSS, central forge grinders, and a cheap old Delta scrollsaw( hasn't been used in at least 5 years). Most of my tools are anywhere from 10- 30 years old.

- All woodworking tools - I've always liked to refer to myself as a 'Jack of all trades', so there will be other tools in there such as a welding machine, metal bandsaw,mechanic's tool boxes, scaffolding, an aluminum gantry, and a few other things. Right now the shop is shared with a lawn tractor, plate compacter, generator, and kids electric motor 4 x 4 toys. If there is one thing I would like to accomplish by then it is finding a home for most of the things above.

- Nice fixtures, and finished projects - All of the storage shelves, benches, and cabinets are made out of 2x's and plywood and unfinished. My main workbench is a 6' x 18" solid core door on a 2 x 4 base, it's been in use for about 20 years now, and I keep saying that I'm going to build a nice one but it hasn't happened yet.

Now I'll tell you what you will find :

- One of the larger shops on this tour - My building is a pole barn style 32' x 40' with 11-1/2 ft. ceilings, it has verticle wood storage for at least 800 bd/ft of lumber because that's what I have. It has A/C in half of the building to knock the summer heat down, but no heat. There's a bathroom with a toilet, urinal and sink and outside of it there's a slop sink and water fountain. It has no insulation in it, but it has a dropped ceiling with 15 sets of fluorescent lights so that the lighting is good, it's powered by a 200 amp/240V dedicated electric service. It has it's own septic system. And best of all it's 200 ft. down a hill from my house and isolated from my neighbors.

- Alot of raw material stored around - I have about a 150' of 6" (thanks to Scott- scsmith) duct to eventually build the DC system that I want, about a 100' of thin walled copper pipe ($3 a stick) to eventually run low pressure air (less than 50 psi) to all of my machines so that I can blow them clean, and a bunch of metal for who knows what.

- Projects that need to come together - parts for an outfeed roller set up for my tablesaw that needs some welding and assembly, two air cleaners (one to get hung and one to be refurbished), a HF lathe to be assembled (if not done by then) and a few other things.

All in all, most people go on these shop crawls to get ideas for their own shop, I'm hoping for people to come to mine and give me a few ideas .

I love my shop and it's slowly becomig a part of me, but it's gonna take a few years before it's 90% done. And nobody's shop is ever more than 90% done because there's always the next thing.

Thanks for reading this Y'all, and I'll see you at the end of September.

Jimmy

[rsitzejr]

Jimmy, your shop sounds like mine with it's mixture of tools. Between building my jeep and wood working, I have both metal and wood wood tools, as well as a variety of mechanic's tools.

[ScottM]

Jimmy, you sound like 99% of us. You have seen my shop. Don't sell yourself short. Everyone has ideas to share.

[Bas]

Jimmy, last time I looked, there was no SOA (Shop Owners Association) that required that your shop be in pristine condition. No apologies necessary, even though your shop will look awful and we'll all think you're a second-rate woordworker, a slob and a lousy human being, not fit to be a member of this site

Seriously, your shop sounds like a VERY interesting place. If I want to see finished cabinetry, I'll go to builder's store or something. I want to see tools. And I want to hear them! And see sawdust fly out some chute somewhere!

I think the organization of one's shop is inversely proportional to its size. In other words, without lots of space, you NEED to organize and tidy up. If you have 1200sq.ft., you can park your table saw wherever you please and be done with it.

[PeteQuad]

Sounds great to me! I suspect there's a lot people that would trade their 90% finished garage shop for your unfinished pole barn shop!

I'm one of them. (Although I doubt I'm really 90% finished.)

[woodrat]

Jimmy,

I've seen your shop and you have nothing to fear...It is a nice
shop. I just wish mine was half as huge big as yours.

I am finally getting mine a little more organized so I don't have to
move stuff from one spot to the next just to be able to work on
a project. (Long sentence!!!) But, there is never a 100% satisfaction
with a shop...they are on going pieces of work...but I love like my shop
and like being there. It's a whole lot better than the alternative, if you
know what I mean.

[JimmyC]

Archie,

You've got a great little shop. You've made a lot out of the size that you have to work with. I just think that we may have to get one of those number tag machines fron the supermarket deli to view it.

The last Raleigh tour was really cool because of the the differences of shop sizes, we only had two 2 car garages that were converted and one still had room for cars (Scotts). Everyone else had anything from a small outdoor carport style (Dick and Rita's) to the fully dedicated and built for woodworking shops (Don, Travis, and Tom's). Throw in a one car garage (Doug), a basement shop (Bas), and a Woodcraft/Klingspor satellite store(Steve) and we are just about finished.

Having worked in all different environments I appreciate what everyone works with.

Thanks,
Jimmy

Originally Posted by woodrat

Jimmy,

I've seen your shop and you have nothing to fear...It is a nice
shop. I just wish mine was half as huge big as yours.

I am finally getting mine a little more organized so I don't have to
move stuff from one spot to the next just to be able to work on
a project. (Long sentence!!!) But, there is never a 100% satisfaction
with a shop...they are on going pieces of work...but I love like my shop
and like being there. It's a whole lot better than the alternative, if you
know what I mean.

[Glennbear]

Thanks for sharing Jimmy, as Scott said, you sound like 99% of us. Now I know who I can beg to borrow a plate compactor from

[JimmyC]

Originally Posted by Glennbear

Thanks for sharing Jimmy, as Scott said, you sound like 99% of us. Now I know who I can beg to borrow a plate compactor from

Your welcome to it any time, I'm still trying to figure out how it came my way, and where I'm going to put it.

Jimmy

[DavidF]

It's what comes out built from the shop that's important, all the shiniest, biggest tools in the world can't make a woodworker if he hasn't got what it takes. Be proud of what you have there, it sounds just fine.

[Bas]

Originally Posted by DavidF

all the shiniest, biggest tools in the world can't make a woodworker if he hasn't got what it takes.

NOW you tell me! Time to look for a different hobby I guess. Maybe I'll take up collecting wheel barrows.

[Bigdog72]

Jimmy,

Be proud, Brotha!!

All my stuff came off of Craigs list and I can butcher wood with the best of them!!

[DavidF]

Originally Posted by Bas

NOW you tell me! Time to look for a different hobby I guess. Maybe I'll take up collecting wheel barrows.

Then you would want to build a display case for the wheel barrows and heaven knows what that would look like