VERY low budget shop annex :)

tryppyr

tryppyr

Joined
Feb 5, 2010
Messages
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If you recall, almost all of my work takes place in my half of the garage. When I first started working on knives my sanding of wood and ivory made a HUGE mess in the garage, and my wife expressed her displeasure.

Since then I have been taking my HF 4 x 36 and the HF 1 x 30 outside whenever weather permitted. That became a huge problem for me because I live in the Seattle area, where rain is frequent and persistent.

So I started pondering how I could arrange an outdoor space that was sheltered. My problem is that I have VERY little flat land, as my house is built into a very wooded hillside that essentially defines my property. I went around with a tape measure and the largest space I could find for an outside shelter near a power outlet was 4 x 6. My wife suggested I might do something on the deck, but then immediately started looking for reasons to NOT do so because she didn't want our deck messed up with my project space.

I started looking into sheds, and soon discovered 4 x 6 isn't really a space that's viable for sheds. Moreover, having a wooden one made to spec would cost WAY more than I wanted to spend. I looked into the tent-style sheds and the only one I found that seemed reasonable was a Shelter Logic 6 x 6 at $139... still too large for my space, though.

Anyway, it hit me that I had something laying around that might suffice. It was one of those 10 x 10 quick setup Gazebo type things that I'd bought for $20 some years back. I figured I could cut the poles to fit the space, and if I screwed it up I was out no money.

So I set about doing that, and decided a three-point awning over my sanding station was all I really needed. I trimmed the poles to size, and pulled the awning material into place. It was ugly, but seemed functional.

So I tried it out yesterday, and it worked fine... except that I was getting eaten alive by bugs, and it was kind of dark in there, so I found myself stepping outside frequently to see my progress.

I went to HF again, bought a $19 8 x 10 mesh screen tarp and hung it around the edges. I then bought an $8 clamp light and put it in the "sanding shed". So for a net investment of $47, I now have an outdoor space for sanding I can use rain or shine, day or night, and it doesn't exceed the space I have. It ain't pretty, but it's in a part of the yard nobody ever sees.

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I bet your wife will love it when that section of your house gets black from dust and hot debre hitting that vinal siding.
 
Wow, I'd divorce my wife before I'd do that, and I love her very much.

Seriously, you need to stand back and look at what she has done to you. If my wife complained about what was happening in my garage, I'd move my shop into her kitchen.:D
 
That's not vinyl siding... this is the Pacific Northwest... everything's made of cedar here. ;)
 
I know its a little bit of work but have you thought about building your own shed. I made one this summer and it turned out pretty nice. It was larger 10x12 but is going to be great for storage. Cost less then buying one and much better quality. When you do your foundation you can make up for the angle by moving a little land and using cinder blocks at the corners or however you want to do it. Depends on what you want to undertake as far as projects go.

Ofcourse running a power cord could be an issue depending on how much you have running at once. A light and a grinder should be fine I imagine.
 
If there is one universally recognized law of marriage it is that the garage is man land. It has to be guarded fiercely, I would make it even worse out there just to shock and awe her into staying away.

When I first got married and we bought a house (4 bedroom at the time) I told my wife she could do what she liked and I'd just take the garage. At the time she was all "no, I'm not like that, you can have your own space inside". a few years and a couple kids later I was in the garage. On rare occasions when she has been able to park a car inside she's been happy, overall she just ignores my mess. :D

Now, I'll tell you a great annex. My uncle has a 45' reefer trailer he is always talking about selling, just uses it for storage right now. I'm always telling him to just run power to it and make it the wood working shop to keep that separate from the equipment for the hotrods. If you have space that's the way to go. You can also sometimes buy the box or utility box off of a truck online.

Red
 
I can tell you now, I have absolutely no intention on taking marriage advice from you guys... EVER. ;)

Yes, I did consider building my own shed, but as I said the land is not flat enough for one, and it would cost thousands to do that, especially when you factor in what it would take to level and stabilize a piece of land... and all for what? All I needed was a place where I could sand wood and ivory without covering all our luggage, all my radios, and all our Christmas decorations, and both our cars with a thick layer of dust. I have accomplished that.
 
