What is the size of your shop?

[Johnny Warner]

40'x80', but only about 1/2 dedicated to knife and gun works.

 

[nthe10ring]

Mine is 12 X 20 and my smithy is outside uncovered at the present but hope to get a roof over it this winter. Its small and Im constantly picking up and putting away to have room as I have woodworking tools there also, but Im thankfull for the space I do have. I try to make use of every square inch of usable space.

Jerry Fisher

 

[wolffbite]

Really depends on how many cars are in the garage... I can't wait to move out and build my own shop

 

[Fred.Rowe]

There have been times in my life when I worked out of my lap while sitting in a chair.

Life is good these days, we built a 24 x 32 foot shop in 2009. It is insulated and is heated; the floor is 10 thick, to carry the heavy machinery.

Its taken a lifetime to get here, how sweet it is.

That said, its not the size of the shop that dictates the quality of your work. Its desire and vision that regulate that.

Fred

 

[SBuzek]

Mine is 16 X 16 enclosed with a 16 X 16 slab covered with a tin roof in front.
But I think Fred said it best,It's not the size of the shop but the size of your desire.
Stan

 

[Robert Dark]

Its not the size of the shop that dictates the quality of your work. Its desire and vision that regulate that.

You got that right Fred. You can work in a corner of an outhouse and create some amazing stuff if the desire and vision are there. I'm still working on both of those in a 24X24 two-car garage. Hopefully I can build a nice shop when I grow up.

Robert

 

[Robert Carter]

12x14

 

[KFU]

Mine is a a 20x24 garage. I only get one side of it due to all the kid crap but its enough for me right now. Working on a refinance now so hopefully I will have enough to build one out back. If I had the full garage it would be plenty big for me so Im thinking that size shop. After working in the garage my main focus will be electrical and dust collection! Im tired of flipping the breaker with two machines running.

Speaking of dust, has anyone use one of those whole house fans in the ceiling in your shop? Im thinking that along with a good dust collector might work well.

 

[Fred.Rowe]

I have a friend who runs a pair of box fans with furnace filters on top next to his grinding machine. They are at floor level; he says they pick up a huge amount of air born particulate matter and in a very short time.
I will be putting a couple of them up in my shop this week.

Fred

 

[argel55]

My front room is 20 by 40 and the back is 20 by 30. We decided 3 years ago we wanted to be closer to the kids and grandkids and started looking. We thought we were going to buy a small farm South of our sons but I kept having problems with the size of the house. We would not be able to get all of our belonging in it.
We were talking about it and got a local newspaper and saw a property for sale that I had been intersted in before but did not know if we could afford it knowing we would retire in a few years. The ladies husband had passed away and she was remarrying. He had been a cabinet maker and did upholstery along with it. My son was even leasing some pasture off of them to run some of his calves on. We called them and went to look at it. We already had our house sold and needed to move somewhere and we talked about the property and bought it. We had both the house and shop exterior painted when we moved there.
The front room is wired for 220 and 110 plug ins about every eight feet. There are three banks of lights all eight foot and individually switched. One bank down each side and a big bank down the center. Two man doors in front room and both rooms have 12 foot garage doors. THere is also a tin shed 20 by 25 and a modern 21 by 32 foot garage on the property. It is all located on 8 acres. The shop and the house have individual meters. IT has propane heat and a big window air conditioner that cools the big room easily in the 110 degree summer we had.
The house was built in 1940 and has been added onto about three times but is very solid. Has a built on end car port that is just right for the little ones to play under on hot days.

 

[Matt Brook]

Mine is 7.5 meters by 7.5 meters. But its 4.4 meters high. So of course I have a Mezzanine level!

Ground floor space is approximately 56.25 m2 and my mez is 6m x 2.5m so add on 15 m2. Found a calculator - About 766 feet square.

 

[GTH11]

Size doesnt matter............right?...Cuz my wife says my shop is big enough, but im thinkin it could be bigger? Ghaile

 

[David Sharp]

28X32 with 10' walls. The first one I built would've been fine but the walls were too short.

 

[Kentucky]

16' x 22'..need about twice that anyway..

 

[delbert ealy]

16x32 which comes in at 512 split into a forging space and finishing space that has a heater and an air conditioner. This is my 3rd shop and all my electrical outlet boxes have their own circut, and there are lots of them(but never enough)

 

[james terrio]

Used to be just over 500 ft/sq, now more like 200. Dang woman and kid keep wanting to store stuff in my shop! :grumpy:

Never big enough, never bright enough, never enough bench space, never enough outlets, never enough drawers,

Never enough $ to do anything about it.

That's the real answer right there. I've worked in various factories/shops and there has never been too much of any of those things.

 

[Jason Magruder]

I've got shop envy! My current knife shop is only 90 square feet! I walled off a section of the front porch. The dining room window looks over the surface grinder right to my finishing bench I've got a 2x72, a 1x30, two drill presses, mini lathe, mini mill, surface grinder, a couple of vises, and just enough room left to stand in the center but it gets the job done

I do however have a 25x40 cabinet shop as well with all of my woodworking tools and welding equipment but it's 20 miles away so not very helpful for knifemaking


I'm working on putting everything together into one small mobile shop but it's probably going to be a while.

 

[tattooedfreak]

3 years ago I was working out of a 1 room apartment and "storing" my tools in a friends laundry/work room while teaching/learning knife making to him. For the last 2 years I have been working out of a 12 x 12 shed/shop and sharing the space with various storage equipment, gardening tools and bicycles. I just moved into a new house that had a built in 11 x 11 shop with a corner 220v outlet for a kiln AND an 8 x 10 shed. The only issue is that the shop is filled with boxes and equipment that needs to be set up I am slowly moving up in space, next up is a garage of some sort.

 

[PIndelicato]

Wow, I'm in seriously bad shape here compared to most! Up until a couple of weeks ago, I've been working in a small (cluttered) area that's maybe 7' x 8'. I now have a space that's a little less than twice that size.

 

[Daniel Fairly Knives]

Last summer - my porch with a clamp on vise!

Last winter - a 10x10 ez-up tent and the porch

This year - My carport which is 10x16 and my kitchen

Here in about a month - 12x24 shop with a 12x8 grinding room!!! It is still very small but I am very happy to have it in the works!