Anyone use a storage shed for knifemaking?

M

MT Borg

Joined
Jun 14, 2007
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224
Am thinking that it would be easier to buy and set up a storage shed for knife making and was wondering if anyone else has done this and can offer some tips?

I think it would be easy to insulate, heat and set up with benches... but think the floor might need some fireproofing (not just bare wood). Might have the roof incorporate some fiberglass type panels for natural light.

They seem to be 8x10, 10x10, 8x14 and 10x14... all should be able to heat easily with a small wood stove. Anyway, any ideas or suggestions appreciated.
 
It will work fine. Build it on a concrete slab, if you can. If not, you can use ceramic tile or stone.
Figure out what size shop you need, then double that size. It will still be too small in a few years.
For a small shop, one of the oil-filled space heaters will work well.
 
+1 on the oil filled heater, that what I use in my small garage and it works like a champ. Plus they are easily portable so I just wheel it over next to where I am working. Wood stoves aren't portable, propane heaters can produce Carbon Monoxide, electric element heaters can spark and start fires from wood dust collecting in them.


-Xander
 
This is mine. 10x12 delivered and installed from Lowe's.

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I cut and installed 2 storm windows for ventilation. Doubled the thickness of the floor with an extra layer of 3/4 OSB. Studded the walls on 24" centers and covered with 7/16" OSB. (4) 2 bulb 4' shoplights make it like daylight in there! I think I'm going to take one out or put it in a seperate area, it's way too bright hahaha.
 
BTW, doesn't look like that at the moment :( Had to fill it full of stuff from my mom's after she died. Going to get it cleaned out and benches built here soon so I can get to work. I would have liked bigger, but it was all I could afford at the time and will suffice for a while. I can always add on to it down the road.
 
We painted the inside of my new addition bright white-walls and ceiling, and added 4, 3 tube 4 ft. fluorescent fixtures (8 X 24 addition). It's bright! You need all the light you can get for attention to detail.
Painting the OSB also seals the formaldehyde fumes in.
 
Sounds like fun. I guess you're doing research for a summer install?! :D You probably thought of all this stuff, but here are a few thoughts anyway....

  • Plus one on getting the biggest (or bigger) prefab you can afford and have space for!!!
  • If you can build a lean-to off one of the sides you could create more space outside for stuff like a dust collector, forge, compressor, sandblast cabinet, material storage, etc, etc. Not sure about in Montana though. We did that on my Dad's shop shed in NH. We partially enclosed the lean-to with lattice panel to cut down snow drifting.
  • Make sure you have plenty of electricity, lighting and outlets. Include 220V too if you can.
  • If you can plumb in a sink that would be an excellent idea too (probably wouldn't need hot water though).
  • Between heating and grinding and sanding, make sure you can keep your air clean and fresh!
 
I used one for awhile. Wired it up and built a wall to seperate the grind area from the finish/leather area. Did my forging outside when the weather was nice.
 
In Wisconsin and other cold areas I would see if I could put some sort of insulation on the floor to keep it from sucking the heat out of my feet. (Maybe it would be easier and cheaper to strap insulation onto one's feet instead. ;-)

I like the idea of a lean-to on the side.

Security - GOOD locks, improve the doors (?), motion detector lights.

LonePine
AKA Paul Meske, Wisconsin
 
We cut and fitted pieces of styrofoam insulation between the floor joists on mine.
If I build on a slab, the building is taxed as part of my home.
 
My first workshop was the porch, then a tent, now I have a bench in the carport! Here in Colorado at 7500 feet it is kinda cold this time of year but I just got in a few hours of knifemaking so who cares! My drink froze though, lol.
 
I got a tent i do all my work in right now, its better then being outside in the crud. I hope to upgrade to a small pole building with a rock floor. Im in it everyday, i run the forge in it i grind in it, Its my 200 dollar building until i can afford a 2000 dollar building.
 
There used to be a wonderful picture on this website http://wendytalker.livejournal.com of a knifemaker in Viet Nam hunkered down next to a bon fire by a mud puddle (his slake tub) using a sledge hammer head for an anvil to forge blades, proving that where there is a will there is a way just about anywhere. A storage shed ought to work fine-- given heat and ventilation. But it has to be inviting. My shop is an unheated former garage and on cold winter days at 7,000 feet in the foothills of the Rockies there are lots of places I'd rather be. Ditto blazing summer days. Make it easy on yourself.
 
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I am using half of my 2 car garage right now.

I am going to build a 12x16 shop this spring. That is all the space I have in my backyard, or it would be larger.

My garage faces west, so during the summer, temps would reach 110 easy in the garage. So needless to say I will have AC in the new building.

I will also have a covered forging area.

RP
 
I'm taking my time setting up shop.
I've moved places a few times but now we've bought a house we want to grow old in.
So I hope that I can enjoy my workshop over here for an other 50 years.
To me it isn't just a wokbench with some tools, but also a place I enjoy being, my personal little corner of the world.
So I rather have things the way I want them te be, instead of the cheap or fast way.
That ment white walls, a white ceiling a nice wooden floor with a black/white checkered pattern and everything optimised and well thouht out.
If that meant that it took me a week to figure out how high I wanted the workbenches to be, it meant that I took that week and felt good about it.
(I've made 3 workbenches at different hights build around me like a cockpit)

On that Vietnamese blacksmith, I have a lot of respect for people likt that, crafting tools out of hardly anything.
 
This is my friend Stefano's shop. It's about the size of a closet but the work he puts out is fantastic. He lives in Venice, where space is limited... lol.

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Thats about the size of the room I am using right now. When organized its great, everything is within arms reach. When its messy like mine is right now its a bear to get anything done. I wanted to clean and organize on Christmas day, but I just got too tied up to get to it. Maybe when I get the knife I am working on right now finished I will go clean and organize.

PS I do the final finish work here at the computer desk
 
Hahaha, I was gonna say, you guys are spoiled! I like seeing SOMEONE is churning out quality work in a small area. I'm working on a front porch work bench, in an apartment complex, for the time being. Just started messing around with an angle grinder, files, and a floor sander at first. Moved up to a powerful little 1x42 grinder now, though. Old pics but you get the idea, haha.


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Gotta start somewhere? hahaha
 
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