We may receive a commission when you use our affiliate links. However, this does not impact our recommendations.
Last Friday afternoon we moved tons of stuff (literally) to our new shop and managed to get most of the big stuff set in place by the end of the day. The photo here will show you how things are shaping up and you can click on the photo to enlarge it for a better look.
While we still have Megan’s and Bob’s benches to move, as well as some storage cabinets, I think the new shop feels more roomy than our prior shop space. The new place’s rectangular footprint just lends itself to a more efficient floor plan. The old shop was L-shaped and had an odd angled wall. The new place feels a lot bigger than the additional 100 square feet we picked up. It’s about 1,500 square feet total and twice as long as it is wide.
Thankfully, we had the help of a moving crew so getting the 12″ jointer, 20″ planer and Powermatic 66 table saw up on dollies wasn’t a back breaker. The movers also supplied lots of stacking boxes and other rolling carts that we filled last week before the actual move day. All and all, it hasn’t seemed like too much trouble . . . yet.
There’s more to be done to decommission the old shop. And at the new place most of the boxes still need to be unpacked and the contents put away. Our lumber rack needs to be securely mounted to the wall, and I’m sure there will be lots of new stuff we’ll want to build to make our new home even more livable.
The old shop looks a bit forlorn in the aftermath of the move. And as you can see there’s still more to disassemble and move. At this stage the old place almost seems smaller now that it’s mostly empty compared to when it was fully occupied. Maybe that’s because there are still so many fond memories of projects built and good times spent there with the magazine crew sharing our passion for woodworking.
If you want to learn more about setting up a woodworking shop or improve the shop you already have check out the book “The Complete Woodshop Guide– How to Plan, Build, Equip and Improve Your Workspace,” from the editors of Popular Woodworking Magazine.
Here are some supplies and tools we find essential in our everyday work around the shop. We may receive a commission from sales referred by our links; however, we have carefully selected these products for their usefulness and quality.
Wow, what a large dance floor. Looks like a few assembly, infeed and outfeed tables are in order. Makes my little 10’x15′ basement closet look even more crowded. I am jealous!
Some pole have all the luck my shop is is under the carport that’s 14’x10′ I have a shed big enough to store my tools but not work in. And in he summer I pull the tools that I need out at day break and but them back before 2pm because The rain starts at 2pm.
Some pole have all the luck my shop is is under the carport that’s 14’x10′ I have a shed big enough to store my tools but not work in. And in he summer I pull the tools that I need and but them back before 2pm because The rain starts at 2pm.
Hey, when you are done with this you should put up one of those windows that allows the viewer to swing through the shop on a 360 degree view / tour. Love to see it when it is all done. (I need some good ideas.)
Also, it would also be neat if you could blog on the rational for the placement of each tool and workstation. Thanks!
1500 sq ft . . . WOW. I’d sell body parts for 800 sq ft. My shop is just 400 sq ft and it’s OK. Good luck with your new shop. Hope everyone has a banner year in 2012.
A quick search shows that horse people have been wondering about this too. Their consensus seems to be using a box cutter with a 2×4 underneath, and changing blades frequently. Although there is somebody who uses a CNC water-jet profiling machine… have one of those in your new shop?
Steve:
With all this great space you could now add a Power Pro Shopsmith for all your Shopsmith readers.
I thought you all were going to mostly hand tools, or was that Chris Schwarz direction ? Was the decision to use more power tools a direction made by the new managers since Chris left or was this the reason he stepped down ? Either way congrats on your new shop! I have as many tools in about a third the space you have, so mats don’t work to well for me since I’m often rolling tools and benches around for room to work. All tools are on wheels except the sliding panel saw I bought to replace the exact same set up you have with your Powermatic 66/ Jessem slide. The 66 has now been moved to the garage( with the wife’s permission) and relegated to mostly dado work. Happy woodworking!
I hate you guys! Here I am working out of a 12’x20′ environmentally disadvantaged shed, and y’all are bragging about a shop nearly as big as my house. For shame. 😉
But I bet I’ve got more hardwood trees than y’all. 🙂
At my work, we at times remove old rubber gym floors. We use recipes saw with very course blade for the heavy and crude demolition cuts. When cutting down big pieces to small, we use electric carving knives.
Very, very nice. I would almost kill for a third of that amount of room. Looking forward to seeing some great projects come from that space. Good luck and Merry Christmas (what a present to yourselves!!). ;^)
Cheers
John
Would be better at 1.618 times as long as it is wide . . .
Looks like a nice space! What are your thoughts on the shop floor? Are you going to leave it plain concrete or floor it in something?