Dream shop

bigbcustom

bigbcustom

Joined
Dec 20, 2005
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I see pictures of shops that set me to drooling.....I was wondering what would constitute a dream shop to some of you guys. The pictures I have seen of Bruce Bump's shop particularly stand out in my mind's eye.

I was thinking (apart from misc hand tools)

vertical mill
lathe
quality forge and anvil
several belt grinders
hydraulic press
multiple vises
band saw
kydex and leather tools



That's just off the top of my head. I would also be curious as to brands/types of any of the above that you prefer.
 
IMO you've left a good workbench out of that list, and its an underrated part of a good shop.

You also don't have a table saw on the list. Another foundation item.
 
I kinda go about this idea a bit sideways...

My first priority is plenty of space in which to work. All of the tools in the world won't do you any good if the shop is so cramped that you can't use them effectively!

Next, I really like having a good, strong workbench, at a height that I can work with comfortably. It needs to be rock solid, and long enough that I can have a few "stations" set up along its length.

Maybe the above all goes without saying, but I figured it would be worth mentioning, because I hear almost nothing about these basics in various shop type discussions. Anyhow, on to the meat and bones!

Naturally a good blown forge and a nice anvil are a must, along with an appropriate selection of hammers, tongs, hardies, and pritchels.

In a "dream shop" type of setup, I would like either a power hammer or a press. I like presses, but would be interested to try a good hammer to see if I like that more. One or the other would do, no need for both.

One good belt grinder would be fine for me. I see little if any benefit to a second. A disc grinder would be a great addition though.

A pair of HT ovens, one for knife sized blades (up to 12" blade + tang, goive or take) and a large one for swords. This is basically only for hardening water hardening type steels though, as I wouldn't want to use a HT salt set up for austenizing then oil for quench, which brings me to, of course, the salts! a high and low temp setup would be ideal.

I have a very keen interest in cryo. Not that I'm completely sold on it, but in a "dream shop" I would want the tools and equipment to experiment with it, and see what, if any, benefit I can get out of it.

A good heliarc welding setup wouldn't hurt. Neither, of course, would a decent sized table mill, and a good lathe.

Of course, hand tools, like files and such, along with a good bench vise or two ae practical necessities.

A band saw could be useful, I suppose.
 
I think mine would be a combination of Bruce Bump's, Nick Wheeler's, Nathan the Machinist's, Norm Abram's, Jay Leno's.

My dream shop would be huge and clean, with air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter. It would have big cnc and standard mills and lathes, a 5hp cabinetry table saw, jointer, router, 30" thickness planer, 3 phase power, large bandsaw to cut up ironwood logs, wire edm, drill presses, 2 5hp stainless kmgs with all the accessories, 300lb anvil and forge, welding forge, power hammer, press, surface grinder, assorted hand-held tools such as good files, sanders and drills, large work, layout, design and glue up tables, hammers and tongs, a few high end welders and accessories, oxy-acetylene, disc grinder, heat treat equipment and automotive shop, lots of electrical plugs and everything else you would find in a good shop like vises.
edit to add: wssi quality wood stabilization equipment, leather and kydex working tools, good ventilation,
 
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Cool, the NTM shop made somebody's list. Keith, I owe you a beer.

I'll add that the most over rated piece would be a plasma cutter. Rarely does one see such a rare combination of expensive, dangerous, messy and unnecessary all in one tool.

I think an important tool that should be used more is pencil and paper. Look at the knife in Ramond Richard's recent "how's it hanging" thread:

http://www.hawknknives.com/forums/IMG_0619.JPG

He didn't sit down and just bang that out. I don't know what his design process is, but a good way to developed a design with nice flow and proportions and nice lines like that is to draw draw draw.

Tools I don't have that wish I had include: salt pots, my own Rockwell hardness tester (I use another shop's), and possibly forging tools (Mike, you reading this?). Except for a grinder, I have no knife making specific tools, and there are a few I need to accumulate.

Something else that makes a good shop is lots of light. Looking back at the picts in that WIP thread I did made me realize how dark and dank that shop is. I need better light in there.
 
these guys pretty much got it covered- but agree power hammer and press,
knee mill- lots of space, plug in's every 3 foot and great lighting and since your dreaming someone to clean up daily and put tools away after use.
 
i could use a real belt grinder, a drill press, metal and wood bandsaws, a disc grinder, and a solid bench vise.

right now i have the most basic versions of all of those tools, and i can only dream of what it would be like to use some of the big boys.

on the other hand, i just got a nice knifemaker's vise today in the mail from a friend. handles just got a whole lot easier.
 
I would love to have 2 or 3 more drill press. one with each drill bit and one with my tapping head set up all the time.

but if Im dreeming

g0618.jpg
 
Lots of light. I like a clean and bright work space. I have the false ceiling and the 4' fluorescents everywhere. I also have white walls and white pegboard everywhere. I also separate my CNC stuff, lasers, and computers into a clean(er) room, and the manual mill lathe, bandsaw, press and other normal tools into another room, and I do finishing in a third room with a beadblaster, Foredom tools and polishers with a vacuum system. It keeps the CNC room a lot cleaner that way.
 
Lots of nice ideas and thoughts here...thanks guys. I was including the bench in the "misc hand tools" category. I think I need to add something to my dream set up. I was at a yard sale the other day that had part of an estate sale included. There was this interesting piece of equipment in the corner of the garage that looked like a high tech steel/glass coffin with a price tag on it of 15000. To make a long story short, I talked to the son of the deceased, and he showed me some of the things his father had made with it......it was a small cnc laser cutter/engraver.

I really miss living within driving distance of my dad's shop (moved out 22 years ago and out of state 11 years ago) 36' x 48' frame building with 16' ceilings fully insulated large double barrel wood stove in corner, 300amp service, large coal forge, nice assortment of metal and woodworking hand and machine tools, lots of light, boom crane, and......great advice and friendship.
 
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