Looks good and it looks like you have another 10 square feet that you can annex from the bush if you need. If you come across a metal rolling cart that is the right size you might be able to mount a shop vac below and a buffer to the side. Maybe mount an extinguisher just in case.
 
I spent about 90 minutes in the sanding station today processing some ivory scrap. Basically that means I turned some very irregular shapes into something that might actually be useful on smaller format knives. I'm pleased to report the working environment was FAR more comfortable than sitting on my driveway . I would never have made it to 90 minutes on the driveway.

During that 90 minutes I saw only one bug and it didn't bother me. When I was done I gathered up 0.7 ounces of the ivory dust to mix in with the epoxy to fill voids and such.

On the whole I am very happy with the station.

As an aside, I don't know why I would ever need a fire extinguisher. I will never grind metal there.
 
Comments removed.
I thought it was funny and simply good-natured ribbing between friends. Added the :p;) to make sure. I am sorry it was not taken like that.
 
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Me too. I'm just getting a little annoyed with the "Quienes mas macho" type comments in this thread. Everyone knows Lloyd Bridges es mas macho.
 
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Why not just buy or build a nice dust collection system and stay in your garage? I have a cheap 5gal shop vac and water trap and I only get a little dust settling on my work bench. Even then, most of that dust is there because I work with a fan that blows on my back and it keeps some of the finer particles from being sucked up by the vacuum.
 
I prefer to do it this way. Dust is one problem... the stink raised by sanding ivory, bone and horn is another. My sanding station really needs to be outdoors.
 
I have a host of hobbies that must be performed in my garage, and after trying my hand at grinding a blade out of a paint stirrer I made the realization that when my first batch of steel comes in, I will probably have to do something very similar. My issue is the opposite of yours, it is friggin hot here!
 
My apology too, l I guess I shouldn't have given you a hard time, especially since I don't know you (you should have heard what I said to my brother when he got his wife her 2nd newer car last week after saying for five years that he wants a hotrod he just never seems to have money for).

I'm in the same boat as Sturm Monkey, summers here are hot, winters are cold and sometimes wet. we moved in december and I went from a 3 car garage to a small 2 car. I wanted to utilize a nice 6x8 shed in the back for my man cave/loading room but alas that has been taken up with camp gear, card table etc.
I'm fortunate my uncle has a good size shop I can work in, problem is it's 20 minutes away and there's no bench space so I can't really start working on anything and leave it. I have lots of level space though so am hoping in a couple of years to build my daughters a new "fort" that will just happen to be 2 story and the bottom story a nice little enclave for me.

Red
 
Ah...I hate working with bone. It reminds me of being little and having a cavity drilled out. I wouldn't want my garage smelling like that. :barf:
 
tryppyr said:
I can tell you now, I have absolutely no intention on taking marriage advice from you guys... EVER. ;)
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...well you do complain about what she doesn't let you do here pretty often.

most of the time it's for stuff that never even crossed my mind.

It is nice if you have your own space.
Keep thinking about that backyard shop.
" Free fill wanted" ads can get you levelled out.
 
If you have a garage, you must have a driveway? Put your grinding station on wheels and roll it out when you get into the messy stuff. That set up looks mighty scary... for the equipment and you. What kind of respirator do you have? Most units can be rigged to a simple shopvac to reduce dust. I would get out of the pup tent, bro.
 
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Rick Marchand said:
If you have a garage, you must have a driveway? put your grinding station on wheels and roll it out when you get into the messy stuff. That set up looks mighty scary... for the equipment and you. What kind of respirator do you have? Most units can be rigged to a simple shopvac to reduce dust. I would get out of the pup tent, bro.
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You're forgetting I live in the Seattle area... the rain in the plain falls mainly every day. ;)

I tried the driveway thing for a year. It's amazing how often I'd get the sanding equipment set up only to have the first drops start falling on my head (and coloring the sanding belts). Anazing and frustrating.

I have no idea what you think there is to fear under the shelter. The mesh gives me good ventilation, and I wear a standard respirator. I'd be MUCH more worried about the respirator if I'd build a solid small shed instead. Those things have virtually no cross ventilation. That mesh lets the wind and the dust move quite freely.
 
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