Thread: Workshop or "real" projects

I keep fiddleing with the layout, I dont think it will ever be right.
Next job is to extend my workshop into the shed part where all the crap is stored.
Just bought a new shed to house all the crap.
I do make a lot of stuff also, but I have been doing the shed shuffle for about 3 years.

Al

If you have time to actually work on jigs and things you are going really well I reckon.

If you have time to actually make stuff, you have either been taking too much sick leave, never see sunlight, or are retired!

I spent the year before last commuting 120k's to work, weekends preparing a house for sale....(that's sort of working on projects, or don't things that haven't actually been finished in the 12 years you've lived in a house count?) but the workshop/garage was the classic "dog's breakfast".

Last year was a MAJOR makeover at the Home of the Biting Midge, 15 months so far using "proper" labour (not me!) and at last I have the bones of a "proper" workshop sorted....planned to within an inch of its life, and designed to revert to a home theatre if ever we vacate. So far I have storage cupboards in, most bits of machinery serviced after 18 months of inactivity; only workbench, downdraft table, dust collection, timber storage, tool racks, router bench, lathe bench, and a few other bits to go before I can start making jigs!

For now, 100% of time is spent on the workshop, (including tidying up/maintaining tools as I need them/find them in a box somewhere) but that's ok, it's not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon, and I expect that is the way it will be pretty much for the rest of this year....although by then there will be one or two projects underway again!

I figure any time spent getting it right is a small investment given the amount of time I hope to spend in there in the future.

Cheers,

P

I'm spending most of my time on anything other than the workshop at the moment, apart from when I need to make a jig or production aid for whatever I'm building.

It's a bit depressing, cause I've got a mental list of workshop stuff to do that's seemingly twice as long as the building list (which is pretty prodigious in itself).

First on the workshop list is a big sturdy mobile workbench. I'm sick of working on either the floor, the sawhorses or the bit of framed mdf with a triton stand at either end...


Cheers,


Justin.

Stick at it Simon. 6 months is just the beginning. We have lived here for 20 years and I can and do find improvements on a regular basis. The perfect workshop is utopia and we all know that doesn't exist.
Regards
Bob

If all we wanted was the results of the woodworking, we wouldn't bother doing it. I'm pretty sure it'd be a whole lot cheaper and easier to go buy that new coffee table The journey is the whole point, and a big part of that journey is the tools, the workshop and all that you learn in the process.

Originally posted by DarrylF
The journey is the whole point, and a big part of that journey is the tools, the workshop and all that you learn in the process.

Couldn't agree more, right on the money.

Gordon.

Hi Simon, I think that that is normal. After all it is your shop and you need to get it just like you want it. While you are building, prepairing, to do serious ww'ing, don't forget about all the safty fetures. . Gerald.

Simon

I think we all go through stages of building the workshop to a standard that enables us to get on with some "real" - whateverthat is - woodworking, then the "real woodworking takes over for a while, then back to the workshop drawing board as our interest or methods change, etc, etc. And around and around we go.

Probably because we may all be at different points on the circle here, it seems that some only build furniture (or boxes, or restore tools, or whatever), while others only seem to build their workshop.

I'd estimate that 90 percent of my workshop time lies in building furniture, and 10 percent in restoring old tools. Some days it feels like 90 percent of my time is spent in cleaning the bloody place! I just hate working in a mess (very dangerous).

I have not altered my workshop much in 10 years, and it's about time I built a better workbench! But is does good enough service for now. On the other hand I have run out of storage space for my handplanes, and this is making me give serious thought to revamping the workshop. Again, if it weren't for this I would be comfortable enough just to keep going. At this stage it is more important to me to get SWMBO-specified items of furniture built for the home. So I just fantasize how the workshop will look one day, and curb my envy of those who are at that stage.

The aim is to enjoy whatever you are doing. All points on the circle can be fun.

Regards from Perth

Derek

The job always expands to fill the time available.

As soon as you start seriously making a project you will be surprised how little time you spend on the workshop stuff.

But when your project is finished all the workshop stuff seems to take over again.

Thanks for all of your replies.

Personally I think 75% in the workshop is fine for now, assuming it will gradually come down - but I just needed the ammo for SWMBO who has all of these things that need doing...

Cheers